Hwy 1 Rumble Strip Installation Project

Caltrans Begins Project to Install Rumble Strips and Bicycle Pullouts
on State Route 1 in Sonoma County

Project began in May; expected completion in late December.

Sonoma County – Caltrans Bay Area has begun a safety project to install rumble strips along nearly sixty miles of State Route 1 (SR-1) in Sonoma County, between Valley Ford and the Mendocino County line. In addition, Caltrans will construct 27 bicycle pullouts along the route.

O.C. Jones, Inc. is the contractor for the $5 million contract, which is expected to be completed by late December.

Rumble strips are raised or grooved patterns in the pavement that produce sound and vibration when driven over, providing audible and tactile feedback to alert motorists when they begin to drift out of their lane.

To install the rumble strips, work crews will grind away the existing double center line, install the strips, and then restripe the roadway. The width of the rumble strips closely matches that of the double yellow lines, so the strips will be located directly beneath most of the center line striping.

Rumble strips will not be added to the shoulders. 

These rumble strips provide a cost-effective safety improvement along a route that frequently experiences fog and winter rain - conditions that reduce visibility of the centerline. Additionally, the highway's many hairpin turns require heightened driver attention. The auditory and tactile feedback provided by rumble strips will help keep motorists in their lanes.

  

As part of the project, work crews will also install bicycle pullouts along SR-1. Depending on the terrain, the pullouts will be four- to six-foot-wide paved strips of varying lengths, constructed adjacent to the fog line.  The pullouts will be spaced roughly equidistant from one another. However, topography - particularly hills and curves - was also a factor in determining their locations.

The pullouts will offer a safe space for cyclists to allow vehicles to pass or to take a break outside the traveled way.

Caltrans is installing these new bike pullouts at a time of increasing bicycle traffic along SR-1, particularly from bikepackers who arrive from around the county to cycle on the coastal route.