Hwy 1 Rumble Strip Installation Project

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

Project starts this week; runs through October

 

Sonoma County – Caltrans Bay Area begins a safety project this week to install rumble strips on the entire length of State Route 1 (SR-1) in Sonoma County, nearly sixty miles (58.3), between Valley Ford and the Mendocino County border. Additionally, Caltrans will create 29 bicycle pullouts along the route.

 

O.C. Jones, Inc. is the contractor on the $5 million contract, which is estimated for completion in late October.

 

Rumble strips are raised or grooved pavement patterns that, when driven over, provide audible and tactile stimulation – sound and vibration – to alert motorists that they have strayed from their lane.

 

To install the rumble strips, workers will grind away the existing double center line, add the rumble strips, and then restripe.  The width of the rumble strips and the double yellow lines is nearly identical, so that the rumble strips will underlie most of the center line striping.

 

Rumble strips will not be added to the shoulders. 

Rumbles strips provide a cost-effective safety improvement to the route hugging the Sonoma coast, that experiences frequent fog and winter rain, conditions that decrease visibility of the centerline. Also, and the abundant hairpin curves on the highway require considerable focus, so adding an auditory and tactile stimulus will help keep motorists in their lane. 

 

 

 

In addition to the rumble strips, work crews will install bicycle pullouts along Sonoma Route 1. The pullouts will be six-to eight-foot-wide strips of varying lengths, depending on the terrain, built on the land adjacent to the fog line.   The pullouts will be roughly equidistant from each other; however, topography - notably hills and curves - also came into play when choosing locations.

 

The pullouts will provide a haven for cyclists who wish to allow vehicles to pass, or a refuge for them to take a breather outside the traveled way.

 

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