Pavement-indicated advisory lanes, in which a distinct band of pavement is the only thing that indicates the bike zone, are the original form of advisory lanes. As described in the Historical Emergence of Advisory Lanes, this form of advisory lanes arose when road managers created strips of smooth pavement for bikes to enjoy on the edges of rural roads paved with cobblestones or rough bricks.
While most historic pavement-indicated advisory lanes disappeared when asphalt paving became the norm (many of them being replaced with suggestion lanes, a different form of advisory lanes), this form of advisory lane is having a reemergence since about 2014 in response to regulations that preclude the use of lane striping of any kind, including bike lane or advisory lane striping, on certain roads. By default, the speed limit on Dutch urban collector and arterial roads is 50 km/h (31 mph). Such a road’s speed limit can be lowered to 30 km/h (19 mph) only if it is reclassified as a local street (erftoegangsweg), and to qualify for reclassification, it must be redesigned to meet the “essential characteristics” criteria for local streets, which include having no lane lines. The prohibition on lane lines is meant to give the street the appearance of a “place” rather than that of a traffic artery. Since around 2012, this prohibition on lane lines has been interpreted as also prohibiting lane lines for bikes, even lines that are just “suggestions.” This creates a challenge for municipalities wishing to downgrade a collector road so that it can qualify for a 30 km/h speed limit. On many of these roads, the traffic volume is too great for cycling to be comfortable without a designated bicycling zone. Where space is available, they can be given separate cycle tracks. However, where space for separate cycle tracks is lacking, the only way to provide a designated cycling zone is to have advisory lanes, and to do that without lane lines, cities have returned to the historic layout of indicating the bicycling zone by using a distinct pavement.
An example in Delft is Hof van Delftlaan, a former collector road that until 2015 had black asphalt paving, advisory lanes in the form of suggestion lanes, and 50 km/h speed limit. To qualify for reclassification as a local street with a speed limit of 30 km/h, it was narrowed and paved with red bricks (two other “essential characteristics” of local street). However, because this street functions as a neighborhood collector and therefore has far more traffic than the typical local street, the municipality knew that cyclists would still need advisory lanes. To accomplish this, the new road surface includes bands of smooth, red asphalt whose tint of red is different from that of the brick paving. There is no sign or marking stating that those red asphalt bands are meant for bikes, but everyone — drivers and cyclists alike — knows it, and treats them as advisory bike lanes.
Pic here with caption: Hof van Delftlaan in Delft, with Pavement-Indicated Advisory Lanes
New pavement-indicated advisory lanes are also being installed on rural roads. An example is Tempelweg in a rural part of the munipality of Rotterdam, pictured below. Before the redesign, the road had two 10-ft lanes separatedy by a striped centerline and no bicycling facilities, which made bicycling there high stress, and allowed speeding cars a chance to overtake other cars. With the new design, cyclists can ride in comfort in the advisory lanes. The black edge bands, which serve as a pedestrian zone as well as cyclist zone since there are no sidewalks, make the road seem narrower, slowing traffic; and because there is no longer a centerline compelling cars to keep to the right half of the road, it is very difficult for a speeding car to overtake another car.
Pic here with caption: Tempelweg in a Rural Part of Rotterdam, with Pavement-Indicated Advisory Lanes
check student photos,
Another example of pavement-indicated advisory lanes is Marktstraat in Naarden, redesigned in 2010. This historic street had never had lane lanes, and had a strong sense of place that made advisory lane lines clearly unacceptable. Instead, the desire to slow traffic and improve the position of cyclists was accomplished by continuing to pave the entire street with bricks, but using a different color and pattern of brick paving for the advisory lanes.
pic of Marktstraat in Narden