Ohio Bicycle Federation

05/20/2026

OBF is attending the Ohio Traffic Safety Summit at OSU. Many law enforcement agencies are here, and we are talking about e-bike safety with them.

05/07/2026

ODOT has been presenting webinars on the changes to the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The webinar on Part 9 (the Bicycle section) will be held on May 14 at 1pm. These webinars are very informative. Here's the link to register:
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7500611492146069080

Webinars recordings on the previous sections of the MUTCD can be found here:
https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/programs/ltap/all-events/webinars

04/22/2026

Cincinnati Cycling Club is offering the Cycling Savvy class May 8-9.

03/09/2026

The following action alert has been created by our friends at Bike Cleveland. There was some confusion in the description regarding the reason for the delay in the projected construction date of August 2026. ODOT commented as follows:
"This has nothing to do with any "highway expansion plan." We are actively working with the city to collect all necessary information that is required for all projects prior to being bid."
Whatever the reason for the delay, we hope that the project can stay on track. Here is the link to the Action Alert:
https://bikecleveland.quorum.us/campaign/CleMidway/

02/02/2026

GOBA registration prices go up tonight at midnight! Join us on the best ride at the best price —

June 20 – 27, 2026 (GOBA always starts on Father’s Day Weekend) Join the adventure: Explore new regions of Ohio’s friendly towns with GOBA’s 7-day tour. Create lifetime memories: GOBA provides a safe, family-friendly, full-service adventure that saves planning time and reduces risk. Celebrat...

01/25/2026

Our friend, John Schubert posted about the Bike Lane Ends sign. That reminded us about the Ohio MUTCD which included the END sign as guidance to use with the Bikes May Use Full Lane sign. This was in the 2012 Ohio MUTCD. We protested because bikes may use full lane on all roads except freeways in Ohio, so they never end. Well, good news is that Ohio no longer has our own MUTCD, and we use the federal MUTCD with a supplement, effective Jaunary 16, 2026. So we checked the supplement and, lo and behold, NO END sign with the BMUFL sign. Sometimes we are successful, we just wish it didn't take 14 years.
"Patient endurance attaineth to all things"
The only change to the federal MUTCD in the Ohio supplement in chapter 9 (the bicycle chapter) is that cyclists are permitted on shoulders of "expressway", not "freeway", since Ohio prohibits bicycling on shoulders of freeways. We are also permitted to ride on shoulders of other roads, which we already shared previously. We think we can live with that, unless cyclists are aware of locations where we need to ride along freeways because there are no alternative routes. This is more of a problem out west.
Here's the definition of "freeway" and "expressway" in Ohio:

(YY) "Freeway" means a divided multi-lane highway for through traffic with all crossroads separated in grade and with full control of access.

(ZZ) "Expressway" means a divided arterial street or highway for through traffic with full or partial control of access with an excess of fifty per cent of all crossroads separated in grade.

Some of you may recall we did see some END signs with BMUFL signs in the past, but we think local cycling organizations were able to get them removed :-)

We need to read through the Ohio supplement to see if there are any other variations from the federal MUTCD which would impact cyclists.

01/23/2026

We've updated the bicycle and pedestrian maps for 2025. They are available from the website www.ohiobike.org under Collision Data. Sadly, we had 25 cyclist fatalities and 183 pedestrian fatalities last year in Ohio.
22% of all cyclist crashes and 29% of all pedestrian crashes were hit & runs.
This December, Elaine Starinchak died. Her son, Andy, was killed by a driver who left him to die after hitting him on a semi-rural road near his home in northeast Columbus in 1998. Elaine and her husband tried to find his killler but although they thought they identified the van that hit him, they couldn't prove it. Elaine died without finding justice for Andy.

01/21/2026

OBF secretary Tricia Kovacs attended the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices meeting in DC in early January. Since the MUTCD was updated in Dec, 2023, the bicycle technical committee has worked on clarifications and minor proposals. During this meeting, 3 proposals were approved to be forwarded to FHWA for consideration. These were: providing visibility limited bicycle signal faces where necessary, allowing smaller bicycle regulatory signs and allowing 2 turn arrows in 2-stage turn queue boxes for 2-way bike lanes. We also discussed a proposal to allow bike lanes to the right of right turn-only lanes and left of left turn-only lanes. This proposal was tabled for further development. The current MUTCD allows separated bike lanes to the right of turn-only lanes, but AFAIK, a bicycle signal with an exclusive green phase is required. Tricia hopes that if this proposal does go forward, that signals or beacons are required where the cyclist crosses the intersection.

Tricia also participates in the Pedestrian and Rules of the Road joint task forces. The pedestrian JTF is working on an update to the pedestrian definition. The current MUTCD is very open-ended, allowing "other devices determined by local law to be equivalent" to be consided pedestrians. We are working on defining micro-mobility devices and vulnerable road users to recommend which laws should apply (pedestrian, vehicle or bicycle). The Rules of the Road committee is updating the Uniform Vehicle Code. The JTF meets monthly and is updating the UVC to reflect the MUTCD definitions and the rules which apply to traffic control devices (signs, signals, pavemennt markings).

When the current issue of the MUTCD was finalized (14 years after the 2009 version), there is a requirement to update the MUTCD every 4 years. But we heard that the next update may just be clarifications and technical corrections, rather than any new traffic control devices.

At this meeting, Neil Boudreau was elected as the new NCUTCD chair and Rock Miller was elected as the new bicycle technical committee chair.

01/12/2026

Does your city have separated bike lanes? This video by John Allen provides advice on what to watch for, because separation is not always safer. We have found that 93% of crashes in separated bike lanes occur at intersections, so cyclists need to be extra vigilant.

A bicyclist rode up to Beech street on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA in the separated bikeway to the right of turning vehicles. A

10/16/2025

OBF secretary Tricia Kovacs attended the Ohio Transportation Engineering Conference this week. She presented a talk on bicycling through innovative intersections and interchanges. She demonstrated with videos why she prefers the Single Point Urban Interchange, Restricted Crossing U-Turn and Diverting Diamond Interchange (DDI) to the old Cloverleafs. Although some of them are better than others for bicycle accommodation. Many of them have shoulder areas where cyclists can ride, now that the Ohio Revised Code redefined "roadway" to say that the shoulder may be used by bicyclists and other human powered vehicles. Her session along with others on the design of other interchanges including a DDI in Findlay was well attended, despite being the last one of the conference.
Tricia attended sessions on active transportation, traffic signal timing for accommodating pedestrians, transit improvements in Cincinnati, and needs of older drivers. The most impactful talk was given by Steve Hoyt of Pilot Dogs Columbus, about the inaccessibility of roundabouts for people who are blind. Although Steve is sighted, he showed videos of himself attempting to walk roundabouts blindfolded. Tricia reiterated this message during her talk.
We will post the presentations once they are available on the OTEC website.

08/30/2025

Upcoming opportunity to learn Cycling Savvy in the Cincinnati area. We recommend this course for confidence on the road.