Comprehensive Transportation Plan - March 2019

MULTI-USE PATH DESIGN GUIDELINES

Multi-Use Path Enhancements SAFETY RAILING AND FENCES A safety rail needs to be a minimum height of 42 inches and is required for the slope conditions list below. AASHTO provides dimensions below for railing, fences and slope conditions and are illustrated in Figure F-17 . x Slopes 1V:3H or steeper, adjacent to a parallel body of water or another substantial obstacle

x Slopes 1V:3H or steeper, with a drop of 6 feet or greater x Slopes 1V:2H or steeper, with a drop of 4 feet or greater x Slopes 1V:1H or steeper, with a drop of 1 foot or greater

The safety railing must begin prior to and extend beyond the area of need and be at least 1 foot offset from the path edge. The beginning and end of the safety rail needs to be outside the 2-foot clear area or be marked with an object marker. The safety rail can also be flared out at the beginning and end to provide clearance from an abrupt object. Suggested railing offset is 2 feet from the edge of path. Figure F-17: AASHTO examples of when safety fence is required.

If a safety railing is being used to provide protection from slopes or to discourage path users from venturing off the path corridor, the railing can have relatively large openings. A standard design includes two to four horizontal elements with vertical elements spaced fairly far apart. If a safety railing is required for a high vertical drop or body of water, a 48-inch railing height or the requirements of a bridge railing may be necessary. Engineering judgement must be used to determine what the specific situation requires. Refer to the Bridge section for additional railing requirements. If a safety railing is not warranted, but a barrier is desired there are options to consider for fence types. There are opaque options such as tall (6-foot or greater) wooden fence or chain link fence with a screen. More transparent options could include shorter wooden or chain link fence (4-foot tall), metal pipe handrail, or placement of multiple bollards. The benefit of a continuous fence line is it directs multi use path users to stay on the designated

path. The opaque fence options would physically restrict users from veering off the path and provide more privacy to the private property owner. The more transparent fence options would discourage trail users from leaving the path, but would not fully restrict this movement. Bollards In certain situations, bollards may be required to restrict unauthorized use of multi-use paths by motor vehicles. If bollards are used, the associated “No Motor Vehicles” signage ( MUTCD R5-3) must also be installed to enforce the rule. Bollards restricting vehicles must meet the following guidelines. Guidelines x Bollards must be a minimum height of 30 inches and minimum diameter of 4 inches. x Bollards must be retroreflective on both sides or marked with an appropriate object maker. x Bollards must be set back from the roadway edge a minimum of 5 feet. The setback will be site specific and need to be approved by the Town. x If more than one bollard is used, an odd number of bollards must be used and spaced 6 feet apart. x Bollards must not restrict non-motorized users or users with disabilities. x Bollards must have a striping envelope around the bollard to help guide users around the vertical object. x Bollards must be lockable or removable to allow entrance by authorized vehicles. If hardware is installed in the ground to allow the bollard to be removed, it must be flush with the surface to avoid creating an additional obstacle. Rigid bollards are only recommended after other methods such as signage, landscaping, flexible bollards, targeted surveillance, and curb cut design have been considered, since bollards do create a vertical obstacle in the middle of the path.

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