By Bill Sellin

Tustin Ranch Road in the City of Tustin is on several of our routes, and gives us many good examples - in quick succession - of when a Class II bikeway (bike lanes) has to deal with multi-lane traffic intersections.
If you are not aware of the reason experienced cyclists know to take a primary lane position and stay out of the gutter, see this explainer about why riding to the far right was changed for cycists back in 1963.

Riding north on Tustin Ranch there is a signal for the SB 5 freeway entrance and exit:
”Stop Bar” limit line and improperly painted bike lane across intersection.

With up to 5 red lights and a clear “Stop Bar” limit line, club members still routinely roll through the red light and continue. Motorists exiting the freeway turning left into the NB lanes often swing wide. Running the red light when vehicles are swinging left works most of the time until it doesn’t. It doesn’t help that Caltrans and Tustin incorrectly painted the bike lane across the intersection as if it was a shoulder. The existence of the bike lane does not override the mandatory stop on red. Unless you are on the sidewalk…
Just obey the red light and stop in the bike lane.

The next intersection is the same, for the NB 5 freeway entrance and exit:
”Stop Bar” limit line and improperly painted bike lane across intersection.

Just obey the 4 or 5 red lights and stop in the bike lane.

The next intersection is at Auto Center Drive:
The bike lane is shared for turning motorists to turn from:

The “Detail 39a” standard is 4 foot dashes and 8 foot gaps, and can be painted from 200 to 50 feet before the intersection depending on speed and length of the block. This portion of the bike lane is SHARED with turning traffic. Motorist are legally REQUIRED to merge into ‘our’ bike lane to turn right from the right most lane. It is illegal to turn from the travel lane - because we cyclists may be there & can easily get right hooked, being in their blind spot. Motorists are supposed to merge in BEHIND us and if we ‘cork up’ the lane, must wait for us to move when the signal turns green.

Legally we MAY cork up the bike lane but for courtesy, traffic flow, and SAFETY, experts recommend leaving the bike lane clear for turning traffic.
If we signal early, check over our shoulder (don’t just trust or mirror) and merge out of the bike lane into the travel lane we do several things: We become much more ‘consequentially visible’ to traffic, and sooner, if we control the lane when clear; we dissuade motoris speeding passed us to make ‘right-hook’ turns across our path and incentivize them to do the proper thing and merge into the bike lane to turn right from. We also free up the bike lane for fellow cyclist who may want to turn right.
We frequently see motorists who do not know they are supposed to merge into the Bike Lane, who turn from the travel lane - often without even using a blinker. If we ride past on their right, especially at speed, we are taking a huge risk. “Filtering Up” on the right, in the blind spot of turning traffic that may suddenly ‘right-hook’ us, has killed many cyclists and can be completely avoided by US as cyclists: Never filter up on the right of traffic that may be turning across your path. At a red light, merge over early and take the travel lane with traffic to stay out of the shared portion of the bike lane. It is legal pass in the bike lane and to ‘cork up’ the bike lane but can be deadly. It is legal for cyclists to leave a “mandatory use” bike lane anywhere a vehicle may make a right turn for mitigation of this very hazard.
The City of Tustin has ‘dashed’ the bike lane marking it as SHARED for drivers to turn from. This is correct, but motorists do not know they are REQUIRED to merge in behind us, and frequently turn right from the travel lane. Cyclists do not know this and stay in the the bike lane, frustrating motorists and inviting them to pass and right hook us.

The next intersection is with El Camino Real:
The bike lane ends, has a weave-zone gap, and is extended left of the RTOL pocket

The City of Tustin has incorrectly ‘dashed’ the bike lane instead of keeping it solid up to the hip of the turn pocket as the MUTCD requires. We should have priority to the hip and not be sharing with vehicles before the pocket.
Tustin HAS painted the bike lane left of the RTOL (Right Turn Only Lane) pocket, but given the posted speed limit, it SHOULD be wider.
This should help make it clear to turning traffic that they should cross our path of travel and use the RTOL to turn from, and not turn right across our path from the #3 travel lane.
Tustin starts the RTOL less than the 100 feet from the end of the bike lane, as recommended by the MUTCD to give motorists a reasonable gap to merge across our path. That means some motorists will merge into our bike lane too early (because it is dashed) before the RTOL pocket, and others will cut across the extended Bike Lane to their RTOL pocket to late (because the gap is less than 100 feet). Expect both.
Tustin should do better, and could add the Complete Streets treatments to mark the conflict / weave zone for our safety, but has chosen not to. In Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Riverside, and many places that are implementing the current DOT Complete Streets standards, you will see the weave / conflict zone has been marked with green blocks to make it safer for us.
We should again signal early, check over our shoulder (don’t just trust our mirror) and merge out of the bike lane into the travel lane to reach the extension left of the RTOL pocket unless we are turning right. If we do it sooner rather than later, we are less likely to surprise traffic coming up fast… If we are a long group, and the extension is getting full, stop at the end of the bike lane to keep the weave zone clear and let turning traffic get to their RTOL pocket.
Again, It is a NARROW (sub standard) extension, so we tighten up so that we do not impede either the RTOL on our right or the through lane on our left.
Just stay in your lane.
When the light turns green, we can proceed with an assumption that the vehicles in the RTOL will turn turn and NOT come up on our right. Even so - look back on your right as you merge back over to the gutter-position bike lane across the intersection.

We may ignore a Right Turn Only Lane arrow ONLY IF there is
a **Sharrow marking** on the pavement and/or an **EXCEPT Bicycle** sign is posted

The next intersection is at Bryan:
The bike lane ends and there is a RTOL

Along the block after El Camino Real, the bike lane is dashed for the shopping center drive ways - and on approach to the RTOL at Bryan. (BTW: Irvine no longer breaks the bike lane stripe for driveways, only at intersections). The bike lane ends as a shared lane and we are REQUIRED to merge into the travel lane to proceed straight across Bryan, or REQUIRED to use the RTOL to turn east on Bryan. It is illegal to proceed straight from a RTOL UNLESS there is a EXCEPT BICYCLE sign posted or a sharrow marking added in the RTOL by each Right Turn arrow marking. The City of Tustin ignores Caltrans DOT standards and dashed our bike lane before ending it here. It should be solid up to the end and not shared.

Some try to squeeze along the stripe between the RTOL and through lane, but that invites unsafe passing on the left, and may succeed in ‘corking up’ the overly cautious traffic trying to turn right from their their RTOL. We SHOULD merge over and control our right-most through lane. Especially as a group. We should again signal early, check over our shoulder (don’t just trust our mirror) and merge out of the Bike Lane into the travel lane as soon as possible. If we can control the travel lane all the way from the signal at El Camino Real, we will not have to weave in and out of the shared bike lane at all, just hold our lane. Motorists will be able to choose the #1 or #2 travel lanes lanes to proceed straight past us up Tustin Ranch, or slow down and follow us in the #3 lane, or merge into the shared bike lane to turn into the shopping center or McDonalds, or to get to their RTOL for Bryan.

When BCI rides we see the riders all over the place - in all 3 arrows at the same time.
We look like a herd of cats and motorists, many who already don’t want us ‘in THEIR way’ get another example of cyclist being unpredictable. Add a kid on a moped driving on the sidewalk as we pass by and we really look bad to other road users and pedestrians.
Call out your fellow riders when you see them edge riding, filtering up along potential turning traffic, ‘corking up’ bike lanes or illegally blocking RTOLs.
BCI expects all of our riders to follow the CVC - and to know them as they pertain to cycling. See CVC Laws for Cyclists - 2021 update (review of California Vehicle Code)
If you think cycling is what you see on the Tour de France or racing, you do not belong on open roads with real life traffic.

If you have comments, please post them below - or reach out to Bill@BikeIrvine.org
Please learn as much as you can - you won’t know how much you DON’T KNOW until you start to learn more. Great Starts: See Cycling Savvy’s “You Lead The Dance” as copied by Orlando

Take the free online Essential short course to understand the many basic ways to be a safer cyclist: https://cyclingsavvy.org/courses/essentials-short-course/

Here is an excellent on-line tutorial explaining Lane Position & why we don't edge ride the gutter, especially in narrow lanes: Understanding Cyclists Position on the Roadway

See this great article on how increasing speed increases our risks and how to mitigate them, including why to take the lane & stay out of the gutter: High Speed Bicycling