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Safety and economic benefits of road diets 5 10

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SAFETY AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF ROAD DIETS WITH BIKE LANES Cynthia Hoyle, FAICP Transportation Planning Consultant
Transcript

SAFETY AND ECONOMIC

BENEFITS OF ROAD DIETS

WITH BIKE LANES

Cynthia Hoyle, FAICP

Transportation Planning Consultant

Safety Benefits of Bike Lanes

Large body of research and evidence shows that properly designed and installed bike lanes reduce crashes1:

When the city of Corvallis, OR installed 13 miles of bicycle lanes in one year, the number of bicycle crashes fell from 40 in the year prior to the installation to just 16 in the year afterwards…2

The addition of bicycle lanes in Davis, California reduced crashes by 31 percent.3

A comparison of crash rates of all types in major cities has shown that cities with higher bicycle use have lower traffic crash rates of all types than cities with lower bicycle use. 4

1. Federal Highway Administration, Safety Effectiveness of Highway Design Features, Volume VI, Pedestrians and Bicyclists, FHWA-RD-91-049,

1991.

2. Federal Highway Administration, Bicycle Safety-Related Research Synthesis, 1995.

3. Ibid.

4. Federal Highway Administration, Bicycle Lanes versus Wide Curb Lanes: Operational and Safety Findings, May 1998.

Bike Lanes Improve Behavior1

Cambridge, MA - sidewalk bicycling cut in half after the installation

of bicycle lanes on Mass. Ave. in Central Square.2

Wrong-way riding was significantly lower on the streets with bike

lanes.3

On streets with bike lanes, 81% of cyclists obeyed stop signs, vs.

55% on streets without.4

Corvallis and Eugene, Oregon, cities with good bikeway networks,

have the highest number of riders and rider behavior is the best:

wrong-way riding is minimal, fewer ride on the sidewalk than in

other Oregon cities.5

1. Federal Highway Administration, Bicycle Lanes versus Wide Curb Lanes: Operational and Safety Findings, May 1998.

2. City of Cambridge data, unpublished.

3. Federal Highway Administration, Bicycle Lanes versus Wide Curb Lanes: Operational and Safety Findings, May 1998.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

Elgin Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Campaign

2009

Bikeway Master Plan Adopted 2008

Elgin, IL

Elgin Bikeway Master Plan

Created bicycle

network throughout

community

Bike routes/lanes and

sharrows installed

Connection to regional

bike trail in downtown

Multi-use trails

2009 Elgin Bicycle and Pedestrian

Safety Campaign

Elgin Bicycling

Ambassadors Program

Community education

campaign

Elgin by Bike – Bike

and Dine events

“From my point of view I thought it

went well. About two-thirds of the

riders had not been in our shop, so

that was great to see new potential

customers.” -Ravenheart Coffee

Gleason Street, Portland

Portland Bicycle Program

Since 1996 Portland has doubled the miles of bike lanes

Added thousands of bike parking spaces

Had a 4-fold increase in bicycling

Dramatic decrease in bicycle crashes and fatalities (79% of bicycle

fatalities occurred outside of a bike lane.1)

1. Portland Master Bicycle Plan – Existing Conditions Report, Chapter 6: Bicycle

Safety, pg. 6-19.

Portland Bicycle Infrastructure

Improved Bicycle Safety

“Portland’s decline in traffic fatalities is a public

health triumph. Portland demonstrates that a

transportation system emphasizing walking,

bicycling and transit can achieve many public health

goals - physical activity, clean air, and safety.

Congratulations to the leaders and people of

Portland.”

Dr. Howard Frumkin, Centers for Disease Control

(CDC)

Gleason Street, Portland

Oregon

Neighborhood retail area

Bike lanes installed

Bike Corral installed at merchant/property owner request

Merchants had more customers when vehicular parking was replaced by bicycle parking (12 bikes per 1 car space)

Economic Effects of Traffic Calming on Small Urban Businesses

Emily Drennen

2003

Valencia Street, San Francisco

Valencia Street, San Francisco

California

Before

-62.5 ft wide street with metered parking on street on both sides, four lanes with an average ADT of 22,000 VPD

21’21’ 10’3’’10’3’’

Designing Streets for Pedestrian Safety-Reducing Crossing Crashes

Valencia Street, San Francisco

California

After

-Two lanes were

removed, bicycle

lanes installed and

medians were used

for left turns.

-Changes were

made to signal

timing.

5’9’’8’ 14’10’6’’ 8’5’9’’10’6’’

Designing Streets for Pedestrian Safety – Reducing Crossing Crashes

Merchant Response to Bike Lanes

27 merchants interviewed 4 ½ years after installation

of bike lanes found:

62% believed bike lanes had overall positive

impact on business

37% said bike lanes increased their sales

73% said bike lanes made street more attractive

2/3 said they would support more traffic calming

on street

Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking, and Business

A Study of Bloor Street in Toronto’s Annex Neighborhood

February, 2009

Bloor Street, Toronto

Spending Analyzed by Mode

Walkers

and

bicyclists

spent the

most

money

shopping

in the

area.

Study Conclusions

The addition of bike lanes would be unlikely to

harm local business and predicted that commercial

activity on the street would likely increase.

Three-quarters of merchants surveyed on the street

believed that business activity would improve or

stay the same if a bike lane replaced half of the

on-street parking.

Thank You!

Cynthia Hoyle, FAICP

Hoyle Consulting

Urbana, IL 61801

www.cynthiahoyle.com

[email protected]


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