01697837

Component

Studies have shown that a network of safe, connected, and direct facilities increase urban cycling levels. During summer 2017, the city of Edmonton, Canada, constructed nearly 20 kilometers of protected bicycle lanes on its core neighborhood streets. In this paper, the authors evaluate the low-stress connectivity improvements afforded by this network build-out. They first classify streets and trails according to the Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) framework, which they adapt to the metric system. Using only LTS 2 network links, posited to be adequate for most adults, the authors apply three analyses. First, they draw “Bikeshed” maps, which show areas of connectivity around seven central destinations. The authors' comparison before and after the build-out points to a better integration of the network, with previously separate bikesheds overlapping and allowing uninterrupted low-stress travel to more destinations. This analysis also allows them to identify several central neighborhoods which are disconnected due to remaining high-stress links. Second, the authors generate roughly three-hundred hypothetical origins located in the central neighborhoods of the city. Reflecting the improved bikeshed integration, they observe a four-fold increase in connected origin-destination pairs. Finally, the authors find small reductions in trip lengths between connected pairs for some of the trips that were possible before the build-out. However, important detours are still necessary to remain on an exclusively low-stress network when compared to the shortest path using the full network, regardless of LTS. The authors' proposed assessment methodology is straightforward and most relevant for cities in the initial stages of bicycle network development.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF20 Standing Committee on Bicycle Transportation.

19-00950

English

10p

2019

Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Maps; References; Tables

Before and after studies; Bicycle lanes; Bicycling; Connectivity; Cyclists; Evaluation and assessment; Neighborhoods; Networks; Streets; Stress (Psychology); Urban areas

Level of traffic stress

Edmonton (Canada)

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2019 Paper #19-00950

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 7 2018 9:39AM