01088462

Component

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) San Antonio District manages and maintains a roadway network of 4,253 centerline miles, rehabilitating an average of 10 to 15 percent of this road inventory yearly. The District recognizes the need to provide safe routes for bicycles, but had no information about bicycle demand, and no bicycle roadway information database. The University of Texas at San Antonio developed a computerized GIS tool to assist the District in determining bicycle accommodation priorities for roads that are due for rehabilitation, and another to inform the public about bicycle suitability of existing routes. The study started by determining latent and existing demand, as well as the public’s preferences. Nearly 800 survey responses from cyclists were processed and merged to an existing highway database containing relevant road management information. A GIS-based rural bicycle accommodation map was developed. A public information map was developed, offering bicycle suitability guidance to users. A data collection and update plan was also prepared for both the decision-aid map and the public information map. A five-year bicycle accommodation plan was prepared based on these results. These results already are under implementation. The first route, a 50-km-long scenic route connecting Garner and Lost Maples State Parks, will be open to the public in 2007. Utopia 100K is a two-lane road with twelve-foot lanes and five-foot shoulders, proper bicycle signals, and paved according to the results of the pavement bicycle ride quality survey conducted by the study. It is located in an area identified in the bicycle survey, and found to be routinely used by major competitive bicyclists such as Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

01084478

08-2559

English

16p

2008

Transportation Research Board 87th Annual Meeting

DVD

Figures; Photos; References (10) ; Tables (3)

Bicycle travel; Bicycling; Cyclists; Demand; Geographic information systems; Information technology; Nonmotorized transportation

Safe Routes to School (Program)

Texas

Data and Information Technology; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2008 Paper #08-2559

TRIS, TRB

Jan 29 2008 4:58PM