Browsing by Subject "Bicycles"

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Access Across America: Biking 2017
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2019-07) Owen, Andrew; Murphy, Brendan
Accessibility is the ease and feasibility of reaching valued destinations. It can be measured for a wide array of transportation modes, to different types of destinations, and at different times of day. There are a variety of ways to define accessibility, but the number of destinations reachable within a given travel time is the most comprehensible and transparent as well as the most directly comparable across cities. This report focuses on accessibility to jobs by biking. Bicycle mode share for commute trips in the U.S. is typically very low, and has remained stable at 0.6% of all commute trips since 2011; however, overall number of bicycle commuters nationwide has increased by 21.6% since 2010. This study estimates the accessibility to jobs by biking for each of the United States? 11 million census blocks, and analyzes these data in the 50 largest (by population) metropolitan areas. Travel times by biking are calculated using detailed roadway networks classified by their Level of Traffic Stress (LTS). Rankings are determined by a weighted average of job accessibility; a higher weight is given to closer jobs, as jobs closer to origins are more easily reached, and are thus more valuable, than those further away. Jobs reachable within ten minutes are weighted most heavily, and jobs are given decreasing weights as travel time increases up to 60 minutes. This report presents detailed accessibility values for each metropolitan area, as well as block-level maps which illustrate the spatial patterns of accessibility within each area. A separate publication, Access Across America: Biking 2017 Methodology, describes the data and methodology used in this evaluation.
Access Across America: Biking 2017 Methodology
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2019-07) Owen, Andrew; Murphy, Brendan
Accessibility is the ease and feasibility of reaching valued destinations. It can be measured for a wide array of transportation modes, to different types of destinations, and at different times of day. There are a variety of ways to define accessibility, but the number of destinations reachable within a given travel time is the most comprehensible and transparent as well as the most directly comparable across cities. This report describes the data and methodology used in the Access Across America: Biking 2017 report, which estimates the accessibility to jobs by bicycle for each of the 11 million U.S. census blocks and analyzes these data in the 50 largest (by population) metropolitan areas. This study estimates the accessibility to jobs by biking for each of the United States? 11 million census blocks, and analyzes these data in the 50 largest (by population) metropolitan areas. Travel times by biking are calculated using detailed roadway networks classified by their Level of Traffic Stress (LTS). Rankings are determined by a weighted average of job accessibility; a higher weight is given to closer jobs, as jobs closer to origins are more easily reached, and are thus more valuable, than those further away. Jobs reachable within ten minutes are weighted most heavily, and jobs are given decreasing weights as travel time increases up to 60 minutes.
Access Across America: Biking 2019
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2020-11) Owen, Andrew; Murphy, Brendan
Accessibility is the ease and feasibility of reaching valued destinations. It can be measured for a wide array of transportation modes, to different types of destinations, and at different times of day. There are a variety of ways to define accessibility, but the number of destinations reachable within a given travel time is the most comprehensible and transparent as well as the most directly comparable across cities. This report focuses on accessibility to jobs by biking. Bicycle mode share for commute trips in the U.S. is typically very low and has remained stable at 0.6% of all commute trips since 2011; however, overall number of bicycle commuters nationwide has increased by 21.6% since 2010. This study estimates the accessibility to jobs by biking for each of the United States’ 11 million census blocks and analyzes these data in the 50 largest (by population) metropolitan areas. Travel times by biking are calculated using detailed roadway networks classified by their Level of Traffic Stress (LTS). As of the 2016 version of LEHD LODES data, statistics for federal jobs and workers are no longer included in the datasets. Accessibility data included in this report may be less accurate in metropolitan areas with large proportions of federal jobs, such as Washington, D.C. This report presents detailed accessibility values for each metropolitan area, as well as block-level maps which illustrate the spatial patterns of accessibility within each area. A separate publication, Access Across America: Biking 2019 Methodology, describes the data and methodology used in this evaluation.
Access Across America: Biking 2019 Methodology
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2020-11) Owen, Andrew; Murphy, Brendan
Accessibility is the ease and feasibility of reaching valued destinations. It can be measured for a wide array of transportation modes, to different types of destinations, and at different times of day. There are a variety of ways to define accessibility, but the number of destinations reachable within a given travel time is the most comprehensible and transparent as well as the most directly comparable across cities. This report describes the data and methodology used in the Access Across America: Biking 2019 report, which estimates the accessibility to jobs by bicycle for each of the 11 million U.S. census blocks and analyzes these data in the 50 largest (by population) metropolitan areas. This study estimates the accessibility to jobs by biking for each of the United States’ 11 million census blocks, and analyzes these data in the 50 largest (by population) metropolitan areas. Travel times by biking are calculated using detailed roadway networks classified by their Level of Traffic Stress (LTS). Rankings are determined by a weighted average of job accessibility; a higher weight is given to closer jobs, as jobs closer to origins are more easily reached, and are thus more valuable, than those further away. Jobs reachable within ten minutes are weighted most heavily, and jobs are given decreasing weights as travel time increases up to 60 minutes.
Access Across America: Biking 2020
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2023-03) Owen, Andrew
Accessibility is the ease and feasibility of reaching valued destinations. It can be measured for a wide array of transportation modes, to different types of destinations, and at different times of day. There are a variety of ways to define accessibility, but the number of destinations reachable within a given travel time is the most comprehensible and transparent as well as the most directly comparable across cities. This report focuses on accessibility to jobs by biking. Bicycle mode share for commute trips in the U.S. is typically very low and has remained stable at 0.6% of all commute trips since 2011; however, overall number of bicycle commuters nationwide has increased by 21.6% since 2010. This study estimates the accessibility to jobs by biking for each of the United States' 11 million census blocks and analyzes these data in the 50 largest (by population) metropolitan areas. Travel times by biking are calculated using detailed roadway networks classified by their Level of Traffic Stress (LTS). Rankings are determined by a weighted average of job accessibility; a higher weight is given to closer jobs, as jobs closer to origins are more easily reached, and are thus more valuable, than those further away. Jobs reachable within ten minutes are weighted most heavily, and jobs are given decreasing weights as travel time increases up to 60 minutes. This report presents detailed accessibility values for each metropolitan area, as well as block-level maps which illustrate the spatial patterns of accessibility within each area.
Access in Appalachia Pilot Implementation Project
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2024-05) Jain, Saumya; Lind, Eric; Owen, Andrew; Liu, Shirley Shiqin
The Access in Appalachia Pilot Implementation Project report is an exploration of transportation accessibility within the Appalachian Region. Here, Accessibility means the ease with which people can travel to valued destinations. Commissioned by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and led by the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration, this project represents a significant leap forward in the understanding of the intersections between economic development, land use, and transportation infrastructure. Through innovative methodologies this project measures, analyzes, and visualizes the access of Appalachian residents to critical opportunities, including jobs, education, healthcare, entertainment, and intermodal freight facilities. The analyses reveal critical insights into transportation dynamics, land use practices, and accessibility nuances, often marked by the urban vs rural landscape within the Appalachian region, offering pathways for strategic development. The report highlights need for tailored transportation strategies, informed decision-making, and equitable planning to address the diverse needs of Appalachia's varied landscapes to foster socio-economic growth.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Data Collection Manual
(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2017-01) Minge, Erik; Falero, Courtney; Lindsey, Greg; Petesch, Michael; Vorvick, Thor
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) launched the Minnesota Bicycle and Pedestrian Counting Initiative in 2011, a statewide, collaborative effort to encourage and support non-motorized traffic monitoring. One of the objectives of the Initiative was to provide guidance related to monitoring bicycle and pedestrian traffic. This manual is an introductory guide nonmotorized traffic monitoring. The manual describes general traffic monitoring principles; bicycle and pedestrian data collection sensors; how to perform counts; data management and analysis; and the next steps for bicycle and pedestrian traffic monitoring in Minnesota. The manual also includes several case studies that illustrate how bicycle and pedestrian traffic data can be used to support transportation planning and engineering.
Complete Streets from Policy to Project: The Planning and Implementation of Complete Streets at Multiple Scales
(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2013-12) Schively Slotterback, Carissa; Zerger, Cindy
Complete streets is emerging as an influential movement in transportation planning, design, and engineering. This guidebook, with accompanying case studies, explores the variety of ways in which complete streets is conceptualized and institutionalized by various jurisdictions. It offers practical and applicable insights for jurisdictions in Minnesota and elsewhere. The research focused on best practices in 11 locations across the nation: Albert Lea, Minnesota; Arlington County, Virginia; Boulder, Colorado; Charlotte, North Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Dubuque, Iowa; Fargo-Moorhead, North Dakota/Minnesota; Hennepin County, Minnesota; Madison, Wisconsin; New Haven, Connecticut; and Rochester, Minnesota. The guidebook is informed by an analysis of multiple data sources from each jurisdiction. The authors conducted a review of key documents (e.g., plans, policies, design guidelines), site visits, photo documentation, and in-depth interviews with more than 100 key informants. Six best practice areas emerged through the analysis: (1) framing and positioning, (2) institutionalizing complete streets, (3) analysis and evaluation, (4) project delivery and construction, (5) promotion and education, and (6) funding. The six best practice areas are described in detail and illustrated by examples from the case locations. The guidebook concludes with an appendix of complete streets case reports that offer additional details about each of the 11 case jurisdictions.
The effects of pedestrian and bicycle exposure on crash risk in Minneapolis
(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2021) Tao, Tao; Lindsey, Greg; Cao, Jason; Wang, Jueyu
Exposure to risk is a theoretically important correlate of crash risk, but many safety performance functions (SPFs) for pedestrian and bicycle traffic have yet to include the mode-specific measures of exposure. When SPFs are used in the systematic approach to assess network-wide crash risk, the omission of the exposure potentially could affect the identification of high-risk locations. Using crash data from Minneapolis, this study constructs and compares two sets of SPFs, one with pedestrian and bicycle exposure variables and the other without, for network-wide intersection and mid-block crash models. Inclusion of mode-specific exposure variables improves model validity and measures of goodness-of-fit and increases accuracy of predictions of pedestrian and bicycle crash risk. Including these exposure variables in the SPFs changes the distribution of high-risk locations, including the proportion of high-risk locations in low-income and racially concentrated areas. These results confirm the importance of incorporating exposure measures within SPFs and the need for pedestrian and bicycle monitoring programs to generate exposure data.
The Impact of Bicycling Facilities on Commute Mode Share
(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2008-08) Douma, Frank; Cleaveland, Fay
A 2005 study by Barnes, Thompson, and Krizek examined how the addition of bicycling facilities during the 1990s influenced localized bicycle commuting rates in the Twin Cities. They found that new facilities had a small but consistent and statistically significant impact on increased rates of bicycle commuting in areas immediately surrounding these facilities. This study expands on these findings by applying the same methodology to six other cities that experienced new facility construction during the 1990s. The purpose is to determine whether results from the Twin Cities are consistent elsewhere and to identify possible contextual factors influencing facilities’ impact on bicycle commuting rates in a given city. We conclude that the “build it and they will come” theory is not universally applicable; context factors are an important element in determining the effectiveness of new commuting facilities. Among the key factors we identified were the level of publicity surrounding new facilities, the utility of routes to commuters, and the overall connectivity of the city’s bicycling network. This evidence will aid in the evaluation of bicycle facility investment as a congestion reduction strategy.
The Minnesota Bicycle and Pedestrian Counting Initiative: Institutionalizing Bicycle and Pedestrian Monitoring
(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2017-01) Lindsey, Greg; Petesch, Michael; Vorvick, Tohr; Austin, Lisa; Holdhusen, Bruce
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) launched the Minnesota Bicycle and Pedestrian Counting Initiative in 2011, a statewide, collaborative effort to encourage and support non-motorized traffic monitoring. This report summarizes work by MnDOT and the University of Minnesota between 2014 and 2016 to institutionalize bicycle and pedestrian monitoring. The project team established a new statewide bicycle and pedestrian traffic monitoring network with 25 permanent monitoring locations and a new district-based portable counting equipment loan program. Other key accomplishments included Minnesota’s first Bicycle and Pedestrian Annual Traffic Monitoring Report, a new MnDOT website for reporting annual and short-duration counts, and a new Bicycle and Pedestrian Data Collection Manual that local jurisdictions and consultants can use to design manual and automated non-motorized traffic monitoring programs. The project team also included provisions in MnDOT equipment vendor agreements that enable local governments to purchase bicycle and monitoring equipment; established new annual training programs for bicycle and pedestrian monitoring; and contributed provisions in the Statewide Bicycle System Plan and Minnesota Walks that call for bicycle and pedestrian traffic monitoring and creation of performance measures based on counts. Despite this progress, challenges in implementing monitoring remain and continued investment in and support for bicycle and traffic monitoring is needed.
Nice Stations: An Exploration of Nice Ride Bike Share Accessibility and Station Choice
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2014-02) Schoner, Jessica; Levinson, David
Little is known about how people integrate bike share trip segments into their daily travel. In this study, we evaluate how people navigate from place to place using the Nice Ride Minnesota bike share system in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. We measure changes in job accessibility due to the addition of Nice Ride stations and develop a theoretical model for bike share station choice. The mapped results suggest that Nice Ride provides the strongest job accessibility improvement at the 30-minute threshold in a band just beyond the central business district where walking would not be feasible. We then model people's choice of origin station to evaluate their sensitivity to time spent walking, distance, and a set of station amenity and neighborhood control variables. As expected, people prefer to use stations that do not require deviating from the shortest path to reach a station. For commuters, each additional minute of walking decreases a station’s chance of being chosen, regardless of the overall trip length. Commuters also chose stations closer to parks. Conversely, users making non-work trips are sensitive to the ratio of walking to biking time (with a preference for time spent biking). Stations in neighborhoods with lower crime rates were more likely to be chosen for all trip purposes. The results from this study are important for planners who need a better understanding of bike share user behavior to design or optimize their system. The findings also provide a strong foundation for future research about bike share system modeling.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Risk and Equity: Implications for Street Improvement Projects
(2019-06) Lindsey, Greg; Tao, Tao; Wang, Jueyu; Cao, Jason
Transportation managers need information about crash risk and equity to prioritize investments in street networks. This case study uses data from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to illustrate how estimates of pedestrian and bicycle crash risk and assessments of inequities in the distribution of that risk can inform prioritization of street improvement projects. Crash numbers and frequencies for pedestrian and bicycle crashes at intersections and mid-blocks in Minneapolis are determined for the 2005-2017 period. New models of pedestrian and bicycle crash risk at both intersections and mid-blocks that control for exposure are introduced and used to predict crashes at all intersections and mid-blocks in the city. Statistical tests are used to assess the equity of distribution of estimated crash risk between areas of concentrated poverty with majority-minority populations and other areas in the city. Crash indexes based on predicted crashes are used to illustrate how increased emphases can be placed on pedestrian and bicycle safety in street improvement rankings. Results show that pedestrian and bicycle crash risk is correlated with exposure, that different factors affect crash risk at intersections and mid-blocks, and that these factors differ for pedestrian and bicycle crashes. Results also show that mean crash risk is higher in neighborhoods with lower incomes and majority-minority populations. For street improvement projects in the city, different rankings result when segments are ranked according to modeled pedestrian and bicycle crash risk in addition to total crash rates based on historical numbers of crashes at particular locations. Results generally affirm efforts by the Minneapolis Department of Public Works to increase emphases on pedestrian and bicycle safety and equity in its prioritization of street improvements.
Practical Methods for Analyzing Pedestrian and Bicycle Use of a Transportation Facility
(Minnesota Department of Transportation Office of Research Services, 2010-02) Somasundaram, Guruprasad; Morellas, Vassilios; Papanikolopoulos, Nikolaos P.
The objective of the project is to analyze existing technologies used for the process of generating counts of bicycles and pedestrians in transportation facilities such as walk and bicycle bridges, urban bicycle routes, bicycle trails etc. The advantages and disadvantages of each existing technology which is being applied to counting has been analyzed and some commercially available products were listed. A technical description of different methods that were considered for vision based object recognition is also mentioned along with the reasons as to why such methods were overlooked for our problem. Support Vector Machines were used for classification based on a vocabulary of features built using interest point detectors. After finalizing the software and hardware, five sites were picked for filming and about 10 hours of video was acquired in all. A portion of the video data was used for training and the remainder was used for testing the algorithm’s accuracy. Results of counts are provided and an interpretation of these results is provided in this report. Upon detailed analysis the reasons for false counts and undercounting in some cases have been identified and current work concerns dealing with these issues. Changes are being made to the system to improve the accuracy with the current level of training and make the system available for practitioners to perform counting.
The Safety of Pedestrian and Bicycle Travel in Minnesota: Inventory, Analysis, and Prospectus
(Minnesota Department of Transportation, Research Services Section, 2007-01) Krizek, Kevin; Poindexter, Gavin; El-Geneidy, Ahmed; Sanderson, Edward
As attention in transportation circles, increasingly focuses on encouraging pedestrian and bicycle travel, it is important that planning initiatives be informed about the safety aspects of these modes. However, recent research suggests a limited understanding of the features that affect the pedestrian and bicycle travel, particularly when it comes to safety. The report examines the information that is collected regarding pedestrian and bicycle crashes in Minnesota in comparison to other states and looks a new ways in which this data can be used increase knowledge of pedestrian and bicycle crashes. To do this exercise exploits a database of crash report information for all pedestrian and bicycle crashes in the State of Minnesota from 1998-2002. Our analysis examines general trends of pedestrian and bicycle crashes. In addition, we demonstrate that pedestrian crashes tend to occur in different locations than bicycle crashes. The final part of the paper focuses on developing a method to identify where pedestrian and bicycle crashes are more likely to occur, Poisson regression to identify the relationships between crashes and neighborhood attributes.

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