Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2019

Abstract

Bikeability is an important element that must be considered in planning bicycle facilities. The resource constraints make it imperative for the planners and engineers to be able to identify and shortlist important factors that promote cyclists’ friendly environment. The current study utilized the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multiple criteria decision analysis technique, to rank the relative importance of bikeability factors for on-road bicycle facilities. AHP is the most applied multiple criteria decision analysis technique due to its ability to convert subjective judgment to a numerical value which can easily be incorporated in the decision-making process. A survey was administered to experienced cyclists and experts (i.e. planners and engineers), who were asked to rank the relative importance of one factor over the other when assessing the bikeability of on-road designated bike lanes, shared lanes, off-road bicycle facilities, intersections and bicycle infrastructure network. While this report documents summary results for other facilities studies, it gives detailed analysis results for on-road designated bike lanes since they had sufficient responses from the survey. Out of 21 factors that were investigated, the presence and enforcement of passing distance laws was ranked as the most important factor to consider when assessing the bikeability of on-road bicycle facilities. Other important factors, in descending order of importance, were bike lane marking, presence of on-street parking, bike lane type, presence of roadside hazards, motor vehicle speed, presence of paved shoulders and motor vehicle volume, among others. The results from this research form a basis for the factors deemed important by cyclists, planners and designers when assessing the bikeability of on-road bicycle lanes.

ID Number

TRCLC 2018-02

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