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NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide The purpose of the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide (part of the Cities for Cycling initiative) is to provide cities with state-of-the-practice solutions that can help create complete streets that are safe and enjoyable for bicyclists. Bike Lanes Cycle Tracks Intersections Signals Signs & Markings The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide is based on the experience of the best cycling cities in the world. The designs in this document were developed by cities for cities, since unique urban streets require innovative solutions. Most of these treatments are not directly referenced in the current versions of the AASHTO Guide to Bikeway Facilities or the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), although many of the elements are found within these documents. The Federal Highway Administration has recently posted information regarding approval status of various bicycle related treatments not covered in the MUTCD, including many of the treatments provided in the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide. All of the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide treatments are in use internationally and in many cities around the US. To create the Guide, the authors have conducted an extensive worldwide literature search from design guidelines and real-life experience. They have worked closely with a panel of urban bikeway planning professionals from NACTO member cities, as well as traffic engineers, planners, and academics with deep experience in urban bikeway applications. A complete list of participating professionals is included here. Additional information has been gathered from numerous other cities worldwide. The intent of the Guide is to offer substantive guidance for cities seeking to improve bicycle transportation in places where competing demands for the use of the right of way present unique challenges.  Each of the treatments addressed in the Guide offers three levels of guidance: Required: elements for which there is a strong consensus t

SFMTA Tries New Bike Lane Treatments to Keep Cyclists Clear of Door Zone by Bryan Goebel on August 30, 2011 In a five foot standard bike lane, bicyclists really only have about one to two feet, if you consider the door zone. Animation/graphics by Carly Clark. Photo of Polk Street between O'Farrell and Geary by Bryan Goebel. The door zone is one of the biggest urban threats to bicyclists. Conventional bike lanes that squeeze bicyclists between the door zone and automobile traffic leave little room for error, but the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is piloting a series of projects designed to encourage bicyclists to steer clear of the door zone. On sections of Polk Street, pictured above (and yes, we added the green but do hope to see green bike lanes on Polk Street some day soon!), the SFMTA has painted in a batch of T's in the bike lanes that are supposed to guide bicyclists away from the door zone. While the treatment seems to be an improvement over typical door zone lanes, it also highlights how little street width is available for cyclists to ride safely. I asked our graphics designer Carly Clark to do a little photoshopping to illustrate how much real space bicyclists have if you consider the door zone. If you take a standard five foot bike lane, like the one above, and factor in the door zone, you realize bicyclists are only given a sliver of a space that is about one to two feet wide, depending on the width of the lane, and the size of a car door. According to the SFMTA, dooring is the second most common form of injury collision involving cyclists, behind unsafe speed, though the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) points out that dooring is the highest injury collision type caused by motorists or their passengers. A "T" on Howard Street. Photo: SFMTA The SFMTA has installed the T treatments on Polk between Post and Golden Gate and in the bike lanes on Howard Street between 5th and 7th. So far, according to the agency, they seem to b

BIKING How bicycling will save the economy (if we let it) 83 BY ELLY BLUE 28 FEB 2011 3:08 PM This is the first column in a series focusing on the economics of bicycling. Imagine getting a $3,000 to $12,000 tax rebate this year. Now imagine it coming again and again. Every year it grows by around a thousand dollars. Imagine how this would change your daily life. Sounds like a teabagger's wet dream, but it's actually a conservative estimate of how much you'd save by ditching your car, or even just one of your cars -- and getting on a bicycle instead. Car-centric conditions don't always make it easy to choose the bicycle. Communities designed exclusively for motor vehicles impose a major financial penalty on those who are compelled to take on the expense of driving. But if you're one of those who lives in a bike-friendlier place, you'll be doing your local business community a good turn and padding Uncle Sam's pockets as well as your own if you trade four wheels for two. In the many North American cities where two-wheeled transportation is taking off, a new bicycle economy is emerging. It's amazing how much money can stay in your community when it isn't being pumped into the gas tank, big insurance, and the auto market. What will this new bicycle economy look like? We don't have to guess. It's already emerging along urban, low-traffic bikeway networks nationwide. One thing is guaranteed: it includes a lot of new bike shops like this one on a bikeway in Baltimore -- one of five new bike shops to have opened in the last two years in that city. A 2008 study in Portland clocked bicycle-related industry alone as contributing $90 million to the local economy every year. Bicycle tourism is another huge boon to regions that can attract it -- in 2010, Wisconsin bragged of a yearly $1.5 billion bike economy [PDF]. Less obvious synergies abound as well. People who ride, just like people who drive, buy groceries, visit the doctor, need a new shirt sometimes, and en

Active Transportation Alliance News and Events Get a Member in December! Our members are our power - the more members we have, the more successful we will be in creating better conditions for biking, walking and transit in our communities. If you're an Active Trans member, you have an assignment - get just one new member to join Active Trans during the month of December! We're sure you know people who ride bikes, take transit and appreciate walkable communities - we need them to join us in action. And for those of you who are not members of Active Trans, please demonstrate your dedication to better transportation by joining now! Meet Ald. Solis at the Active Trans Social in Pilsen - Dec. 7 Join Active Trans as we celebrate all that has been accomplished over the past year to put Chicago on the path to building a world-class bike network. Ald. Danny Solis will discuss his recent educational trip to one of the most bicycle-friendly countries in the world - the Netherlands! Learn about Dutch approaches to city cycling that could be applied in Chicago: Dec. 7, 6 -7:30 p.m., Simone's bar, 960 W. 18th St., Chicago. The event is free and open members and nonmembers. Come to the Active Trans Social in Logan Square - Dec. 8 Calling all Logan Square Active Trans supporters! Join your friends and neighbors at Cole's tavern to connect with others who have a deep and abiding affection for biking, walking and transit. Local authors Greg Borzo and John Greenfield will be celebrating the release of On Bicycles: 50 Ways the New Bike Culture Can Change Your Life, 8 -10 p.m., Dec. 8, Cole's, 2338 N. Milwaukee, Chicago. The event is free and open members and nonmembers. Active Trans Volunteer Appreciation Party - Jan. 18 If you've volunteered for Active Trans during the past year, we're throwing you a party. We want to recognize all of the dedicated individuals who make our events, campaigns and programs successful. The evening will include light appetizers,

This article analyzes the variation in bike commuting in large American cities, with a focus on assessing the influence of bike paths and lanes, which have been the main approach to increasing cycling in the USA. To examine the role of cycling facilities, we used a newly assembled dataset on the length of bike lanes and paths in 2008 collected directly from 90 of the 100 largest U.S. cities. Pearson's correlation, bivariate quartile analysis, and two different types of regressions were used to measure the relationship between cycling levels and bikeways, as well as other explanatory and control variables. Ordinary Least Squares and Binary Logit Proportions regressions confirm that cities with a greater supply of bike paths and lanes have significantly higher bike commute rates-even when controlling for land use, climate, socioeconomic factors, gasoline prices, public transport supply, and cycling safety. Standard tests indicate that the models are a good fit, with R 2 ranging between 0.60 and 0.65. Computed coefficients have the expected signs for all variables in the various regression models, but not all are statistically significant. Estimated elasticities indicate that both off-street paths and on-street lanes have a similar positive association with bike commute rates in U.S. cities. Our results are consistent with previous research on the importance of separate cycling facilities and provide additional information about the potentially different role of paths vs. lanes. Our analysis also revealed that cities with safer cycling, lower auto ownership, more students, less sprawl, and higher gasoline prices had more cycling to work. By comparison, annual precipitation, the number of cold and hot days, and public transport supply were not statistically significant predictors of bike commuting in large cities.