Community Bicycle Congress
Exploring transportation alternatives for Boise State University and beyond!
Symposium of the Community Bicycle Congress
Boise State University Student Union
Bishop Barnwell Room
April 25, 2008
Invited Researchers
Jose Weissmann
University of Texas, San Antonio
Rural Bicycle Accommodation Plan and Decision-Aid Tool
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.
Peter G. Furth
Northeastern University
On-Road Bicycle Facilities for Children and Other "Easy Riders": Stress Mechanisms and Design Criteria
Design criteria were developed for a bicycling network in which the design user is older children and other “easy riders” – cyclists who want to be separated from traffic stress. Stress mechanisms such as overtaking traffic, parking turbulence, and right turning traffic were analyzed to determine criteria for traffic volume, speed, parking, lane width, and other traffic and roadway factors at which a bicycle route becomes unacceptably stressful, and for design features that reduce traffic stress. Facilities examined were shared lanes, bike lanes, bicycle contraflow both with and without centerline marking, and no-passing-bikes zones. The latter is a proposed facility for narrow streets with low speeds but traffic volumes too high to support lane sharing. When applying these criteria to design of a town-wide bicycle network, contraflow and no-passing-bikes zones were found to provide critical links for creating direct, low-stress bike routes.