USER COUNTS ON BICYCLE LANES AND MULTIUSE TRAILS IN THE UNITED STATES

The research presented in this paper was conducted as a supplemental activity to the National Bicycling and Walking Study, with the objective of answering the question, "If a facility is built, how many people will use it?" The first section of this paper examines temporal patterns in the number of bicycle trips along bicycle lanes and trails. Hourly user counts averaged roughly 100 bicyclists per location for lanes in Gainesville, Florida, Madison, Wisconsin, and Phoenix, Arizona, and a trail in Raleigh, North Carolina. Trails in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, Washington attracted twice as many daily users on weekends as on weekdays; at one bicycle lane location in Madison, bicycle volumes on Saturday were half those on weekdays. Counts from trails in Eugene, Oregon, Washington, D.C., and Madison were generally three to five times higher during the summer months than in the winter. Since 1987, the average volumes per location along bicycle lanes in Gainesville, paths in New York City, and a trail in Madison have ranged from 400 to 1,200 bicycles per day. In Eugene, the installation of bicycle lanes increased bicycle traffic along the routes by up to 40%. This study also reports information on the mix of bicyclists and pedestrians found on multiuse trails. On trails in Florida, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C., and on one bicycle lane in New York City, bicyclists comprised three-fourths or more of all users. For two bridges in New York City and a trail in California, pedestrians dominated.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1995/1502/1502-006.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=USER+COUNTS+ON+BICYCLE+LANES+AND+MULTIUSE+TRAILS+IN+THE+UNITED+STATES&author=W.+Hunter&author=H.+Huang&publication_year=1995
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309061644
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This papeDistribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reservedr appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1502, Bicycle and Pedestrian Research.
• Authors:
  • Hunter, William W
  • Huang, Herman F
• Publication Date: 1995

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 45-57
• Monograph Title: Bicycle and pedestrian research
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1502
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycle counts; Bicycle lanes; Bicycle travel; Bicycles; Bikeways; Summer; Traffic counts; Traffic volume; Trails; Walkways; Weekdays; Weekends; Winter
• Geographic Terms: California; Eugene (Oregon); Florida; Gainesville (Florida); Madison (Wisconsin); New York (New York); Phoenix (Arizona); Raleigh (North Carolina); Rhode Island; Seattle (Washington); Washington (District of Columbia)
• Old TRIS Terms: Pedestrian-bicycle bridges
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Terminals and Facilities; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00715588
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309061644
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jan 16 1996 12:00AM