The Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center has published “Trends and Determinants of Cycling in the Washington D.C. Region,” written by myself and my co-authors Andrea Hamre, Dan Sonenklar, and Paul Goger.
Mobility Lab is further publishing the key findings from this report, in two parts. This part highlights our key findings on cycling trends and policies in the D.C. region, and a subsequent blog will detail findings on bike commuting in the area. Click here for part 2, specifically on bike-commuting trends.
- Cycling levels are increasing – but with great spatial variability. Between 1994 and 2008, cycling levels increased in the Washington D.C. area. In both years the urban core jurisdictions of D.C., Arlington, and Alexandria had higher cycling levels than the inner suburbs. However, even within the urban core jurisdictions, cycling was concentrated in certain neighborhoods, such as Capitol Hill, Adams Morgan, and Mount Pleasant in Washington D.C., and the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and parts of Alexandria in Virginia.
- A large share of bicycle trips in D.C. is commute or work related. In 2008, 41 percent of all weekday bike trips in the region were commute or work related compared to only 17 percent in other urbanized areas in the U.S. The high share of work trips among trips by bicycle in the region is comparable with bike-friendly cities in Europe, such as Berlin or Amsterdam.
- Cyclist safety has improved. As cycling levels have increased, so has cyclist safety. Moreover, in 2008, jurisdictions with more cycling had safer cycling. Washington D.C., Alexandria, Arlington County, and Montgomery County had safer cycling than Prince George’s County and Fairfax County.
- Bicycle planning has its roots in the 1970s and has experienced a “renaissance” since the late 1990s. However, even in the late 1990s, only few bike lanes had been built. Bike infrastructure supply was mostly limited to off-street paths that are shared between bicyclists and pedestrians. Since the late 1990s, all jurisdictions have also expanded their networks of on-street bike lanes and signed bike routes. Washington D.C., Arlington, and Alexandria have expanded their network of on-street lanes more aggressively than suburban Montgomery, Fairfax, and Prince George’s counties. Washington D.C. has also been the regional leader in experimenting with innovative bicycle infrastructure, such as traffic lights for cyclists, bike boxes, contra-flow bike lanes, cycle tracks, and a state-of-the-art bike-parking station at Union Station. Together with Arlington County, the District launched Capital Bikeshare, the nation’s first regional bike-sharing program.
- Programs targeting underrepresented groups could reduce geographic, age, ethnic, and gender disparities among cyclists. Area cyclists are predominantly male, between 25 and 40 years old, white, and from higher income groups. These statistics resemble characteristics of typical cyclists in the United States. However, in European cities cycling is more equally distributed across all groups of society. In the Washington area, programs targeting underrepresented groups could reduce geographic, age, ethnic, and gender disparities among cyclists. Some efforts are already underway, such as the Washington Area Bicyclist Association’s 2011 outreach plan for under-served areas.
- The bicycle infrastructure should be expanded and integrated. Fully connecting the network of bike lanes and paths is an important step to encourage cycling among more risk-averse groups. Even though bike-lane supply has increased significantly over the last decade, the bike network remains fragmented. This fragmentation often requires cyclists to ride in roads with heavy car traffic. Further expansion of the bike-lane network may require taking travel lanes or parking from cars, which will be less politically acceptable than many of the comparatively easier measures implemented so far. Moreover, area wide traffic-calming of residential neighborhood streets could help connect the bike network by enabling cyclists to share neighborhood roads with slow traveling cars.
- Further improvements of regional trail network. The region already has an excellent network of separate mixed-use trails. However, especially on weekends, some of these mixed-use trails are crowded with pedestrians, runners, recreational cyclists, and sports cyclists all sharing the same narrow eight-foot-wide path. Cities like Minneapolis provide extra wide, shared-use trails with dedicated space for pedestrians and cyclists.
[Editor’s note: Ralph’s blog is here and the book he co-edited for MIT press, City Cycling, is here.]
Photo by Michael Schade