Guidelines for benefit-cost analysis of bicycle facilities: refining methods for estimating the effect of bicycle infrastructure on use and property values

Abstract

Following the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Equity Act (ISTEA) in 1991, many communities began building and/or expanding their bicycle networks. With the increase in investment in bicycle facilities comes a need to measure the impact of the investments. This report expands on how these measurements can be done through case studies based on the Twin cities. It is a compilation of studies related to estimating the effects of bicycle infrastructure on the community around the infrastructure and is a continuation of previous work that was included in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 552 "Guidelines for Analysis of Investments in Bicycle Facilities". The work is divided into four main parts: (1) the relationship between bicycle facilities and rates of bicycling, (2) the impact of establishing bicycle facilities on residential on residential property values, (3) the effect of building a bicycle facility on the number of bicycle crashes in the area, and (4) the impact of the Midtown Greenway on the surrounding community. In addition, the report also describes the use and refinement of a online tool for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Bicycle Facilities. The tool was created as part of the NCHRP project, and was recently used as part of graduate planning and civil engineering course. Included in this report is the findings of the research, and feedback from the students regarding the on-line tool. The on-line tool can be found at http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/bikecost/.