National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project
Source: Transportation Research Board
"One of the greatest challenges facing the bicycle and pedestrian field is the lack of documentation on usage and demand. Without accurate and consistent demand and usage figures, it is difficult to measure the positive benefits of investments in these modes, especially when compared to the other transportation modes such as the private automobile. An answer to this need for data is the debut of the National Bicycle & Pedestrian Documentation Program co-sponsored by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Pedestrian and Bicycle Council and Alta Planning + Design. The goals of the NDP are to: (1) establish a consistent national bicycle and pedestrian count and survey methodology;(2) establish a national database of bicycle and pedestrian count information generated by these consistent methods and practices; and (3) use the count and survey information to begin analysis on the correlations between local demographic, climate and land-use factors and bicycle and pedestrian activity. The preliminary national bicycle and pedestrian count occurred in the second week of September 2005 throughout North America. This paper describes the methodology of this effort and invites the TRB community to spread the word and participate in this nationally consistent model of data collection."
