An Examination of Bicycle Counts and Speeds Associated with the Installation of Bike Lanes in St. Petersburg, Florida
Source: University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, FDOT
It is assumed that installation of bicycle facilities will result in an increase in the number of bicyclists. However, it is rare that any kinds of before and after counts are performed and reported in the literature. This report focuses on the before-after change in the amount of bicycle riding associated with the installation of bicycle lanes along two corridors, 31st and 37th streets in St. Petersburg, Florida, with low levels of bicycling. For all data collection locations, model results showed a 17.1% increase in the bicyclists per day after installation of the bike lanes (from 9.06 to 10.49 bicycles ber day using the raw count data.
The study shows that the addition of bicycle lanes alone on a street will not guarantee an immediate incraese in bicycle volume. Other factors, including adjacent land use, convenient origins and destination, and connectivity of a bicycle lane to other bicycle facilities within the street system are just as, or perhaps more critical, in terms of encouraging bicycling.
