The purpose of this document is to provide guidelines for planning of safe on-road and shared use bicycle facilities. It will provide planners and designers the information to develop the safest most efficient facilities possible.
Roadway design standards are discussed as they relate to incorporating the design of bicycle facilities into roadway projects.
There is a growing need for designers, citizens and others to have a common vocabulary, common concepts and common knowledge of successful bicyclist systems and facilities in different places. Bicycling facilities planning is still not offered in most college and university curricula. This omission results in a wide variance in planning and design concepts, facilities placement and final design by individual designers.
We have become such a nation of specialists. Many planners lack the opportunity to see a project from concept to concrete. This lack of continuity is complicated by the tendency of planners to be assigned a vast territory, which means they rarely live in the neighborhood or even in the city they are helping to design. A consultant in Atlanta, Georgia may be completing a plan for a project in Ft. Myers, Florida. This document allows all of us to have a common general knowledge of how bicycling facilities work. In this way specific projects are more likely to do what they are intended to do – serve the public with well conceived, well located, affordable, safe, secure and friendly environments.
Course Outline
The Bicycle Planning & Safety course was developed to provide guidelines for planning of safe on-road and shared use bicycle facilities.
The background of bicycling is outlined including predictable behavior and the history of bicycling. The intermodal system is discusses as it relates to the design of neighborhoods to promote safe and effective links to destinations where people go for their daily needs.
Bicycle planning is discussed in detail. The basic principles for developing a bicycle plan are outlined. The process starts with model planning process, progresses through comprehensive community planning, development of goals and objectives, and ends with the selection and development of options.
Bicycle safety is also addressed. Bicyclists are involved in highly characteristic crashes often associated with age, experience and ability. While only 15% of bicycle crashes involve a motor vehicle, these crashes tend to be the most serious, and hence have been studied more. The seven most common bicycle-motor vehicle crashes are identified and defined.
The importance of bicycle helmets is also stressed.
The course is designed to provide a basic knowledge of bicycle planning and safety from which planners and designers can use this information to develop the safest and most efficient facilities possible.
This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, the student will learn:
• Background and history of bicycling;
• Bicycle Planning;
• Comprehensive community planning;
• Selection and development of options;
• Bicycle Safety; and
• Common bicycle-motor vehicle crashes.
