Bridging the gaps. How the quality and quantity of a connected bikeway network correlates with increasing bike use.

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s Portland, Oregon has pursued a build it and they will come strategy by developing its bikeway network to promote increased bicycle use. Between 1992 and 2005 Portland increased its developed bikeway network by 215%, from 83 miles to 260 miles. During this same period, bicycle use in Portland soared. A comparison of 1990 and 2000 census data shows a doubling of bicycle commute trips citywide, with more dramatic increases in close-in neighborhoods. Annual bicycle counts on Portland´s central city bridges, which connect close-in residential neighborhoods across the Willamette River to the city´s primary commercial and employment center, show a 210% increase in bicycle trips between 1991 and 2004. This dramatic increase in bicycling occurred primarily in those corridors where the city has made significant investment to: improve bicycling conditions on the river bridges; create connected bicycle facilities leading to the bridges; and mitigate for traffic designs that are not particularly bicycle-friendly. The corridors where the network is most connected, and where the quality of the facilities is the highest, display the largest growth in bicycle trips. Data collected by Portland demonstrates a strong correlation between a connected, bikeway system constructed to the highest standards, and increases in bicycle use. The authors believe that the City´s investments in specific facility improvements to its downtown Willamette River bridges, as well as to key bridge access routes and connections, have been the primary impetus behind increasing bicycle use.