As separated on-street bicycle lanes become increasingly common, many state departments of transportation (DOTs) and local agencies have installed them to address safety concerns and promote cycling. Non-separated bikeways are marked by pavement striping or painted buffers, while separated bikeways use flexible delineators, curbs, parking lanes, or other barriers to create horizontal and vertical separation from motor vehicle traffic. Research was needed to provide state DOTs with detailed information on the anticipated safety benefits of bicycle network design features across various contexts, the relationship between these features, and the risk of midblock (non-intersection) bicycle crashes.

Under NCHRP Project 15-74, “Safety Evaluation of On-Street Bicycle Facility Design Features,” the Texas A&M Transportation Institute was asked to develop a data-driven guide for practitioners at state DOTs and other transportation agencies for selecting context-appropriate design features for safety improvements to existing separated and non-separated on-street bicycle lanes and for the planning of new bicycle lanes. The research team developed a guide based on an up-to-date, quantitative analysis of crash patterns, roadway characteristics, land use patterns, and human factors that increase conflicts and the risk and severity of midblock bicycle crashes.

The NCHRP Research Report 1136: On-Street Bicycle Facility Design Features: A Guide can be found here: https://doi.org/10.17226/28853

In addition to the guide published as NCHRP Research Report 1136, an associated publication detailing the conduct of research, NCHRP Web-Only Document 414: Safety Evaluation of On-Street Bicycle Facility Design Features, is available here: https://doi.org/10.17226/28854

Supplemental to these publications are a technical memorandum detailing the project and a PowerPoint presentation, which can also be found on the National Academies Press webpage (https://doi.org/10.17226/27896) for NCHRP Web-Only Document 414 under “Resources.”