Bike Lanes
Part One
As an undergraduate student at UT, there have been many times where I was walking to class that was at least 10 minutes away (at a brisk pace), and the same argument went through my head: should I walk or bike to class? It always seemed too short of a walk to bother with trying to unlock a bike, ride it through traffic and stoplights, weave through pedestrians on Speedway, and finally lock the bike again at the building of my next class. I could walk to my next class faster than riding a bike! However, I will soon be moving to an apartment farther from campus (farther than the dorms are from class). Now the time it will take to walk to class will surpass the time it will take to bike despite all of the obstacles that are associated with biking. If I am going to commute to school using a bike, I want to be educated on how safe it is to bike through West Campus/ UT, the pros and cons to biking versus walking, and how bike lanes will either help or harm my daily commute. The construction of bike lanes has risen considerably in recent years due to a growing movement to reduce pollution by not driving cars. This article aims to provide a background on bike lanes and clarify any misconceptions about bike lanes.
Ralph Buehler and John Pucher elaborates on how commuting via bike has been a primary form of tackling carbon pollution and promoting public health (2012). Buehler and Pucher recognize the need for bike lanes/paths to achieve this goal (2012). The study aimed to conduct research to determine if bike paths were more effective in increasing bike activity than bike lanes (where bike paths on a sidewalk area, and bike lanes were a part of the road); previous studies of this nature were inconsistent due to a perceived small sample size (Buehler & Pucher, 2012). Understandably, the study concluded bike lanes and bike paths to promote cycling in cities (Buehler & Pucher, 2012). Students and other members of the community want infrastructure that will allow them to get to their destination in the quickest and safest way possible, and bike lanes are a means of achieving this desire. People also want clean air; bike lanes are a means of achieving this desire as well. It’s a two birds with one stone philosophy for urban development. Buehler and Pucher cite a study conducted by Jennifer Dill and Theresa Carr (2003). This study, conducted nearly ten years before Buehler and Pucher published their article, analyzed the effect bike lanes/paths had on people’s willingness to commute using a bike rather than a vehicle as a means to reduce air pollution (Dill & Carr, 2003). Similar to the study done by Buehler and Pucher, Dill and Carr found that there was a correlation between bike infrastructure and gasoline prices (2003). In other words, it took ten years for people to question why cities weren’t investing resources into building bike lanes/paths even when there was already data to suggest that it will be used by people for a means to commute. To prove the point, another study was conducted (Buehler & Pucher, 2012) to prove the usefulness of bike lanes again. These articles provide examples of the many advantages in building bike lanes.
After bike lanes are built, there is the question of how safe they are to bikers, drivers, and pedestrians. Juneyoung Park and coworkers studied what effects adding bike lanes to roadways have on crash rates (2015). The study found the addition of bike lanes to be effective in reducing crashes, particularly bike crashes (Park et. al, 2015). If communities like Austin are serious about decreasing carbon pollution, they should invest in creating bike lanes that traverse the city. Any misconceptions about bike lanes not being safe for bikers is disproven by this article, and the false attitude of the lack of bike lane safety can no longer be used as an excuse to continue driving cars. Lastly Kevin Krizek and Rio Roland describe the issues bike lanes pose when they are poorly constructed or are discontinuous (2005). A survey was issued to range the perceived level of safety in terms of bike lane discontinuities: very comfortable, comfortable, neutral, uncomfortable, and hazardous (Krizek & Roland, 2005). The study was useful for city planners to gain a background on bike lanes and the important issues surrounding the construction of bike lanes (Krizek & Roland, 2005). As discussed later in this article (Part 2), bike lanes are only as useful as they are present. If a bike lane starts halfway through my route, half of my route is safer than the other half. Bike lanes can be very useful when they’re open to bikers and not blocked by cars, pedestrians, or construction.
In addition to peer-reviewed articles, there have been numerous newspaper publications published in regards to bike lanes. The article, “Two Austin Bike Lanes Named Among Nation’s Ten Best” by Tony Cantu (2017) describes the bike lanes in Downtown and South Austin as top tier bike lanes compared to those in the U.S., one of which is crossing the Mopac Bridge and the one that runs along 3rd Street. The article references People for Bikes, an organization that is dedicated to making riding a bike better for everyone. On the website for People for Bikes, there are multiple links describing the bike lanes in Austin under the “Green Lane Project” tab. It lists all the bike lanes in Austin such as the Lance Armstrong Bikeway, the bike lane on 4th Street, the Barton Springs Road bikeway, Bluebonnet Lane, the bike lane on Guadalupe Street, and the bike lane in West Campus along Rio Grande Street (from MLK to 29th Street).
Some additional resources on bike lanes include a myriad of YouTube videos. Most famous of bike related YouTube videos is the one that was uploaded by Casey Neistat, “Bike Lanes by Casey Neistat” (2011). The video begins by Neistat receiving a traffic ticket for riding his bike in the road rather than the bike lane. The rest of the video is Neistat hilariously riding in the bike lane despite any obstacles or safety hazards that might be in his way.
Another comical bike video is the one entitled, “Bike Lane Hero. New Year’s Day” (2017) in which a biker is singing at pedestrians, who are walking in the bike lane, to get out of his way.
Additionally, the video, “9 Worst Bike Lanes” (2016), is a short video about the most absurd ways in which a bike lane is either blocked by various objects or in a condition that is clearly unfit for bikers to bike on.
Bike lanes can be a greatly useful tool in improving the overall health standing amongst citizens who can commute to school or work via a bike. Bike lanes can also help decrease the amount of air pollution in cities. Lawmakers should invest infrastructure funds towards creating bike lanes to achieve these goals and promote the general well-being of the members of the community.
Part Two
As a way to conduct my own research, I walked around West Campus (UT) to see where there were bike lanes and the conditions of the roadways/ sidewalks. I started at 4:15pm and finished at 5:15pm (February 8th). I looked at the roads between Guadalupe and San Gabriel (East/West) and 24th through 28th Street (South/ North).
Most of the buildings were residential — apartments and some fraternity/ sorority houses — with a few restaurants and convenience stores. There was only one protected bike lane that allowed for traffic to flow north and south along Rio Grande Street. I saw 12 bikers and two skateboarders riding their bikes/ skate boards along Rio Grande within 24th-28th street (although it appeared to continue for at least another block in each direction). While there was slightly more traffic on Rio Grande Street than other streets (north/south), the traffic of the street isn’t all that can be accounted for when considering why there might be more bikers/skateboarders along this road. For example, 24th was a street with a high frequency of traffic, but there were no bikers riding their bikes at this time (probably because there was so much vehicular traffic). I guess it just proves Dill and Carr right that bike lanes are put to use if community leaders are willing to invest. It’s worth noting that the only other bike lane in West Campus was on Nueces Street from 26th Street (where there was a B-Cycle station) to 24th Street, but it was only on the side in which the traffic was facing south. There was one skateboarder who used this bike lane. The other high traffic street was Guadalupe, which only had a bike lane on the side where the traffic was facing north (24th through 28th Street, but it appeared to continue for at least another block in both directions) and a bike lane on the side in which traffic faced south started at 24th street and continued from that starting point. There was one biker on the side where the traffic was facing north. There was one biker and one skateboarder on 28th street (no bike lane); other than that, people were walking to their destination.
Bibliography
Buehler, R., & Pucher, J. (2012). Cycling to work in 90 large american cities: New evidence on the role of bike paths and lanes. Transportation, 39(2), 409–432. 10.1007/s11116–011–9355–8
Dill, J., & Carr, T. (2003). Bicycle commuting and facilities in major U.S. cities: If you build them, commuters will use them. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1828, 116–123. 10.3141/1828–14
Krizek, K. J., & Roland, R. W. (2005). What is at the end of the road? understanding discontinuities of on-street bicycle lanes in urban settings. Transportation Research Part D, 10(1), 55–68. 10.1016/j.trd.2004.09.00
Park, J., Abdel-Aty, M., Lee, J., & Lee, C. (2015). Developing crash modification functions to assess safety effects of adding bike lanes for urban arterials with different roadway and socio-economic characteristics. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 74, 179–191. 10.1016/j.aap.2014.10.024
Secondary/ tertiary Articles:
“Two Austin Bike Lanes Named Among Nation’s Ten Best” by Tony Cantu (2017)
https://patch.com/texas/downtownaustin/two-austin-bike-lanes-named-among-nations-best
Website for the organization “People for bikes”; an organization dedicated to making riding better for everyone.
https://peopleforbikes.org/green-lane-project/focus-cities/austin-tx/
Videos:
“Bike Lanes by Casey Neistat” (2011)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzE-IMaegzQ
“Bike Lane Hero. New Years Day.” (2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehh8ZdIMMj4
“9 Worst Bike Lanes” (2016)
