The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) issued new guidance Wednesday that builds on the group’s earlier efforts to help cities around the world design safe, effective bike infrastructure.
The new guidance, “Designing for All Ages and Abilities,” focuses on vehicle speeds and traffic volumes as key safety factors. Coupled with design factors like street width, the guide will arm city planners with new tools to assess streets and choose treatments to improve bike safety.
The new guidance supplements the Urban Bikeway Design Guide, which NATCO released in 2011.
“Since the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide launched in 2011, cities have built 307 miles of protected bike lanes — a dramatic 400 percent increase in safe and comfortable biking facilities that has been more than matched by pent-up demand for bicycling across the country,” Linda Bailey, executive director of NACTO, said. “Designing for All Ages and Abilities gives cities a powerful tool to evaluate their streets and make clear choices about what they can do to build safe, sustainable bike networks that attract riders of all ages and abilities.”
The new guidance was developed in consultation with representatives from all 58 NACTO member cities.
“NACTO cities lead the way on forward-thinking mobility,” Seleta Reynolds, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and president of NACTO, said. “Now we can match the right bikeway to the right street. Riding a bike should be welcoming and fun, no matter what kind of a rider you are.”
Polly Trottenberg, commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, noted that three-quarters of a million New Yorkers ride bikes on a regular basis, three times more than 15 years ago.
“We’ve found that the growth in ridership has gone hand-in-hand with a growing bike route network of over 1,100 miles,” Trottenberg said. “We continue to meet surging demand, as we have this year installed a record 25 miles of protected bike lanes. As cycling surges, NACTO’s guidance and leadership will help us continue to provide the high-quality and high-comfort bike facilities that New Yorkers increasingly demand all over the five boroughs.”