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Evaluation of Innovative Bicycle Facilities: SW Broadway Cycle Track and SW Stark/Oak Street Buffered Bike Lanes

Christopher Monsere, Nathan McNeil and Jennifer Dill, January 14, 2011, Portland State University - Center for Transportation Studies

The Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation at Portland State University has released a report that explores the impact of two bike lane configurations: a cycle track (a seven-foot bike lane separated from motor vehicle traffic by a row of parked cars and a painted three-foot pedestrian buffer) and a couplet of buffered bike lanes (six-foot bike lanes with a two-foot painted buffer on either side separating them from motor vehicle traffic).

Two innovative bicycle facilities installed in late summer and early fall 2009 in downtown Portland by the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) were evaluated to understand how they are functioning on multiple levels. All of these facilities involved removing a motor vehicle lane by restriping to provide additional roadway space to bicyclists. The facilities include:

• A cycle track (a seven-foot bike lane separated from motor vehicle traffic by a row of parked cars and a painted three-foot pedestrian buffer), on SW Broadway from SW Clay to SW Jackson through the Portland State University campus, and
• A couplet of buffered bike lanes (six-foot bike lanes with a two-foot painted buffer on either side separating them from motor vehicle traffic) on eastbound SW Stark Street and westbound SW Oak Street from SW Naito Parkway to West Burnside.

The facilities were evaluated after they had been in place for approximately one year. Data collected to support this evaluation consisted of surveys of multiple user groups for each facility type, and
video data was collected by PBOT at intersections along each of the routes to understand the facilities’ impact on traffic flow, operations and user interactions. Table 1 provides a summary of data collected and analyzed.

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