Bicycle Links

Summary of bicycle passing laws (including "three foot" and other similar laws) in all 50 states, as of January 2009.

The Continuing Debate about Safety in Numbers: Data from Oakland, CA - the risk of collision for pedestrians decreases with increasing pedestrian flows, and it increases with increasing vehicle flows. We also find that pedestrians are more likely to be struck by motorists in commercial and mixed areas than in residential areas.

Great Rivers Greenway's enabling legislation--starting with section 1700 of Chapter 67.

Lancaster County, NE, Drainage Criteria Manual has all the information you need on hydrology and drainage, including how to calculate drainage for impervious surfaces like roads, sidewalks, and trails. This appendix has information about calculating values for directly connected impervious surfaces (like roads and parking lots) and unconnected surfaces like trails and sidewalks. This appendix tells you everything you ever wanted to know about hydrology.

Encouraging Bicycling and Walking: The State Legislative Role by the National Conference of State Legislatures

The Physical Activity Policy Research Network (PAPRN) does research studies into policies and best practices in areas like encouraging more students to walk and bicycle to school, developing community trails, and creating community bicycle plans. What really works and what is most effective? That is what PAPRN's studies will help you decide.

Enjoy the Ride video - bicycling tips for adults from the League of American Bicyclists. This is one of the best videos summarizing how to safely bicycle.

Trails, Lanes, or Traffic: The Value of Different Bicycle Facilities Using an Adaptive Stated
Preference Survey - how much are different bicycle facilities worth? This paper puts a dollar value on them, showing that they are worth far more than they cost.

The Economic Bene?its of Bicycle Infrastructure Investments - a great summary of available research from the League of American Bicyclists

Litman, Todd, “Quantifying the Benefits of Nonmotorized Transportation for Achieving Mobility Management Objectives” Victoria Transport Policy Institute, November 30, 2004. Puts hard numbers to the value of bicycle and pedestrian facilities. $2.73/mile in pollution, health, energy, congestion, safety benefits and others.

Detection of Bicycles by Quadrupole Loops at Demand-Actuated Traffic Signals - an engineer's perspective on how traffic signal actuators work and how to make them work better for bicyclists.

How to Turn Traffic Signals Green - dealing with those pesky lights that won't turn green for bicyclists

Making the case for bicycle facilities and trails--health, economic, & social benefits quantified.

Walking, Cycling, and Obesity Rates in Europe, North America, and Australia - Walking and bicycling are far more common in European countries than in the United States, Australia, and Canada. Active transportation is inversely related to obesity in these countries. Although the results do not prove causality, they suggest that active transportation could be one of the factors that explain international differences in obesity rates.

Making Transportation Sustainable: Insights from Germany (PDF file) has many interesting insights and comparisons between the U.S. & Germany: "Increasing transportation sustainability in the United States requires policies that foster changes in travel behavior. Germany’s case may provide a helpful example. Although car use has grown in both countries, Germany has been far more successful than the United States in creating a more balanced transportation system."

Win-Win Transportation Solutions (Todd Litman, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 2008 [PDF file]) are cost-effective, technically feasible market reforms that help solve transportation problems by increasing consumer options and removing market distortions that encourage inefficient travel behavior. They provide multiple economic, social and environmental benefits. They are “no regrets” measures that are justified regardless of uncertainties about global warming or other environmental and social impacts. Because they provide multiple benefits they offer opportunities for cooperation and coordination among various organizations and political interests.

Excellent article about Complete Streets, published in On Common Ground, a magazine published by the National Association of REALTORS.

Car Free Census Data - easy to use access to the census information on how many people walk, bicycle, or use transit to get to work, and how many households own no automobile, for all communities in the U.S.

50 State Survey of 3’ Passing Laws - status of safe passing of bicyclist laws in all 50 states

Statewide Safety Study of Bicycles and Pedestrians on Freeways, Expressways, Toll Bridges, and Tunnels - The purpose of this study is to attempt to clarify some of the issues pertaining to bicycle on freeways. Specifically, the goal of this project is to develop policy recommendations and guidelines for bicycle and pedestrian use of freeway shoulders. Based on the literature and investigations done as part of this study, highway bicycle collision rates per mile of bicycle travel are an order of magnitude higher than collision rates for motor vehicle traffic. Bicycle collisions are no more frequent on bridges and in tunnels than on the approaches to the bridges and tunnels. Overall vehicle collision rates are no higher on freeways open to bicycles than they are on adjacent highways open to bicycles.

Distracted Driving - Despite the fact that it deadens a driver's reactions more than alcohol, and in its consequences is as destructive and devastating as drunk driving, attitudes to driving while using a hand-held mobile phone and driving under the influence could not be more different. This web site has facts, figures, and information about distracted driving.

Resources for teaching law enforcement officers about bicycling at the International Police Mountain Bike Association

MassBike's Police Officer Training - materials and videos online.

From the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (based on the MassBike materials): Enforcing the law for bicycles video (WMV format) and Enhancing Bicycle Safety: Law Enforcement’s Role (CDROM training)

Perceptions of recreation greenway impacts among rural community residents - Research findings revealed that local people perceived the recreation facility in a positive manner. Residents identified both positive and negative impacts associated with the trail; however, they believed the recreation facility had produced more positive than negative impacts. Study findings suggest that similar projects designed to enhance benefits and reduce disruptions of local lifestyles will probably be well received by local community groups. Suggestions for increasing local benefits are offered for consideration.

Cost Effectiveness of Community-Based Physical Activity Interventions - shows that interventions like encouragement programs for physical activity and creation of opportunities for physical activity like bicycle paths are cost effective in creating better health in the community.

Shared Use Paths Along or Near Freeways and Bicycles on Freeways - The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) receives occasional inquiries related to shared use paths and bicycles on, along, or near Interstate highways or other freeways. This page is designed to answer many of those questions. Info includes, "There are no Federal laws or regulations that prohibit shared use paths along or near Interstate highways or other freeways," and "There are no Federal laws or regulations that prohibit bicycle use on Interstate highways or other freeways."

Listening to Bike Lanes: Moving Beyond the Feud - One group of bicycle advocates insists that cities need special facilities to separate bicyclists from motor traffic and make cycling less intimidating. Another group argues that such an approach compromises bicyclists’ safety by putting riders at odds with traffic, and that the best way to help cyclists ride safely and confidently is through cyclist training. In recent years, many in the first group have embraced bike lanes as their preferred type of facility. The second group rallies around a League of American Bicyclists’ training program called Effective Cycling.

This paper critically reviews the claims of advocates on each side of this controversy and finds that what passes for hard fact is often conjecture and exaggeration, including assertions about car-bike crashes, and the potential of both bike lanes and education to affect bicyclist safety and behavior. In an effort to find a less one-sided viewpoint, the author employs concepts from the fields of cognitive psychology and environmental design to explore alternative ways of describing and explaining how bicyclists and motorists are influenced by the environments through which they move.

Scenic Missouri - With each passing year, the scenic character of Missouri gradually erodes. Our beautiful state, with its pastoral countryside, rolling green hills and remote Ozark mountains, breathtaking river valleys and striking urban centers still exists, but it is getting harder and harder to find. . . . To get to these places, one must travel on some of the ugliest, most visually polluted roadways to be found anywhere.

Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) - analyze different kinds of traffic fatalities in just about every way imaginable. Based on data collected from across the U.S.

Bicycle and pedestrian safety materials in Spanish.

Map showing Kansas City metro area bicycle parking.

Do trails increase crime or reduce it? You guessed it--the increase of friendly, responsible eyes around a neighborhood reduces crime. Rail Trails and Safe Communities: The Experience on 372 Trails (PDF) has all the data on the issue.

Cycling and Health--What's the evidence? - detailed review of health data related to bicycling, in PDF format

Usage recommendations for "sharrows" or shared lane markings for bicycles [PDF] - recommendations that are slated for adoption in the next edition of the MUTCD. In the meanwhile, many cities are using shared lane markings but should follow the recommendations, which summarize experience with the markings in several cities.

Dozens of resources for turning your community into a Bicycle Friendly Community

2006 traffic injury & fatality summary - Total traffic fatalities nationwide (2006): 42,642 killed, 2.9 million injured, 4784 pedestrians killed, 773 bicyclists killed.

Missouri (2006): 1096 killed, 62,078 injured, $3.5 economic loss. Pedestrians: 74 killed, 1209 injured. Bicyclists: 7 killed, 584 injured

Missouri's TrailMap for Nonmotorized Transportation - a plan created by the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) to make Missouri a great place in which to walk and ride a bicycle by indicating needed improvements for bike/ped safety, accommodations, facilities and amenities.

St. Louis Great Streets - East-West Gateway launched the St. Louis Great Streets Initiative in early 2006 to expand the way communities think of their streets. Rather than viewing a roadway project as solely a way to move more cars and trucks faster, the goal of the St. Louis Great Streets Initiative is to trigger economic and social benefits by centering communities around interesting, lively and attractive streets that serve all modes of transportation.

The National Association of Realtors takes on Smart Growth - Keeping a community attractive, livable, and functioning well is a complex task. . . . Whether your community is grappling with transportation and land use issues, crowded schools, or open space, or working to bring vacant properties back to productive use, NAR’s Smart Growth program has resources to help you and your association plant seeds that will pay dividends for years to come. "Developers" are often hesitant to support smart growth and green communities, so the NAR's program is a good step forward in explaining what it's all about.

NYC's Safe Routes for Seniors - Senior citizens in NYC represent 12% of the population, yet account 30% of pedestrian fatalities. In response, the city's DOT is targeting two dozen neighborhoods for a "Safe Routes for Seniors" plan. Treatments include longer signal timing, re-striping, pedestrian islands/refuges, etc.

Traffic safety on one-way streets with contraflow bicycle traffic - an interesting experimental approach tested in Germany

The Kansas Cyclist - everything about bicycling in Kansas

Walk and Bike For Life - some great information and photos that help create awareness of the benefits of Walking and Cycling as Activities and of Urban Parks and Trails as Great Places.

OpenCongress.org - find bills, amendments, information about Representatives and Senators, and more . . .

Scottsdale, AZ, has a new transportation master plan that is a great model for other cities. More than just a "bicycle plan", it is a transportation plan that incorporates all modes of travel, including walking, bicycling, and transit.

Missouri legislative officials directory (PDF) - lists all Missouri representatives, senators, contact information, committee assignments, room numbers at the state capitol, etc.

Need to contact a particular state employee or MoDOT representative? Missouri state employees (including MoDOT employees) email list - email address search

National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project: Description - This report provides guidance to local agencies and
organizations conducting bicycle and pedestrian counts and surveys, with specific suggestions about how such counts and surveys should be done.

Online Traffic Demand Management Encyclopedia - Transportation Demand Management (TDM, also called Mobility Management) is a general term for strategies that result in more efficient use of transportation resources. Strategies include urban planning, carsharing, flextime, bicycling and walking improvements, mass transit, carpooling, etc.

Charts showing all greenhouse gas sources - In the U.S., road transportation is the single largest "end use" contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, with 22% of the total. Worldwide, road transportation contributes 9.9% of the total.

Sidepath Safety Model - Bicycle Sidepath Design Factors Affecting Crash Rates

Cycle path safety: A summary of research - an extensive listing of research studies and information. "This list is intended to be without bias, but little evidence has been found to suggest that cyclists are safer on paths than on roads."

Road safety and the perceived risk of cycle facilities in Copenhagen - a detailed study of of the effect of installing bicycle paths, bicycle lanes, and intersection treatments on injury rates and bicyclists' perceived risk

NHTSA's bicycle safety materials includes useful law enforcement training materials: introductory video and the police officer self-training program.

Portland Green Streets - Portland Green Streets is a grassroots initiative comprised of people who commute through, live, work, study, or send children to school in Greater Portland. For environmental, health, safety, and community building reasons, we have created Green Streets Walk/Ride Days which occur on the last Friday of every month.

"The Economic Impacts and Uses of Long-Distance Trails," by Roger L. Moore, Ph.D., and Kelly Barthlow, prepared for the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, calculates that the Katy Trail would generate over $6 million in economic impact each year (see page 56). The Katy Trail cost approximately $6 million to construct.

Desire Lines

Percentage of people who walk, bicycle, and use transit to work within Kansas City Missouri, mapped by zip code.

Traffic tickets save lives. Enforcement is one of the few things that actually changes driver behavior for the better--one reason bicycle and pedestrian advocacy take time to forge alliances with area police departments to encourage specific enforcement efforts aimed towards laws affecting bicycle and pedestrian safety.

Commuting in America -- a summary and historical perspective

Search court cases in Missouri, including traffic tickets.

Bicycle "safe passing" law status from all 50 states summarized.

Vehicle law in legal limbo - Delaware law for "operation of vehicle causing death" is challenged. The law provides for longer sentences when a driver is violating the traffic law and that leads to a death.

The Kanza RailTrails Conservancy has a new web page. This Kansas-based group is building zillions of miles of trails at a very low cost-per-mile.

The SF Police Department has recently added a new training video to their curriculum, explaining bicyclists' legal rights and illustrating some common San Francisco cycling situations and the appropriate police attention they require.

Missouri Bicycle Statutes translated into Spanish

Bicycle and Pedestrian Provisions of Federal Transportation Legislation - from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), updated April 2007: "SAFETEA-LU confirms and continues the principle that the safe accommodation of nonmotorized users shall be considered during the planning, development, and construction of all Federal-aid transportation projects and programs."

Pedestrian/Bicycle Crash Investigation for Police Officers, offered by the University of Central Missouri. This is a specialty course and many cities do not have any police officers trained properly to investigate crashes involving bicyclists or pedestrians.

Detection of Bicycles at Demand-Actuated Traffic Signals - how traffic signals detect bicyclists and how to make them work better, written by a traffic engineer.

The law and the responsibility of drivers to pass bicyclists safely - This article refers to an incident in Kentucky, but most of the principles apply under Missouri law as well (in fact, even more clearly in MO than KY, since the passage of the safe bicycle passing legislation).

AARP radio interview about Complete Streets

Lewis & Clark Water Trail - a newly launched web site from the Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources, Conservation Department, and Division of Tourism, includes a series of trip planning tools and resources designed to help you plan a paddling excursion on the lower Missouri River. The Missouri River offers a truly unique opportunity to paddle through history. Using a canoe or kayak, a paddler can choose to solo camp on a sandbar in an apparent wilderness setting or stay in a bed and breakfast and tour a historic river town.

Chicago's guide for designing streets with bicycle lanes (PDF file) - Chicago routinely provides bicycle lanes on streets as narrow as 44 feet. This guide is helpful for any city considering retrofitting existing streets to include bicycle lanes or other bicycling accommodations.

Bicycle Parking Guidelines - how, where, when, and why to install bike racks, from the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals, 2002.

Is it safe enough to bicycle there? Ask female riders . . . "Women cyclists," the city's transportation office asserts, "are the indicators of a healthy bikeway network."

Bicycle Parking in North America - summary of ideas and procedures used in various cities.

Minnesota bicycle parking specs - the specific of how and where to locate bicycle parking, specs for racks, etc.

Mississippi River Trail - coursing along America’s backbone, the Mississippi River, from its headwaters in Itasca, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, offers approximately 3,000 miles of on-road and bike/pedestrian pathways for the recreational enjoyment, health, conservation, and tourism development of river communities, river states, and the nation.

Kansas City, Missouri, walkability plan

Traffic count maps for all MoDOT districts, collision statistic summaries, and other useful data.

Bicycle Facility Design by traffic engineer Richard Moeur - excellent summary of how to design really good bicycle facilities. Includes summaries of good/bad facility designs, crash data analysis, and diagrams showing the problems inherent in putting bicycle paths alongside roads.

The Effect of Cycle Lanes on Cyclists' Road
Space - The effect of the cycle lane studied in this report [substandard width of 1.5 meters] is to reduce the amount of roadspace available to cyclists, and therefore makes conditions significantly worse for cyclists.

Why Bicyclists Hate Stop Signs (PDF)

FHWA Course on Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation

Bicycle Safety: What Every Parent Should Know (PDF format) - This 4-page pamphlet from the Active Living Resource Center tells parents in plain English the most important things to teach their children about bicycling safely.

Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices - the whys and wherefores of traffic signs and pavement markings.

Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), Part 9, Traffic Controls for Bicycle Facilities

Lose the Training Wheels - a way to teach bicycle riding and balance that is useful for anyone but especially effective for teaching children with physical or mental disabilities.

Bicyclists and pedestrians are 8.5% of traffic fatalities but receive only 0.3% of highway safety funding (PDF) - this is data from 2002 but the situation has not changed much since then.

An analysis of crashes and crash severity in road diets (PDF) - the study found the number of crashes in road diets, compared with control sites, decreased about 6 percent. The type and severity of crashes did not change. This indicates that, measured solely by the number and severity of traffic collisions, "road diets" are just as safe after the road diet transformation as before--and perhaps a bit safer.

Aims of the new national Traffic Justice Institute - The primary goal of our transportation system must be the prevention of traffic crashes . . . We offer the principle of Traffic Justice -- the expectation of just and accountable conduct of all participants in our transportation system.

Traffic Justice Institute - We plan to mount a campaign to redefine our societal perspective on motor vehicle crashes, and substantially reduce their occurrence. We will come at this goal from every possible angle, including transforming public discourse about road safety, holding drivers accountable for their actions, changing highway design to better limit motor vehicle speeds, fully enabling the employment of every enforcement technology, and curtailing the use of distracting electronic devices. National Center for Bicycling & Walking, League of American Bicyclists, and other national organizations are involved.

Traffic Justice Initiative - Over the past thirty years the U.S. has fallen from first to ninth place among the industrial countries in miles driven between road deaths — a metric which compensates for any increase in distances covered. By the more tangible measure of traffic-caused funerals per million people, the U.S. scores 5th worst in a 30-nation industrialized-countries road-crash database, with at least twice the per-capita automotive death rate of Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Norway, and the U.K. Yet just a few decades ago the U.S. population-based fatality rate was close to the middle of the pack in relation to other highly motorized societies.

Zip code map - show zip code areas on an overlay with a road/city map.

Road Diets (PDF) - Road dieting is a new term applied to skinnying up patients (streets) into leaner, more productive members of society. The ideal roadway patient is often a four-lane road carrying 12-18,000 auto trips per day. Other roadway patients may be helped through this same process. Some especially sick four-lane patients may be carrying 19-25,000 cars per day, but still qualify for diets. What are the symptoms that scream for change? What roadways are ideal patients? And what are the upper limits?

Why the typical U.S. traffic engineer's "level of service" is a misnomer and a bad idea - What it actually measures is the level of comfort for drivers, who tend to like streets that have very few other cars and where they can drive fast without interruptions. To get a "good" LOS (i.e., an A or B), you needed to widen streets, add lanes, get rid of on-street parking, limit crossings, add turn lanes, etc. In the US, LOS was never intended to measure how well a road performed for all interested parties (e.g., the people who lived near it and worried about high speeds, the kids who wanted to cross it to get to school, the bicyclists who wanted to use it to get to work, transit users, etc.).

Kansas City Riverfront Heritage Trail - new web site

Mountain biking trails in the Kansas City area (map)

Missouri Traffic Safety Compendium, 2005--analysis and statistics about all traffic crashes in Missouri in 2005 [PDF file].

NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts 2005--national statistics about roadway injuries and fatalities.

A summary of the different reasons Missouri tourists visit the state [PDF]--from the Economic Impact Report for Fiscal Year 2005, commissioned by the Missouri Division of Tourism and compiled by researchers at the University of Missouri, is available in PDF format. 4.3% of Missouri tourists bicycle or hike. These are more frequent activities for tourists than boating and golf, and is almost as popular as gambling and nightlife.