Urban Bikeway Design Guide National Association of City Transportation Officials
Second Edition
Urban Bikeway Design Guide
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Urban Bikeway Design Guide
Washington | Covelo | London
Edward Reiskin, President, NACTO, Director, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Janette Sadik-Khan, Chair, Strategic Advisory Board Linda Bailey, Acting Executive Director David Vega-Barachowitz, Director, Designing Cities initiative NACTO encourages the exchange of transportation ideas, insights and practices among large cities while advocating for a federal transportation policy that prioritizes investment in infrastructure in the nation’s cities and their metropolitan areas — home to a majority of Americans and hubs of economic activity. Large city transportation officials are investing in innovative public transportation, bike, pedestrian and public space projects to create more sustainable, livable, healthy, and economically competitive cities.
National Association of City Transportation Officials 55 Water Street, 9th Floor New York, NY 10041 www.nacto.org
NACTO
Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the Library of Congress. ISBN: 978–1–61091–436–9 © Copyright 2014 National Association of City Transportation Officials Second Edition The most current version of the Guide is available at c4cguide.org. Copies may be purchased through the National Association of City Transportation Officials (www.nacto. org/print-guide/). Updates and addenda to the Urban Bikeway Design Guide will be posted on the NACTO website.
Design: Pure+Applied (pureandapplied.com)
Washington | Covelo | London www.islandpress.org All Island Press books are printed on recycled, acid-free paper.
Contents
Foreword Introduction
vii ix
Bike Lanes Conventional Bike Lanes Buffered Bike Lanes Contra-Flow Bike Lanes Left-Side Bike Lanes
1 3 9 15 21
Cycle Tracks One-Way Protected Cycle Tracks Raised Cycle Tracks Two-Way Cycle Tracks
27 29 35 41
Intersections Bike Boxes Intersection Crossing Markings Two-Stage Turn Queue Boxes Median Refuge Island Through Bike Lanes Combined Bike Lane/Turn Lane Cycle Track Intersection Approach
47 49 55 61 67 73 79 85
Signals Bicycle Signal Heads Signal Detection and Actuation Active Warning Beacon for Bike Route at Unsignalized Intersection Hybrid Beacon for Bike Route Crossing of Major Street
91 93 99
Urban Bikeway Design Guide
105 111
Contents
Signing and Marking Colored Bike Facilities Colored Pavement Material Guidance Shared Lane Markings Bike Route Wayfinding
117 119 125 133 139
Bicycle Boulevards Route Planning Signs and Pavement Markings
145 149 161
Speed Management Volume Management Minor Street Crossings Major Street Crossings Offset Intersections Green Infrastructure
167 177 185 191 201 209
Resources Notes Design Guide Project Teams References
215 217 236 237
NACTO
vii
Foreword
Foreword
Since the publication of the first edition of the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide in 2011, the progress made for bicycle safety in US cities had been nothing short of astonishing. The number of miles of protected bike lanes across the country has grown exponentially. Cities from Houston to Lincoln, Nebraska to San Diego are now proactively redesigning their streets for bicyclists, using the NACTO Guide as their go-to source for world-class design. At the same time, support has steadily grown among some of NACTO’s key partners, culminating in an August 2013 FHWA Memorandum that expresses full support and endorsement for the Bike Guide itself. Two states, Massachusetts DOT and Georgia DOT, officially adopted the Bike Guide in 2013. As the landscape changes for bicycling on US streets, so too has NACTO witnessed a year of transitions. Longtime NACTO President and former NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan has passed the baton to me, as she moves into a new position with NACTO as the chair of the organization's new strategic advisory board. Under her leadership, NACTO has grown from a shoestring operation into a leader in transportation policymaking and a barometer for innovation at the local level. In fall 2013, under NACTO’s Designing Cities initiative, NACTO released its first companion volume to the Bike Guide, the Urban Street Design Guide. That document is the first of its kind to comprehensively integrate the most up-to-date bicycling infrastructure guidance into a document that addresses pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and motorist design issues. The product of an unprecedented coalition of local actors and designers, the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide is actively transforming how our cities think about streets—whom they are for, and how they might be best used. In our member cities, this design guidance is being translated into a series of game-changing street projects—bikeways that funnel people through the heart of the city into our cherished neighborhoods, from greenways to waterfronts, and from homes to businesses. While our efforts in this arena are just getting started, NACTO is fully committed to accelerating innovation and world-class design in this exciting field.
Urban Bikeway Design Guide
Forward
In 2014, NACTO will focus on encouraging federal, state, and local adoption of this Guide, as well as the Urban Street Design Guide. We will also continue our work to support cities in their implementation of projects, providing tools and sharing best practices to get these projects built. We welcome your participation in helping us to make the public realms of our cities safer and more enjoyable.
Edward Reiskin NACTO President Director, SFMTA
NACTO
viii
ix
Introduction
Introduction
The purpose of the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide (part of the Cities for Cycling initiative) is to provide cities with stateof-the-practice solutions that can help create complete streets that are safe and enjoyable for bicyclists. The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide is based on the experience of the best cycling cities in the world. The designs in this document were developed by cities for cities, since unique urban streets require innovative solutions. Most of these treatments are not directly referenced in the current version of the AASHTO Guide to Bikeway Facilities, although they are virtually all (with two exceptions) permitted under the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The Federal Highway Administration has posted information regarding MUTCD approval status of all of the bicycle related treatments in this guide. All of the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide treatments are in use internationally and in many cities around the US.1 To create the Guide, the authors have conducted an extensive worldwide literature search from design guidelines and real-life experience. They have worked closely with a panel of urban bikeway planning professionals from NACTO member cities, as well as traffic engineers, planners, and academics with deep experience in urban bikeway applications.
Urban Bikeway Design Guide
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA
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Introduction
For each treatment in the Guide, the reader will find three levels of guidance:
Required Features Elements for which there is a strong consensus that the treatment cannot be implemented without
Recommended Features Elements for which there is a strong consensus of added value.
Optional Features Elements that vary across cities and may add value depending on the situation. In all cases, we encourage engineering judgment to ensure that the application makes sense for the context of each treatment, given the many complexities of urban streets. It is important to note that many urban situations are complex; treatments must be tailored to the individual situation. Good engineering judgment based on deep knowledge of bicycle transportation should be a part of bikeway design. Decisions should be thoroughly documented. To assist with this, the NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide links to companion reference material and studies.
NEW YORK, NY
Urban Bikeway Design Guide
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VANCOUVER, B C
