Evaluation of Innovative Bicycle Facilities in Washington,D.C.

Two innovative bicycle facilities were installed in Washington, D.C., during 2010 by the District Department of Transportation: buffered center median bicycle lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, and a two-way cycle track on 15th Street, NW. Both facilities included dedicated road space with buffers between bicyclists and motor vehicles, signal control, and signs and pavement markings. The facilities were designed to increase safety, comfort, and convenience for cyclists. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study that evaluated the facilities to understand how well they worked for cyclists, motorists, and pedestrians in terms of safety and level of service (LOS) and how they affected behavior and attitudes. The study found that bicycle LOS improved and that bicycle volume on those corridors nearly quadrupled, well above the rate of citywide bicycle use. Motor vehicle LOS was largely unaffected. Signal progression was mixed for bicyclists: contraflow travel on the one-way portion of 15th Street and travel against the dominant direction on Pennsylvania Avenue showed the worst travel time performances. Although bicycle crashes increased on both facilities, the crash rate remained similar on 15th Street to what it had been previously. Pennsylvania Avenue saw a higher crash rate, mainly as a result of illegal U-turns across the bike lanes. In surveys of all travelers on the corridor (i.e., bicyclists, motorists, pedestrians) and nearby residents, the perception of the lanes in general was positive for all users, and the lanes were seen as a positive addition to the community.