Abstract

Paving the Way for the Blossoming of a Bicycle Culture
Track: Transportation
Authors: Jon Williams

El Paso, Texas is not currently a city with a lot of bicycling, but planners in the area are keen on seeing this change. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute is engaged in research aimed at transforming the city's bikeability. GIS is the indispensable tool that makes it possible. GIS is being used to compile an inventory of existing bicycle infrastructure. Existing roadways in a network are furnished with attributes related to bikeability such as shoulder width, traffic volumes, etc. Analysis is performed to identify bikeable routes that can provide the greatest amount of connectivity. A network is generated from this analysis that is exported to a bicycle travel demand model. Infrastructure investments are recommended to planning agencies based on results from the analysis. Finally, user-friendly maps are created with GIS for the promotion of the existing and projected bicycle infrastructure, paving the way for the blossoming of a bicycle culture.