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Safer Roadways: A Complete Streets Guide
intentional decision. The following should be considered when providing for bicycle facilities 4 : People riding bicycles should have safe, convenient, and comfortable access to all destinations. Every street is a bicycle street, regardless of whether a designated bicycle facility or bicycle route is present. Street design should accommodate all types, levels, and ages of bicyclists. In high pedestrian zones, people riding bicycles should be separated from pedestrians, except under special circumstances such as shared‐use pathways or shared‐space streets. Bikeway facilities should consider vehicle speeds and volumes, with: Shared use on low volume, low‐speed roads. Separation on higher volume, higher‐speeds roads. Bikeway treatments should provide clear guidance to enhance safety for all users. Since most bicycle trips are short, a complete network of designated bikeways has a grid spacing of roughly ½ mile. The typologies (discussed in Chapter Three) are intended to provide bicycle facilities for the interested but concerned rider, so applying the right features, designing for the right speed, and encouraging different user mix of people riding or rolling will be achieved. ALTERNATIVE BICYCLE FACILITY SELECTION For circumstances where bicycle facilities cannot be provided according to the appropriate typology, the Hillsborough TPO has developed a Bicycle Facility Selection Toolkit 5 in 2019 to provide guidance to transportation professionals and implementation staff on projects. This guide outlines a decision-making framework that leverages the Bicycle Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) assessment and helps transportation professionals identify the necessary bicycle facility type to make the street a low stress trip. The goal of LTS scores is to help plan a complete bicycle network that is useful to the general population, leverage low-stress streets that are already comfortable for most people, and help identify the appropriate bicycle facility based on key characteristics of the street. The LTS scores range from an LTS1, which is defined as comfortable for most of the general population, to an LTS 4, which is defined as uncomfortable for even experienced bicyclists. The guide also provides a framework for network planning in a way that leverages existing low stress streets and assets such as trails and shared use paths. A facility selection process was also developed and shown in Figure 2-4.
4 Broward MPO, Complete Streets Guidelines, Chapter 9 Bikeway Design http://www.browardmpo.org/images/WhatWeDo/completestreetsinitiative/broward_complete_streets_guidelines _parts/CH-9-Bikeway-Design-final.xyzdf 5 Hillsborough TPO, A Bicycle Facility Selection Toolkit, 2019 http://www.planhillsborough.org/wp- content/uploads/2019/04/Bicycle-Facility-Selection-Guidance-FINAL-DRAFT.pdf
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