Appendix B
Interview Protocol

Scheduling the interview

The researcher will contact the candidate interviewee via email to explain the objective of the project and the purpose of the interview, and to schedule a one-hour time slot for the interview. The researcher will also ask if there are other staff (e.g., a designer or engineer if the contact is a planner and vice versa) from their organization that they think could provide additional insights in the interview. If the candidate is unresponsive after 5 days, the researcher will follow up with the candidate via phone if possible. If the phone call is not answered, the researcher will leave a message and also send a follow-up email as a final attempt to coordinate. If necessary, the researchers will reach out to a list of alternate interviewees to meet the minimum number of interviews mentioned above.

After an interview is scheduled and at least three days before the interview, the researcher will send an e-mail providing the list of questions, descriptions of common intersection treatment types, and details of informed consent.

Interview script

During the interview, the researcher will follow the protocol below.

Introduction

• Thank the interviewee for their time.
• [Interviewee], thank you so much for agreeing to participate in this interview.
• Introduce yourself.
  • My name is [name] and I am a [role] at [organization]. I am currently working on the research project NCHRP 15-73 Design Options to Reduce Turning Motor Vehicle–Bicycle Conflicts at Intersections.
• Introduce and explain the project.
  • The objective of this research is to develop guidance and tools to aid practitioners in making decisions about design treatments to reduce conflicts between turning motorists and bicyclists at intersections. Although there are many nuanced decisions to be made, this research will focus on higher level choices with broad applications, such as a mixing zone vs. maintaining separation vs. a protected intersection.
  • This project begins with a state of the practice review that will synthesize existing literature and use targeted interviews, like this one, to better understand the landscape of bicycle safety as it relates to turning vehicles at intersections.
  • The next phase will be an original study of safety and conflicts, including macro- and micro-level crash analyses, a video-based conflict analysis, and a human factors study using driver/bicyclist simulation. In the final phase of the project, we will develop a

• • framework for choosing treatments at intersections and additional detailed design guidance.
• Outline the interview.
  • In this interview, I will ask you about 20 questions. This should take no more than the 1 hour we have scheduled.
  • You may have other design experience related to bikeways, but the focus of today’s interview is design treatments at intersections.
• Inform them of their rights as a human subject.
  • Your responses will be used as data for this research project. Quotes will not be attributed directly to you or your agency/organization/company without written consent.
  • We can skip over any question that you don’t want to answer. Let me know if you would like to omit any of your responses from the data.
  • I want to remind you that your participation is voluntary, and that no monetary compensation will be provided.
  • We would like to record this interview so that we can accurately transcribe the interview later. Do you consent to having this interview recorded?
  • Do you have any questions before we begin the interview?
  • Okay, let’s get started!

Questions

Normal font = standard questions

Italics = Repetitive questions or additional information; only to be used if prior questions not fully answered or

there is the potential for more information.

Experience

1. Tell me about your role at [organization/company].
2. What is/has been your involvement in the planning, design, construction, operation and/or maintenance of bikeways, such as bike lanes and separated bike lanes? Specifically, can you describe your experience working on countermeasure/treatment selection for bicycles at intersections? Would you rate your experience as minimal, moderate, or extensive?

Design Guidance/Treatment Selection

1. How do you currently make intersection design decisions related to bikeway design? Specifically, what guidelines or criteria does your agency use to select design treatments for accommodating bicycles at intersections
   1. (If not provided above) – What specific guidelines or design standards do you reference to help you make design decisions? These might include publications such as the AASHTO Bike Guide, NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, FHWA Separated Bike Lane Guide, NCHRP reports, or others.
2. Do you use any guidance or policies related to bicycle facility design at intersections to complement current national guidance or to ensure a consistent design approach? This might include state-,city-, or agency-specific design guidance, or published or unpublished policies.
   1. (If yes) Can you explain how the guidance or policies were developed?
3. Do you have an overarching approach or framework, such as Vision Zero, Safe System, or something else, that you use for selecting treatments or making decisions at intersections?
   1. (If yes) - Please describe the approach.
4. What are the design issues or constraints that you generally face while selecting intersection treatments for people on bicycles?
   1. (If needed) Possible examples of constraints might include limited information on safety performance of treatments, limited design guidance for specific treatments, limited space, concerns about motor vehicle delay, or existing agency policies.
5. What factors do you consider to be most relevant when selecting intersection treatments?
   1. (If needed) – Example factors might include volume of motor vehicles (both through and turning), speed of motor vehicles, or volume of bikes.
   2. (If city with snow) - Does snow removal operations inform or influence your decision?
6. Do you have any thresholds for these factors for selecting one treatment over another?
   1. (If needed) – For example, if more than 25 permissive left turns per hour across the bikeway then install signal protection?
7. Do you consider the pedestrian presence and volumes in bikeway intersection treatment design selection?
8. Is there research or additional knowledge that, if available, would help you feel more confident making planning or design decisions related to bikeway intersection design?
9. Are there treatments that you use, or would like to use, but don’t feel like you have adequate information or research to justify the use?
10. Are there specific design treatments that you prefer to use for bikeway intersection designs? Please describe why you prefer this treatment.
    1. (If needed) - Example specific design treatments might include green pavement markings at conflict areas, signage to identify conflicts, small intersection radii to slow turning vehicles, or others.

Safety Analysis

11. What is your experience (if any) analyzing bicycle-motor vehicle crashes at intersections in your jurisdiction? If actions were taken to mitigate the crashes, what were they?
12. Have you incorporated any surrogate data or other techniques to evaluate bicyclist safety at intersections?
    1. (If needed) When evaluating a location, what factors other than crashes do you use? Observations? Conflicts? Close calls? Complaints? Exposure/volume data?
13. Are there specific design treatments that you consider in addressing bicyclist safety at intersections?
    1. (If needed) These might include sight distances, intersection radius or turning motor vehicle speeds, separate signal phases, use of green paint, or others.

Data Availability-Sites For Analysis

14. Does your agency/organization have safety data (crash data, count data, conflict data, etc.) that might be helpful for safety analysis of bikes and turning vehicles at intersections?
15. Do you have locations (corridors with multiple intersections or standalone intersections) that you think
    1. would be good candidates for our analysis? You can provide those now or via email as a follow-up.
    2. (If yes) Because this study is focused on intersection treatments related to design along the intersection approach or treatments within the intersection, it would be best if these examples were locations where bicyclists and motorist conflicts are not currently addressed with fully separate signal phases.
    3. Do you have experience completing research or other studies on the effectiveness of intersections treatments/countermeasures? Specifically, have you done any follow-up or post-installation studies of intersection treatments that might be relevant to this project? You can provide those now or via email as a follow-up.

Closing

16. Are there any other areas related to bikes and turning vehicles at intersections that you think you need additional research, or issues you think we should know about?
17. This concludes our prepared questions. Thank you for your time and expertise. May we contact you with follow-up questions if necessary?
18. Would you like to receive a copy of compiled interview responses after panel approval?