On-Street Bicycle Facility Design Features: A Guide (2025)
Chapter: Summary
SUMMARY
On-Street Bicycle Facility Design Features: A Guide
This report provides guidelines that identify specific design features for existing and planned on-street bikeways that affect bicyclist safety at midblock locations. These guidelines were informed by a literature review, a safety analysis of crashes associated with on-street bikeways in six U.S. cities, and a visual assessment of specific locations where clusters of midblock crashes occurred. Given that most bicyclist-involved crashes occur at intersection locations, jurisdictions tend to invest more resources in addressing bicyclist safety issues at these locations. However, midblock bicyclist crashes result in nearly double the number of fatalities (National Transportation Safety Board 2019). As agencies aim to implement more complete bicycle networks that attract a broader spectrum of bicyclists, improved or updated guidance for midblock design elements is needed.
Chapter 1 provides an introduction and overview of the report. Chapter 2 outlines fundamental safety principles and strategies grounded in the Safe System approach and existing Federal Highway Administration bikeway guidance applicable for all bikeway types within the street right-of-way. Using these principles, the research team conducted a visual assessment of separated bicycle lane segments where there were clusters of crashes to better understand the contextual factors and design elements that may be contributing to those crashes. This visual assessment supplemented the safety analysis, which did not include key midblock contextual factors such as parking, loading, alleys, and driveways due to data limitations.
Chapter 3 discusses common contextual factors that have been shown to impact bicyclists’ safety which designers must be aware of but are not typically able to modify during design. These factors must be mitigated by the application of design elements that apply the Safe System principles and strategies. Suggestions for approaching design elements most critical to midblock bikeway safety are discussed in Chapter 4.
Chapter 5 provides a general discussion of policies and planning strategies that agencies could have in place to address the common challenges with midblock bikeway design.
