Quantifying Bicyclists' Perceptions of Shared-Use Paths Adjacent to the Roadway

Abstract

This paper documents a study sponsored by the Florida Department of Transportation and conducted to create a model that reflects bicyclists' perceptions of how a shared-use path adjacent to a roadway meets their needs. A user-validated level-of-service (LOS) model for shared-use paths adjacent to roadways (sidepaths) has been created. The resulting model will enable transportation professionals to translate the geometric, physical, and operational characteristics of a sidepath into a reliable LOS measure for the proposed facility. Data for the new sidepath LOS model were obtained from the Video Ride for Science (VRFS) 2009 event, held at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, Florida. The data consist of participants' perceptions of how well roadways met their needs as they viewed video simulations from a bicyclist's eye view on the selected segments. The sidepath LOS model is based on Pearson correlation analyses and stepwise regression modeling of approximately 1,700 combined real-time video perceptions (observations) from VRFS 2009 participants. The study participants represented a cross section of individuals by age, gender, riding experience, and residency. This model has a fairly high correlation coefficient (R² = .68) with the average observations and is transferable to the vast majority of metropolitan areas in the United States.