Influence of Bike Lane Buffer Types on Perceived Comfort and Safety of Bicyclists and Potential Bicyclists

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Buffered and protected bike lanes are increasingly recognized as a valuable tool in enticing potential or wary cyclists to use a bicycle for transportation. These facilities—which provide extra space and (in the case of protected bike lanes) physical separation from motor vehicles—have been studied and are preferred by many bicyclists over traditional bike lanes. There has been little research, however, on the difference between buffer types and how they affect people's sense of the safety and comfort of bicycling. This paper uses data from surveys collected for a multicity study of newly constructed protected bike lanes to examine the influence of various hypothetical and actual buffered bike lane designs (both with and without physical protection) from the perspective of current bicyclists ( n = 1,111) and of residents living near the new facilities ( n = 2,283) who could be potential bicyclists. Findings suggest that striped or painted buffers offer some level of increased comfort, whereas buffers with some sort of physical protection, even protection as minimal as a plastic flexpost, yield significant increases in perceived comfort for potential cyclists with safety concerns (the interested but concerned). Of residents living near recently built protected bike lanes, 71% of all residents and 88% of the interested but concerned indicated that they would be more likely to ride a bicycle if motor vehicles and bicycles were physically separated by a barrier.