III. RE-DISCOVERING BICYCLING AND WALKING
In the spring of 1994, the U.S. Department of Transportation released The National Bicycling and Walking Study (Federal Highway Administration 1994). The document defines the status of bicycling and walking in the United States and it provides recommendations aimed at two goals: to double the current percentage of bicycling and walking trips, and, to reduce by ten percent the number of pedestrians and bicyclists killed or injured. The following sections draw on the findings of the National Study.
Bicycling and walking are two of the oldest and simplest - and in many ways most efficient and economical - means of transportation available. There are many reasons why government, working with the private sector, should promote bicycling and walking. They are healthy, non-polluting forms of personalized transportation and do not consume limited natural resources. They do not require a costly infrastructure to support, since they can largely use the existing infrastructure if it is modified to meet their needs. Walking and bicycling are available to all segments of society - people of all ages and socioeconomic levels. Increased bicycling and walking can help to alleviate some of the negative results of intense motorization, including traffic congestion, air pollution, excessive noise, and destruction of the environment.
Bicycling and walking play key roles in the transportation systems of other developed nations, including Japan and most European countries. In Japan an estimated 15 percent of workers rely on bicycles for the commute to work, and in Dutch cities between 20 and 50 percent of all trips are typically made by bicycle. Virtually everyone is a pedestrian during some part of every day.
Nevertheless, America's cities and towns have "grown up" with the automobile. As a result, they have also grown outward, with people traveling increasingly long distances to everyday destinations such as work, school, and shopping. These greater distances have been made possible by and, in turn, have helped fuel the need for more automobiles and for more roadways. As a result, travel by foot or by bicycle has become a less desirable and often unfeasible option. In many situations it is also perceived to be more dangerous and threatening. This does not have to be the case.
Safely Increasing Participation In Bicycling
A study of bicycle-motor vehicle crashes in King County, WA (incorporating Seattle and nine additional cities with populations over 15,000) reported a decrease in crash rates from 30 per 100,000 population in 1985-86 to 10 per 100,000 in 1990. The authors state that such a significant drop in accident rates over an extended period of time is difficult to readily explain, particularly given the dramatic growth in bicycling activity in King County during the study period.
A Swedish study examining bicyclist risk found that, while the total number of bicyclist "conflicts" with motor vehicles (defined as a situation where two road users are on a collision course) increased with increasing bicyclist flow at non-signalized intersections, the number of conflicts per bicyclist decreased. The study concluded that bicyclists seem to benefit from the presence of each other in terms of personal safety at non-signalized intersections. It was hypothesized that, with an increase in bicyclist flow, motorist perception of bicyclists also increases. A similar result was found in Orlando, FL, where greatly increased amounts of bicycling citywide were accompanied by significantly reduced bicycle-motor vehicle crashes.
The National Bicycle and Walking Study concludes its section on bicycle accidents with four conclusions:
A prerequisite of increased bicycling and walking is an increase in real and perceived safety. This must first be attained through improved engineering, education, and enforcement measures.
A decrease in motor vehicle use may improve the safety of existing bicyclists and pedestrians. Motorists who are novice bicyclists may be more sympathetic to the presence of non-motorists.
Increases in non-motorized travel may give rise to the demand of further measures to enhance bicyclist and pedestrian safety. With an increase in bicycling, motorists may be more likely to anticipate the presence of bicyclists on the roadway, and more accustomed to sharing the roadway with bicyclists.
And Walking
According to the National Bicycling and Walking Study a number of surveys confirm that bicycling and walking are activities enjoyed by increasing numbers of Americans of all ages (Federal Highway Administration 1994):
A 1982-83 Nationwide Recreation Survey reported that 28% of respondents had bicycled during the past three months, up from just nine percent in 1960.
A Harris Poll conducted in December 1991, found that nearly half (46%) of American adults age 18 or above had bicycled within the past year. In addition, the number of adults who ride regularly has tripled in the past ten years (1983 - 1992) (Bicycle Institute of America 1993).
The Many Benefits of Bicycling
Health And Physical Fitness Benefits
The beneficial impact of regular physical activity on health is far reaching, and its role in the prevention and management of coronary heart disease, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, and depression is well established. Activity that builds muscular strength, endurance, balance, and flexibility has been shown to protect against injury and disability. Bicycling and walking are ideal forms of exercise to accomplish positive outcomes, and can help contribute to the current national goal of reducing the costs of health care.
Physical activity need not be unduly strenuous for an individual to reap significant health benefits. Studies have shown that even small increases in light to moderate activity, equivalent to sustained walking for about 30 minutes a day, will produce measurable benefits among those who are least active. Low to moderate levels of exercise, which can include bicycling and walking, have also been shown to have positive health effects.
Possibly as important as the measurable health benefits are the less tangible benefits, such as improved mental outlook and enhanced well-being, that are associated with physical activity and recreation. Some of the personal benefits of outdoor activities such as bicycling and walking include improved self-image, greater self-reliance, improved social relationships, and enhanced sense of independence and freedom. Bicycling and walking are easily accessible means of outdoor recreation available to and appropriate for all segments of society. They offer significant health benefits while accommodating commuting, utilitarian, social, and recreational trip purposes.
A recent U.S Centers for Disease Control handbook, Promoting Physical Activity Among Adults, states that "the most effective activity regimens may be those that are moderate in intensity, individualized, and incorporated into daily activity." Bicycling and walking are healthy modes of transportation that incorporate these components. Bicycling or walking to work, school, shopping, or elsewhere as part of one's regular day-to-day routine can be both a sustainable and a time-efficient exercise regimen for maintaining an acceptable level of fitness. Moreover, two activities can be accomplished at once - travel and exercise.
Bicycling and walking do not consume petroleum products and are non-polluting modes of transportation. It has been estimated that in the U.S. in 1991, bicycling and walking were equivalent to between 7.6 and 28.1 billion motor vehicles miles, saving 370 to 1,340 million gallons of gas and 4.4 to 16.3 million metric tons of exhaust emission air pollution. In the process they also saved chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) emissions - a leading cause of ozone depletion - since these emissions are a significant by-product of automotive air conditioning units.
Of equal importance to the absolute amount of pollution displaced is that non-motorized transportation does not contribute pollution to the immediate ground level urban environment where people live and work. According to the American Lung Association, total urban air pollution adds annually at least 50,000 additional respiratory illness cases nationwide.
Bicycling and walking replace short distance motor-vehicle trips, which are the least fuel-efficient and generate the most pollution per mile traveled. Carbon monoxide emissions from mobile sources (cars, trucks, buses, etc.) can be as high as 90% of all emissions in urban areas. Under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, ozone and carbon monoxide non-attainment areas must take pollution reduction actions to meet air quality standards. Measures to increase the use of non-polluting bicycling and walking transportation can be effective ways to achieve compliance. Other environmental benefits of bicycling and walking result from reducing the negative environmental impacts from drilling, refining, transporting, storing, and disposing of petroleum products.
Bicycling and walking are clearly popular activities, whether for sport, recreation, exercise, or simply for relaxation and enjoyment of the outdoors, however, their potential as modes of transportation is just beginning to be realized. Transportation benefits can accrue in several ways. Roadway improvements to increase the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians can also enhance safety for motorists. As an example, the addition of four-foot wide paved shoulders on rural, two-lane roads has been shown to reduce run-off-road, head-on, and sideswipe motor vehicle crashes by 29 percent, while eight-foot wide shoulders yielded a 49 percent reduction. Widening improvements can also result in a decrease in the rate of normal roadway edge degradation, thus increasing road longevity and saving money in maintenance costs. These benefits are in addition to enhancing the safety and attractiveness of the roadway for use by bicyclists and pedestrians.
High motor vehicle speed is a primary causal factor in a large percentage of all roadway crashes and is a major deterrent to would-be bicyclists and pedestrians. Speed reduction or "traffic calming" measures are being used successfully by a number of U.S. jurisdictions, particularly in neighborhood and downtown settings. Again, the benefits are twofold: first, in improving the safety of the roadway for all users, and second, in encouraging greater use of non-motorized travel.
The Many Benefits Of Off-Road Trails
Depending on its location and design, a separate bicyclist/pedestrian path not only serves a transportation function, but may also function as a linear park or greenway. Benefits include:
Transportation: Trails can significantly increase the percentage of bicycling and walking commuter and other utilitarian trips, improve safety, increase access, and promote intermodal travel. In the Chicago area, census zones where five linear trails exist averaged 15.6 percent of commuter trips by bicycle, compared to only one percent for the region as a whole.
Recreational: Trails provide an easily accessible outdoor resource for many forms of recreation in addition to bicycling and walking. Healthy People 2000 calls for greatly increased community availability and accessibility of physical activity and fitness facilities, including more miles of hiking, bicycling, and fitness trails.
Economic: Off-road trails can produce income from shared utility leases, increase the value of neighboring real estate, generate income from tourists and other users, create jobs for trail development and maintenance, and protect existing corridors from development.
Planning Tool: Trails and other greenway corridors promote park land development, wetland preservation, and environmental protection. They preserve undeveloped lands in urban areas and separate and buffer competing land uses.
Environmental: Environmental benefits fall into the categories of wildlife preservation, water quality protection, storm water management, preservation of vegetation, and other benefits such as serving as a fire break.
Educational: A trail corridor often encompasses several different environments along its route and can be thought of as an outdoor classroom full of educational materials. Value is realized by the scientific community, educators, and students through a wide range of studies such as biology, history, and art.
Historical and Cultural: Off-road trails can educate and increase awareness about the history and culture of a region, aid in the preservation of historic sites, and provide a location for cultural events.
Additional Quality-of-Life Benefits: Increases in the quality-of-life associated with off-road trails are realized through expressions of community character and pride, aesthetics of the local environment, economic revitalization of the community, access to the outdoors, opportunities for socialization, and easy freedom of mobility.
Of significance to the Adirondack North Country Region is the capacity of recreation trails to become tourist destinations in and of themselves. One of the more successful examples of this type of effect is the Stowe, Vermont Recreation Path. The path is so popular for hikers, in-line skaters, joggers, dog walkers, and cross country skiers that it has become a tourist attraction. According to data supplied for this project, on 9/5/93, 2,832 people used the path, including 2,077 bicyclists, 393 roller bladers, and 362 pedestrians (personal communication: Ann Lusk, 9/22/94). While that may have been one of the more popular use days for the path, a visitation level of 3,000 users a day would certain qualify as a major attraction in the North Country Region.
The 5.3 mile paved path in Stowe was created on land donated by 32 different property owners. The path runs along the West Branch River and crosses it ten times over arched bridges. Along the way, country inns, restaurants, and stores encourage bicyclists to stop. The community path has won five awards, including designation as the Bush administration's 119th Point of Light.
Railroad rights-of-way are the most cost-effective way of developing off-road bicycle trail systems. Once railroad rights-of-way have passed into private hands, it is a very difficult, time-consuming, and sometimes cost-prohibitive process to bring those areas back into the public domain. Oswego County is one county in the region that has been aggressively acquiring railroad rights-of-way as they become available. As a result, they are starting to develop a county-wide system of dedicated recreation trails.
The region is fortunate in having in place the Adirondack North Country Scenic Auto Trail System, referred to here as the Adirondack North Country Scenic Byway routes. The eleven designated routes each provide a unique theme encompassing the historic sites, cultural activities, natural wonders, and recreational events that occur along the route. The Scenic Byway routes follow many of the major highway routes through the region (see Map 3-1). Byways offering east/west travel through the region, beginning in the north are the:
Military Trail;
Seaway Trail;
Olympic Trail;
Central Adirondack Trail; and,
Revolutionary Trail.
Scenic Byways taking the traveler north and south, beginning in the east, are the:
Champlain Trail;
Lake George-Lake Placid Trail;
Adirondack Trail; and,
Black River Trail.
Two shorter loop routes are the:
Dude Ranch Trail; and,
Roosevelt-Marcy Memorial Highway.
Since the Scenic Byways are essentially on NYSDOT highway routes, they are benefiting from the region wide policy of establishing six foot shoulders where ever possible. Within the next few years, the Byways will essentially form the basis of a regional bike route system.
The Scenic Byway routes provide an excellent basis for the development and promotion of regional bicycle routes. Bicyclists in general are interested in historic sites and cultural events and would be receptive to maps and promotions that feature the Scenic Byways and all they have to offer.