Identifying “Sensible Locations” for Separated Bike Lanes on a Congested Urban Road Network: A Toronto Case Study

Across North America, separated bike lanes have generated political challenges from drivers concerned that such facilities might increase their travel times. Toronto is one such city where vocal complaints have limited the development of a separated bike lane network. To address these issues, a new approach to evaluating the travel-time impact of installing a separated bike lane is proposed. Aided by a transportation geographic information system (GIS) and a GIS toolkit, we apply a method called the network robustness index (NRI) to scan the Toronto road network for changes in vehicular travel times. Additionally, we use the approach to evaluate the potential travel-time impact of adding a separated bike lane to a target corridor, one where plans have encountered political opposition in the past. These two applications demonstrate the value of integrating the NRI approach into cycling planning—a method that can be used to both identify potential separated bike lane locations and to measure the specific travel-time impacts of separated bike lanes.