Case Study Analysis of Pedestrian and Bicycle Data Collection in U.S. Communities

Federal funding for pedestrian and bicycle transportation has increased over the past 15 years, with a resulting increase in shared-use pathways, paved shoulders, bicycle lanes, and sidewalks in many parts of the United States. This has caused communities to ask questions: Where is pedestrian and bicycle activity taking place? What effect does facility construction have on levels of bicycling and walking? What are the characteristics of nonmotorized transportation users? How many miles of pedestrian and bicycle facilities are available? Where are existing facilities located? This paper provides a summary of recent research that was sponsored by FHWA and the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center to review and evaluate bicycle and pedestrian data collection methods throughout the United States. It uses a case study approach to evaluate pedestrian and bicycle data collection in 29 different agencies throughout the country in communities ranging in size from 6,000 residents (Sandpoint, Idaho) to 8 million residents (New York City). These case studies are analyzed in the following data collection categories: manual counts, automated counts, surveys targeting nonmotorized transportation users, surveys sampling a general population, inventories, and spatial analyses. The results provide information about the methods and the optimum timing for pedestrian and bicycle data collection; emerging technologies that can be used to gather and analyze data; the benefits, limitations, and costs of different data collection techniques; and implications for a national data collection strategy.