Community and Regional Planning Program
Date of this Version
Spring 5-2012
Abstract
The transportation system in the United States has long been dominated by motor vehicles. The US Department of Transportation has encouraged cities to increase bicycle transportation as a means to improve health and activity, reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, reduce congestion, improve air quality, and reduce vehicle miles traveled. Bicycle transportation is improved in a city when thorough planning documents have been created to help guide and improve bicycling facilities
This research creates a framework to evaluate a city’s planning documents for the purpose of bicycle planning. The framework is derived from a thorough literature review and from sample plans from five cities. The cities used to help inform the framework are Davis, California; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon, Austin, Texas; and Boulder, California. These cities were chosen based on their high rates of cycling and on their recognition by the US Department of Transportation as examples of cities that have complete and thorough planning documents.
The framework created from this research consists of indicators organized into the following categories: Knowledge and Recognition; Goals and Objectives; Planning, Policy and Programs; Implementation and Funding; and Maintenance and Monitoring.
The framework is then applied to the city of Lincoln, Nebraska’s long-range transportation plan as a way to illustrate how the framework can be applied to evaluate a city’s planning efforts regarding bicycle transportation.
Advisor: Yunwoo Nam
Comments
A THESIS: Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Community and Regional Planning, Major: Community and Regional Planning, Under the Supervision of Professor Yunwoo Nam. Lincoln, Nebraska: May, 2012
Copyright 2012, Christopher Michael Hussey