Protected Bike Lanes Lead to Nearly Twice as Many Bicycle Commuters: Study

With all the vehicles and other hazards, riding a bicycle in the city can be intimidating, even when there are designated bike lanes.

New research led by a professor at University of New Mexico (UNM)’s School of Engineering has found that protected bike lanes lead to almost twice as many bicycle commuters as standard bike lanes.

“Cities that seek to boost bicycle commute mode shifts should focus on implementing low-stress bicycle facilities if they want to best facilitate the sizable population of less-confident potential riders,” said lead author of the study Nick Ferenchak, an associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at UNM and director of the Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety, in a press release from the university.

Wesley Marshall, a University of Colorado at Denver professor of civil engineering, co-authored the paper.

The pair of researchers said roughly 1.8 times as many bikers were found to use protected bike lanes than standard bike lanes. That number jumped to 4.3 times as many when compared with blocks that had no bike lanes at all.

The researchers examined 14,011 blocks in 28 cities throughout the United States across six years of data to come up with their results.

Ferenchak said the findings can be seen as a confirmation of the planning tool the Bicycle Level of Traffic Stress. Such tools are used by civil engineers to help determine which street infrastructure would be best for bicyclists of different experience levels and ages. The less stress an area causes bike riders, the more people will use it.

In comparing different bicycle facilities — lane styles — the researchers first examined cities that had over twice the national average of bicycle commuters using five-year estimates from the American Community Survey. Fourteen cities with high bike commuter levels were paired with cities that had a similar geographic area, function, climate and population size that had many fewer bicycle commuters.

The researchers also used historic bike maps, studied historic images and interviewed city employees. They then classified groups of blocks by bicycle infrastructure type and the mileage of each type.

They found that standard bicycle lanes did increase the number of bike commuters compared with streets that had no bike infrastructure, but protected and buffered bike lanes encouraged even more people to take to their bikes instead of walking, driving or taking public transportation.

“While a greater number of bicycle commuters may not be a city’s primary end goal, it could help lower fuel consumption, emissions, and transportation costs while producing better health outcomes and greater safety for bicyclists,” the press release said.

The study, “The link between low-stress bicycle facilities and bicycle commuting,” was published in the journal Nature Cities.

New #Research from our #AmazingUTC colleague UNM's Nick Ferenchak & CU Denver's Wes Marshall: The link between low-stress bicycle facilities and bicycle commuting nature.com/articles/s44… #BicyclistSafety

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— UC Berkeley SafeTREC (@ucberkeleysafetrec.bsky.social) June 6, 2025 at 5:21 PM