Sponsor: USDOT, through PSR9 UTC
PI: Edward Smaglik
Co-PI: Brendan Russo
Historically bicyclists may have been an afterthought and expected to share space
with motor vehicles, however, this is outdated attitude is giving way to new approaches found in
various bicycle infrastructure design guidance documents. This study used a multi-staged
approach to investigate the usage of these guides by state and local agencies. A literature
review synthesized literature and published guides on bicycle infrastructure design and was
followed by a survey of bicycle / pedestrian coordinators to gather information from practitioners
about their use of these design guides. Data collected were analyzed to identify trends,
relationships, and gaps in the knowledge about bicycle infrastructure design guidance. From
this, it was found that the two federally published guidance documents (the Manual on Uniform
Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and the Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities
(GDBF)) were the most frequently utilized by these survey respondents and were noted to be
held as the standard for bicyclist infrastructure planning and design by some, however they are
sparsely updated and tend not to align with contemporary community expectations. Additionally,
states tended to rely on the MUTCD and GDBF while cities utilized a larger variety of guidance
documents such as those published by NACTO.