This indicator is part of Linked integrated transportation.

Indicator description:

This indicator measures the extent of Albuquerque’s bicycle infrastructure – miles of bike lanes, bike routes, and multi-use trails. A bike lane is a portion of a street with a designated lane for bicycles. Bike routes are linking streets where cars and bicycles share the street and that are marked with signs as bike routes. Multi-use trails are off street paths that are shared by bicyclists, pedestrians, runners, and equestrians. Bike lanes and routes were not measured separately until 2007. Also provided is comparative information from a 2003 study of 50 large cities, assessing and ranking their respective bicycle infrastructures.

Why is this indicator relevant?

Research indicates that providing bicycle lanes and paths encourages more people to commute by bicycle and use bicycles for other utilitarian, non-recreational purposes. Better, safer bicycle infrastructure encourages greater physical activity and recreation by residents. Supplanting automobile use with bicycling use has positive impacts on congestion, air pollution, and resident health. Biking conserves resources. It's non-polluting. It's inexpensive, requiring no fuels or costly vehicle maintenance. Bicyclists avoid parking expenses. They save time by combining exercise and commuting.

Data Sources:
City of Albuquerque Department of Municipal Development; Bicycle Commuting and Facilities in Major U.S. Cities, Dill and Carr, 2003.

What can we tell from the data?

• Albuquerque’s bicycle infrastructure is growing from 619 miles in 2004 to 653 miles by the end of 2007.
• Most of this growth has been growth in multi-use trails, which have grown by over 30% since 2004. These trails are the safest for bicyclist, since they are not shared with automobiles or other large vehicles.
• Albuquerque rates highly using the Dill and Carr index, ranking 14th among the cities assessed. Since the date of this analysis, Albuquerque has continued to improve its bicycling infrastructure.

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