B(LOS), or BS?

“Just as war is too important to be left to the generals, so roadways are too important to be left to highway engineers”

– John Howard, MIT Professor

Functional Classification – Death By Specialization

“Power shifts from the people who live around a given street to those who drive through it.” – Allan Jacobs

Dude, Where’s My Accessibility?

Level Of Dogma or Service?

Servicing who?

“A preoccupation with vehicles and their continuous movement” – Allan Jacobs

Region/MPOsAtlanta Regional Bicycle Transportation & Pedestrian Walkways Plan 2007

Atlanta Regional Bicycle Transportation and Pedestrian Walkways Plan 2002 Silver Comet Trail Plan 2001

CountiesCobb County Plan and Map 2004

Cobb County Bicycle/Transportation Plan 1993 Coweta County Greenway Master Plan 2007

Coweta County Bicycle Plan 2000 Coweta County Greenway and Bicycle Map

Dekalb County Comprehensive Transportation Plan 2007 (Draft) Dekalb County Bike Plan 2001

Douglas County Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan 2000 Fayette County Bicycle Map 2003 Fayette County Bicycle Plan 2003

Fayette Biking For Life Bike Plan 2002 Fayette County Transportation Plan 1995

Forsyth County Bicycle Transportation and Pedestrian Walkways Map 2005 Forsyth County Bicycle Transportation and Pedestrian Walkways Plan 2005

Forsyth County Proposed Big Creek Trail Map 2005 Fulton County Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan 2001 Fulton County Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan 1995

Gwinnett County Bicycle Project 1996 Gwinnett County Open Space and Greenway Master Plan 2003

Gwinnett County Bicycle Project 1996 Rockdale County Comprehensive Transportation Plan 2004

Rockdale County Master Trails Plan 1998

CitiesAlpharetta Conceptual Greenways Plan 1994 Atlanta Commuter On-street Bike Plan 1995 Atlanta Greenway Trail Corridor Plan 1992

Cherokee 2017: A Township Plan 2000 Decatur Bicycle Plan 2007 (Draft)

John's Creek Greenway Master Plan 2006 John’s Creek Greenway Map 2006 Milton Shared-use Trail Plan 2007

Peachtree City Plan System June 1995 Powder Springs Sidewalk, Bikeway & Greenway Master Plan  

Bicycle Planning in Atlanta

Bicycle Level of Service

BLOS = 0.507 ln(Vol15/Ln) + 0.199 SPt(1+10.38HV)2 + 7.066(1/PR5)2 – 0.005 We2 + 0.760

where:• Vol15 = volume of directional traffic in 15 minutes = (ADT * D * Kd) / (4 * PHF)• ADT = Average Daily Traffic on the segment• D = Directional Factor• Kd = Peak to Daily Factor• PHF = Peak Hour Factor• Ln = number of directional through lanes• SPt = effective speed limit = 1.1199 ln(SPp-20) + 0.8103, where SPp is the posted speed limit• HV = percentage of heavy vehicles (as defined in the 1994 Highway Capacity Manual)• PR5 = FHWA’s 5-point pavement surface condition rating (5=best)• We = average effective width of outside through lane:• We = Wv – (10’ * OSPA) where Wl = 0• We = Wv + Wl (1 – 2 * OSPA) where Wl > 0 & Wps = 0• We = Wv + Wl – 2 (10’ * OSPA) where Wl > 0, Wps > 0, and a bike lane exists.• Wt = total width of outside lane (and shoulder) pavement• OSPA = fraction of segment with occupied on-street parking• Wl = width of paving between outside lane stripe and edge of pavement• Wps = width of pavement striped for on-street parking• Wv = effective width as a function of traffic volume• Wv = Wt if ADT>4000 veh/day• Wv = Wt (2 – (ADT/4000)) if ADT<4000 and road is undivided and unstriped.

Bicycle Level of Service (BLOS) is grafted onto the Existing Functional Classification System

- Statistical abstraction: Highly quantitative way to get qualitative data.

- BLOS is based on a very imprecise statistical analysis of streets.

- Biased towards the Functional Classification system, or the tools and foundations of what makes bicycling so difficult in the first place.

- The metrics say nothing of macros issues like land use and urban form to micro- issues like storm grate misplacement; Does not tie in different types of bicyclists and their needs and preferences.

- Furthermore, width is typically perceived as a good thing in BLOS, but width generally creates incentives for drivers to speed

Now What? It’s time to meet latent demand!

New, New York City

Cambridge vs. Boston

Enjoy The Long Emergency…

B

…By Taking Back Your Streets