ADDRESSING DRIVER CONCERNS: THE NETWORK ROBUSTNESS INDEX APPROACH TO PLANNING CITY CYCLING INFRASTUCTURE

Abstract

On congested North American urban road networks, driver concerns over increased travel time play a major role in whether or not cycling infrastructure is built. This fact is recognized by transportation planning agencies in Canada and the United States, including the Ministry of Transportation Ontario and the Federal Highway Administration. However, specific frameworks to address such driver concerns do not exist within the practice of urban planning nor the academic literature. One potentially fruitful avenue is to explore the methods and tools of critical link analysis. One such avenue is provided by the Network Robustness Index (NRI) and the Network Robustness Index Calculator, as this method and tool indexes critical links through traffic simulation from least to most critical. The specific information that can be used to address driver concerns is found in the least critical links as these roadways have additional capacity, and therefore may be considered underutilized. This thesis explores the use of the NRI as a framework for urban cycling infrastructure planning. Experiments on the utility of the NRI against common traffic and cycling planning tools are explored. The NRI Calculator’s ability to perform full network scans for potential bike lane locations, least cost corridors, and full cycling networks consisting of different designs is tested throughout the chapters of this manuscript.