Green transportation: Bicycle planning efforts in local plans

The transportation system in the United States has long been dominated by motor vehicles. The US Department of Transportation has encouraged cities to increase bicycle transportation as a means to improve health and activity, reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, reduce congestion, improve air quality, and reduce vehicle miles traveled. Bicycle transportation is improved in a city when thorough planning documents have been created to help guide and improve bicycling facilities. This chapter creates a framework to evaluate a city's planning documents for the purpose of bicycle planning. The framework is derived from a thorough literature review and from sample plans from five cities. The cities used to help inform the framework are Davis, California; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon, Austin, Texas; and Boulder, Colorado. These cities were chosen based on their high rates of cycling and on their recognition by the US Department of Transportation as examples of cities that have complete and thorough planning documents. The framework created from this chapter consists of indicators organized into the following categories: Knowledge and Recognition; Goals and Objectives; Planning, Policy and Programs; Implementation and Funding; and Maintenance and Monitoring.