Assessing the Impact of Bicycle Infrastructure and Modal Shift on Traffic Operations and Safety Using Microsimulation

<p>A transportation system designed to prioritize the mobility of automobiles cannot accommodate the growing number of road users. The Complete Streets policy plays a crucial part in transforming streets to accommodate multiple modes of transportation, especially active modes like biking and walking. Complete streets are referred to as streets designed for everyone and enable safety and mobility to all users. A strategy of complete streets transformation is to connect isolated complete street segments to form a complete network that improves active mobility and public transit ridership.</p> <p>This research assessed the impact of efficiently and equitably connecting and expanding the biking network using dedicated lanes on the safety and operation of the network in Atlanta, Georgia. These connections are aimed at increasing the multimodal use of the streets in midtown and downtown Atlanta and achieving the mobility and public health goals through the integration of various modes of travel. The evaluation was done by modeling a well-calibrated and validated network of Midtown and Downtown Atlanta in VISSIM using existing travel demand and traffic design conditions (i.e., the baseline or Scenario 0). A total of three different conditions: existing, proposed, and alternative conditions, were modeled to see the effectiveness of bike infrastructure design improvement and expansion. Three scenarios were then modeled as variations of modal demand of the different condition models. Scenarios modeled are based on input from the City and Community stakeholders. Using the trajectory data from microsimulation, the surrogate safety assessment model (SSAM) from FHWA was used to analyze the safety effect on the bike infrastructure improvement and expansion. Results of this study showed a positive impact of complete streets transformation on the streets of Midtown and Downtown Atlanta. These impacts are quantified in this thesis.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Year dc:date.available

2022

Author dc:creator

• Lee, Katherine E.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Anurag Pande
• Civil and Environmental Engineering
• College of Engineering

• Complete Streets
• VISSIM
• Microsimulation
• Traffic Simulation
• SSAM
• Bike Networks
• Transportation Engineering

Identifier

10.15368/theses.2022.14

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.calpoly.edu:theses-4013