Placing new, robust bicycle infrastructure on major travel thoroughfares still garners intense political backlash in some cities, especially from local business owners who have concerns about revenue reduction because of the installation of new active transportation infrastructure with narrower travel lanes and removing parking.

Our research shows that bicycle lanes and infrastructure can produce tangible economic benefits for cities. Collaborating with PeopleForBikes and Bennett Midland, the research team studied the economic effects of bicycle infrastructure on 14 corridors across six U.S. cities — Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Memphis, Minneapolis and Indianapolis. They found that improvements on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure had either positive or non-significant impacts on the local economy as measured through sales and employment. With additional funding from The Summit Foundation and NITC, the team created summary reports for those city agencies, a guide to how to replicate the study in other cities, and a detailed report.

"It is helping our MPO build the case to local governments that investing in bike/ped infrastructure is a good business move."

-North Front Range MPO (Fort Collins, CO)

Learn more about Understanding Economic and Business Impacts of Street Improvements for Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility - A Multi-City Multi-Approach Exploration led by Jenny Liu of Portland State University.