Researchers Develop 7 Metrics to Evaluate Bike And Pedestrian Projects

If it proves effective, the formula—from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Urban Transportation Center—could influence the allocation of funds to active transportation projects.

"[T]his model needs to be made more rigorous, but we have the beginning of something that’s uniform and can be applied consistently across jurisdictional boundaries. That’s especially important when you’re making tradeoffs," a researcher on the project explains in Next City.

The model evaluates projects by seven factors, including demand, equity, and mobility (defined as "the contribution the improvement makes to overall bike/pedestrian access").Each factor is assigned a value—with safety factors weighted highest—and tallied to yield an overall score.

Researchers have so far applied the method to 10 cities in Cook County, and will now submit the results to community feedback before expanding the study to other areas.