Bike network planning in limited urban space


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Date

2025-02

Publication Type

Journal Article

ETH Bibliography

yes

Citations

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Data

Abstract

The lack of cycling infrastructure in urban environments hinders the adoption of cycling as a viable mode for commuting, despite the evident benefits of (e-)bikes as sustainable, efficient, and health-promoting transportation modes. Bike network planning is a tedious process, relying on heuristic computational methods that frequently overlook the broader implications of introducing new cycling infrastructure, in particular the necessity to repurpose car lanes. In this work, we call for optimizing the trade-off between bike and car networks, effectively pushing for Pareto optimality. This shift in perspective gives rise to a novel linear programming formulation towards optimal bike network allocation. Our experiments, conducted using both real-world and synthetic data, testify the effectiveness and superiority of this optimization approach compared to heuristic methods. In particular, the framework provides stakeholders with a range of lane reallocation scenarios, illustrating potential bike network enhancements and their implications for car infrastructure. Crucially, our approach is adaptable to various bikeability and car accessibility evaluation criteria, making our tool a highly flexible and scalable resource for urban planning. This paper presents an advanced decision-support framework that can significantly aid urban planners in making informed decisions on cycling infrastructure development.

Publication status

published

Editor

Book title

Volume

192

Pages / Article No.

103135

Publisher

Elsevier

Event

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Cycling infrastructure; Urban planning; Linear programming; Pareto optimality

Organisational unit

03521 - Axhausen, Kay W. (emeritus) / Axhausen, Kay W. (emeritus) check_circle
03901 - Raubal, Martin / Raubal, Martin check_circle
02655 - Netzwerk Stadt u. Landschaft ARCH u BAUG / Network City and Landscape ARCH and BAUG

Notes

Funding

817750 - Fundamental Problems at the Interface of Combinatorial Optimization with Integer Programming and Online Optimization (EC)

Related publications and datasets

Is new version of:
Is supplemented by: https://github.com/mie-lab/bike_lane_optimization