Sample Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plans

Regional

Walk.Bike.Thrive! Atlanta Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan
Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian for Southern Nevada
Bay Area (Google) Bike Vision Plan
WalkBike Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester
Nashville WalknBike
Northwest Arkansas Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan

Statewide

California Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan
Alaska Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
North Carolina Statewide Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan
Illinois Statewide Bike Plan
Minnesota Statewide Bicycle System Plan

Citywide

Cape Coral, FL, Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
San Pablo, CA, Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
Concord, CA, Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Safe Routes to Transit Plan
Berkeley, CA, Bicycle Plan
Mountain View, CA Bicycle Transportation Plan
Cupertino, CA, Bicycle Transportation Plan
Salt Lake City, UT, Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
El Paso, TX, Bicycle Master Plan
Winnipeg, MB, Pedestrian and Cycling Strategies
Seattle, WA, Bicycle Master Plan
Buffalo, NY Bike Master Plan

The continued development of a community’s network of bicycle and pedestrian facilities not only makes bicycling and walking a more viable mode of transportation, but it also contributes to an enhanced quality of life for its residents—benefits may include increased public health, community development, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Example Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan RFP tasks:

1. EXISTING CONDITIONS
This draws a picture of existing and proposed conditions for bicycling in your community as gathered from a review of existing planning documents, data analysis, field work, and an extensive public outreach process. A needs assessment will then identify locations for facility and programmatic improvements. Assessments should include a bike network gap analysis and bike traffic stress analysis. The Bike Network Stress Test analysis tool informs challenges and project recommendations and will identify and quantify gaps in the network that preclude residents from taking bicycling trips.

Tasks may include:

• Document corridor conditions related to key factors that affect bicycling and walking safety and comfort.
• Develop a data-driven approach to understanding and addressing transportation-related health and equity issues and to prioritizing bicycle and pedestrian facility improvements.
• Identify, collect, analyze and validate collision, infrastructure, demographic, health and other pertinent data.
• Create a database management tool or approach to evaluate proposed and future bicycle and pedestrian improvement projects, and track progress over time.
• Safety study – mapping recent crash locations in order to identify patterns in where crashes are happening most.

2. COMMUNITY OUTREACH
The purpose is to introduce the community and stakeholders to the planning process as well as to gather input on challenges and opportunities for bike network and pedestrian network improvements. Conducting a public outreach component to build community support is critical to the success of the planning process and in generating support for the plan as your community moves into implementation.

Collective impact is key. Integrate equity early and thoroughly. Seek creative ways to reach those most affected, controlling for barriers like time, resources, experience, and political access. Specific user groups such as walkers, bicyclists, seniors, persons with disabilities, minorities, and transit users should be engaged along with the broader population of citizens.

3. INTRODUCTION AND VISION
This sets the tone of the Plan and establishes its overall goals; it answers the questions “Why has your community developed a bike and pedestrian master plan?” and “What goals does this plan expect to accomplish?” The vision may be a broad and inspirational statement that presents the desired future state related to travel by bicycle and foot and what the community and its residents hope to achieve over time.

4. NETWORK RECOMMENDATIONS
Network recommendations are based on vision, goals, and policies, community input, needs analysis, and Bike Network Stress Test results.  They present the long-term vision for bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure throughout the community and provide descriptions of the different facility types that should be used to meet the Plan’s vision. Network recommendations should be a comprehensive set of projects including network improvements, spot/intersection improvements, projects requiring future studies, and potential future projects. Recommendations should include proposed infrastructure elements, starting locations, ending locations, distance, planning-level cost estimates, and other pertinent data. These recommendations should be presented in both narrative and map format.

5. IMPLEMENTATION AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
The Plan should prioritize recommended projects based on objective criteria such as need, expected benefit, and cost. It should present these in a long-term, phased implementation to guide the community toward realizing the plan vision. This should also identify a comprehensive list of matching and major funding sources for implementation of the plan, including local, regional, state, and federal sources. The Plan should contain clearly identifiable implementation steps that are “actionable” and can be operationalized.

6. DESIGN GUIDELINES
The Plan should include design guidelines and typical configurations of bikeway and pedestrian facilities on a roadway. Design guidelines should utilize national sources (NACTO, FHWA, AASHTO, ITE, MUTCD, NCHRP, etc.) for on-street facilities with regard to bicycle lanes, bicycle routes, bicycle boulevards and shared roadways with regard to width, pavement, striping, lighting, signage, on-street parking, and grade and railroad crossings.  The Plan should also provide guidance for off-street facilities with regard to trailheads, trailside facilities and recreational nodes, width, pavement, vegetation, grade, lighting, crossings, bridges, railings, signage, fences and motor vehicle barriers.