CAC Crowdsourced Climate Implications
Public Works, Transportation
Crowdsourced effort February 2023
NA
Executive summary
Background Information
- Protected bike lanes are physically-separated lanes for bicycles that run next to motorized vehicle traffic.
- These are the safest on-street places to ride in the city. The physical protection makes it difficult for vehicles to enter the bike lane and in some cases, the protection is good enough to stop out of control vehicles. Protected bike lanes are increasingly common.
- There are many different types of protection used ranging from low concrete walls to flexi-posts. They are often used in conjunction with each other.
Climate implications
High-Level Questions
- What are the alternatives to protected bike lanes (e.g. improving transit, carshare, EVs, etc.) that could possibly achieve greater transportation emissions reductions at a cheaper cost?
- If we go ahead with a protected bike lane, how much would it improve modal shift to bikes and how much would this reduce GHG emissions? Are these reductions different at different times of the year?
- Would this bike lane use existing road space or need to take up additional space in the boulevards/ROWs? What is the embodied carbon of the aggregate needed for the additional space?
- What is the embodied carbon of the protected infrastructure (e.g. concrete bollards, plastic poles, flower beds, etc.)?
- What are the carbon emissions of maintaining the bike lanes (e.g. additional specialized snowplows, sweeping, maintenance)?
- How will the new bike lanes be activated? Are there incentives to drive use? Is there priority for intersections (advanced lights)? What are the other infrastructure pieces needed to support their use (bike parking/storage)?
- If other options were considered, what are the benefits of this option vs. the other options considered?
- What is the potential economic growth?
- How do we ensure educated, safe and appropriate use of bike lanes?
- How do we engage the business community to support bike usage?
- How do we communicate the health and environmental benefits of the bike lane to the community?
- What happens when snow comes and people stop using it?
- How do we find space if we don’t have it?
Climate Opportunities
- Riding a bike saves 150 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre travelled when compared to driving a car (Environmental and Energy Study Institute, https://www.eesi.org/ articles/view/ better-bike-infrastructure-improves-environmental-and-human-health).
- “Investments in public inter- and intra-city transport and active transport infrastructure (e.g., bicycle and pedestrian pathways) can further support the shift to less GHG-intensive transport modes (high confidence)” (IPCC, Climate Change 2022: Mitigating Climate Change).
- “Combinations of systemic changes, including teleworking, digitalisation, dematerialisation, supply chain management, and smart and shared mobility may reduce demand for passenger and freight services across land, air, and sea (high confidence)” (IPCC, Climate Change 2022: Mitigating Climate Change).
- “Some of these changes could lead to induced demand for transport and energy services, which may decrease their GHG emissions reduction potential (medium confidence). {5.3, 10.2, 10.8}” (IPCC, Climate Change 2022: Mitigating Climate Change).
- Networks of protected bicycle lanes have been found to be very effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, lowering transportation costs and improving public health – Institute for Transportation and Development Policy: Protected Bicycle lanes Protect the Climate.
- The location of bike lane infrastructure needs to find a balance between the most efficient route that enables cyclists to travel within the community with exposure to air pollution emissions from transportation.
- However, protected bike lanes on higher travelled routes present a safety opportunity for cyclists and as is often the case cyclists will choose the most direct route (which often requires use of main or arterial roads).
- Therefore, protected bike lanes on those routes have the most likelihood of encouraging cycling as a means of commuting (as opposed to recreation cycling use) and while potentially increasing air pollution exposure will also present a significant opportunity for increasing cycling safety and use.
Climate Risks
- The location of bike lane infrastructure needs to find a balance between the most efficient route that enables cyclists to travel within the community with exposure to air pollution emissions from transportation. The most direct route (which is favoured by users of the network) often presents a higher air pollution load than secondary routes present.
- How do we ensure educated, safe and appropriate use of bike lanes?
- How do we engage the business community to support bike usage?
- How do we communicate the health and environmental benefits of the bike lane to the community?
- What happens when snow comes and people stop using it?
- How do we find space if we don’t have it?