SVBC has developed the bicycle Network Priority Tool (NPT) along with Copenhagenize Design Co., an internationally recognized consultancy firm for cities in all matters relating to bicycle culture, planning, traffic and communications. The purpose of the NPT is to enable cities and individuals to evaluate and prioritize which corridors (roads) are the most important ones within a city to improve to create a complete low stress bicycle network.

The NPT tool evaluates all the corridors in a city or larger area and determines which ones are the most critical for riding a bicycle to get from point A to B based on 17 criteria which are summarized below in Table 1. Like a transportation planner would do, the NPT identifies which streets are the most valuable for getting around. It also considers which streets are more dangerous and ranks less safe streets higher under the assumption that the higher ranked streets should be addressed sooner.

There are some differences and some similarities in the criteria selection. The table below shows a high-level comparison of the how the NPT, the VTA Measure B criterion, and the Sunnyvale ATP ranking criteria by category differ. The SVBC tool uses 17 criteria in four categories, the VTA Measure B grants consider 11 criteria, and the ATP uses 6.

As you might expect, short streets without connections rank low. Long streets with many connections and important destinations rank high. For all highly ranked streets, we recommend installing the appropriate style of bikeway to make that street safe and low stress. For low-speed low-volume roads, Class III bike boulevards. For high-speed, high-volume roads, either Class IV protected bike ways for Class 1 off-street bike paths. The tool also evaluates streets based on traffic volume and suggests which kind of bicycle facility would be suitable for the given stretch.

The methodology chosen for the NPT is focused on creating safe complete networks. It does not rank separate projects on a single corridor (for example a couple blocks on a longer street). It does not recommend different levels of protection on a corridor. This is because one weak link, i.e. a high stress intersection or section of road will deter the 60% ‘interested but concerned’ potential bicycle users in the community from using that particular route.

SVBC is sharing this tool to allow you to conduct an analysis of your city. Read more here.

Sunnyvale Case Study

For an initial case study, SVBC compared the results of the what the NPT recommended to the bicycle plan recommendations in the Sunnyvale’s Final Active Transportation Plan (ATP). The ATP includes the bicycle master plan, pedestrian master plan, and Safe Routes to School plan update.

The result of the NPT process is a ranked table of corridors that are the most important for getting around safely on a bicycle. Below is a map (Figure 2) showing the NPT recommended protected bicycle network that Sunnyvale should create based on the top ranked corridors. For comparison’s sake, next to it is the low stress spine map 9 from the Final ATP.

Note: The ATP recommended Low Stress Spine is not the entire recommended bicycle network. It is only the portions considered important enough and viable for locations to implement infrastructure capable to create low stress routes. The entire recommended network is Map 18 on page 57 of the ATP. There are quite a few sections of other streets recommended for low stress infrastructure including bike boulevards Class III in the ATP. Both maps show a disconnect along Lawrence Expressway because that section is in Santa Clara, not Sunnyvale.

The ATP and the NPT agree on 60 percent of high priority streets. The NPT high priority recommended streets are more extensive than those recommend in the ATP because the NPT ranks entire corridors (1-4 miles) as one instead of looking at them as multiple shorter segments as is done in the ATP. SVBC recommends the corridor-based approach because evaluating shorter segment can lead to disjointed projects which are of lower value. Half a bridge does little good.

Scores Comparison

We are pleased to see the NPT and the ATP scores agree on which corridors are in the top third of all the streets evaluated for 60% of the corridors. The table 2 below is the top 30 ranked corridors according to the NPT and associated ATP projects scores.

The NPT score shown in Column “Total Score” ranks from 100 (very high) to 0. The ATP rank individual projects from 6 (high) to 1. The column ‘ATP Score’ lists from 1 to 4 scores because the ATP lists from 1 to 4 separate projects in each of the corridors. For example, on Borregas Ave, the NTP ranks this corridor 80. In the ATP, there are three separate projects proposed for Borregas Ave which score 5, 3, and 2.

Recommended Infrastructure

Below is a comparison table 3 of the recommended infrastructure for corridors based on SVBC’s NPT and the ATP project recommendations.

As stated previously, the ‘SVBC design evaluation’ recommendation is consistent for the entire corridor. There is strong alignment between the two methods for many corridors. As an example, both the NPT and ATP recommend class IV for El Camino Real. However, the Final ATP recommends lower quality recommendations in various sections of the same corridor . The NTP is a more basic modeling tool and does not take space constraints into its calculation. SVBC recommend higher levels of protection than currently proposed in the final ATP in many corridors. The improvements SVBC recommends for each corridor are based on the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) design standards for particular roads based on collision data, road type, average speed, and average volumes.

The ATP clearly states that its goal is to create a complete low-stress bicycle network. We encourage Sunnyvale to upgrade the plan recommendations with respect to location and quality of bicycle infrastructure to achieve that objective.

We hope that the Network Priority Tool will help many cities prioritize projects in bicycle master plans and in making funding decisions. If you are a transportation planner, decision maker, or interested advocate who would like to know more about the NPT, read here.