Summary

The purpose of cycle lanes and other specific facilities for cyclists is to improve access, safety, personal security and convenience. New cycle facilities can be of many different kinds such as on-carriageway cycle lanes, segregated paths and advanced stop lines. Increased cycling offers a multitude of benefits to the society and the environment, not at least in terms of efficient use of scare urban space and health benefits. The focus of this review is on the potential of cycle facilities to reduce traffic congestion.

The experiences from other countries prove that transport policies and attitudes towards cycling are more important in determination of cycle usage than for example regional climate differences. A main barrier of implementing new cycle facilities is likely to be perceptions of the new facilities among different transport user groups, not least non-users. The level of motorised traffic and its speed often constitutes a main problem for cyclists in urban areas. It is often the drawbacks of motorised traffic that cycle facilities aim to eliminate. When it comes to traffic congestion the negative impact of new cycle lanes is often judged as small in the shorter term. In areas with suppressed demand for cycling the short term impact can more clearly be positive. Still, new cycle facilities favour the objectives of equity and social inclusion. Experiences from European and UK cities such as Cambridge show that in the longer term increased or even maintained levels of cycle usage can have significant positive impact on the attractiveness of a city, street liveability and alleviate congestion.

In urban areas the spending volume needed to develop and maintain improved cycle facilities are generally lower than spending otherwise required for roads and public transport services. The spending required to obtain the benefits of increased cycle usage depends on usage and the current quality of the transport network. On a European level an annual investment of £3.50 - £18 per inhabitant over a period of up to seven years has been recorded as beneficial to build and maintain a feasible cycle network for a city.