Three rules for safe bike routes

Written By Jonah Kanner

Pasadena needs a connected network of safe bike routes. This plan shows how we can build it.

Most people want to ride a bike

Here is a paradox: Most people say they want to ride a bike, but few people actually do. Around 65% of Americans say they would like to ride a bike for some trips, but only a few percent of trips in Pasadena are by bike. That’s a big discrepancy! If so many people would like to ride bikes, where are all of those riders?

Some people look at that small fraction of trips by bike, and conclude “nobody rides bikes”, by which I think they mean “nobody wants to ride bikes”. But, that conclusion is flat-out wrong. In fact, the majority of people want to ride bikes, but are too afraid to ride in traffic with cars, trucks, and SUVs. This conclusion is well-documented in repeated survey data. It is also visible in evidence from other cities: when cities build safe biking networks, they see an increase in biking rates. The data are clear: the safer the route, the more people will ride. This has been shown in many, many cities, including lots of cities in America. In fact, there are over 100 cities where more than 10% of trips are by bike. This includes lots of cities where big changes have happened recently, proving over and over and over that building safe bike routes leads to more people biking. Anyone who says otherwise is badly misinformed.

Another way to say this: lots of people in Pasadena (about half!) are being forced to sometimes drive for trips where they would rather bike, because they are missing safe bike routes. That means our current street network is not working for 70,000 people. That’s a real problem!

Most people don't feel safe riding bikes in Pasadena

Survey data adopted from "Equitable Bike Share Means Building Better Places for People to Ride" and Bike Cleveland. Mode share data from bestplaces.net.

Repeated surveys tell the same story. Most Americans want to ride a bike for at least some trips, but feel like they can’t because they are afraid to ride in traffic.

Image from Bike Cleveland

Unsafe bike routes don’t work

One big problem with bike routes in Pasadena is that so-called “traditional” bike lanes are painted onto roads right alongside high speed traffic. These are bad bike routes that only work for a tiny fraction of people. No parent (myself included) wants their child riding in a scary bike lane along 40 MPH traffic. And yet, for most of the existing bike lanes in Pasadena, that’s exactly what we have!

The Three Rules for safe bike routes

There are a variety of guides for building all ages and abilities bike routes that will work for most people, including NACTO’s Designing for All Ages and Abilities , the FWHA Bikeway Selection Guide , and the CalTrans Complete Streets Guidance. At the risk of oversimplification, here are three rules to provide an easy to remember guide for what makes a safe bike route:

  1. Bike routes with traffic speeds of 25 mph or more require protected bike lanes. Use physical barriers to separate cyclists from vehicle traffic.

  2. Bike routes without a protected bike lane require slow traffic speeds. Add traffic calming to slow vehicle speeds to less than 25 mph with a paint-only bike lane, or less than 20 mph for cars and bikes to share the lane.

  3. Safe bike routes need to be connected into an easy-to-navigate network.

Protected bike lanes work for more riders

Cities all over the country are learning to build protected bike lanes, where bike riders are separated from traffic by physical objects - like curbs, parking stops, or planter boxers. Protected bike lanes work for a much greater fraction of riders and have been shown to increase ridership. The Union Street bike lane in Pasadena is one example of a protected bike lane, but it’s just one possible design. Lots of cities are using different designs, many of which can be built for a low cost and without changes in existing traffic flow.

Pasadena should add protection to existing bike lanes

Pasadena currently has some bike lanes that are really scary. In this slide deck, we highlight some places where there is plenty of space to add protection to the bike lanes while preserving space for traffic flow. Physical protection for bike lanes can be added with just a few extra feet of space. These streets in Pasadena with existing bike lanes have plenty of room for this.

Slow streets are safe streets

Everyone wants to live on a quiet, safe street! Reducing traffic speeds on a street makes the area more livable, improves quality of life, supports increased home values, and is a great benefit for residents of the street. Slowing down traffic on a street also creates a safe, low-stress driving experience and allows convenient access when driving a car.

Engineers have lots of tools for slowing traffic, including things like speed humps, speed tables, roundabouts, chicanes, and median islands. All of these tools make small changes to a street to encourage slow, safe driving.

Slowing traffic on a street can also create a comfortable bike route. Guidelines for all ages and abilities biking typically suggest reducing speeds to under 20 MPH if bikes and cars will share the lane, or under 25 MPH for a paint-only bike lane.

Pasadena’s street network is a well-organized grid, which means people have a choice of which street to use for most trips. By adding traffic calming to a few low-traffic streets, we can improve safety, while allowing drivers to use bigger roads when they prefer to drive fast. Some examples of low-traffic streets that should be slowed for safety include El Molino, Wilson, Sierra Bonita, Craig, San Pasqual, Mountain, and Villa.

Connect the network!

Pasadena already has some neighborhood streets where traffic is slow and safe. Many of these could be good options for safe biking. The problem is that many of these streets cross major roads at unsafe intersections where traffic never stops. For example, biking along Sierra Bonita is a good option for many riders, until they have to cross Orange Grove without a signal (yikes!). By looking at Pasadena’s bike network, we can identify key intersections where people walking or biking need to get across a high-traffic street safely. Making spot changes at these intersections can help link up the network with only small changes to our overall street grid.

Key intersections for people walking and biking include Elizabeth & Lake, Claremont & Los Robles, and Paloma at Allen.

Intersection with RRFB and curb extensions

This intersection in Ft. Collins, CO includes several features to make crossing the street safer, including a curb extension and a flashing beacon that alerts drivers when someone is crossing the street.

Credit: NACTO / Samuel Piper

But not everyone can ride a bike!!

Some people like to talk in absolutes. They say things like “everyone drives!” or “nobody rides a bike!” Of course, neither of those things are true. A good plan should set realistic targets, and should expect that different people will move around the city differently. The reality is that, today in Pasadena, only 70% of people have a driver’s license. That means 30% of us depend on transit, walking, bikes, or catching rides with family to get around. Our street network should support all of these uses, and we need options for how we travel.

What’s realistic for biking in Pasadena? In American cities that have built safe bike networks, residents ride bikes for 5-10% of trips. In Pasadena, that means building safe routes will double or triple the number of bike trips, and a large fraction of trips would still use a car. Different people can move around in different ways, without compromising on convenience. In fact, driving might become even more convenient with a safe bike network, since every person on a bike means more available parking and less traffic. Those are goals that are good for everyone.

See the community bike plan

To form a complete network, we need to apply the Three Rules to a handful of streets within Pasadena. Local volunteers have been working on a vision for the city that would support safe and comfortable walking, biking, and driving city-wide by identifying key streets to link up into a safe biking network. This can be done while preserving convenient car access for drivers, and benefit everyone by improving safety and livability in Pasadena.

A safe bike network in Pasadena needs to connect all parts of the city using a handful of streets while preserving convenient access for driving.

Jonah Kanner

Jonah has been volunteering with Pasadena CSC since 2020. He rides an electric bike every day and believes safe street design is good for everyone.

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