Designing Bicycle Route Networks for Hilly Cities

Research Problem

Cycling can provide a low-cost and sustainable alternative to motorized urban transport, but steep terrain can substantially reduce the accessibility of bicycle networks.

In hilly cities, simply identifying existing roads or bicycle lanes is insufficient. The feasibility of a route depends on both the slope and length of individual street segments, and the same road may have very different suitability depending on the direction of travel.

Planning bicycle infrastructure therefore requires terrain-aware network methods that can identify accessible areas, disconnected parts of the city, and locations where infrastructure or mechanical assistance could improve connectivity.

Contributions

Our research develops GIS-based network analysis methods for bicycle planning in hilly urban environments.

Key contributions include:

• Construction of direction-dependent bicycle networks using digital terrain and street-network data
• Classification of street segments according to slope, length, and configurable cyclability thresholds
• GIS-based methods for generating bicycle suitability maps
• Service-area analysis for evaluating how terrain affects bicycle-network accessibility and connectivity
• Identification of strategic locations for mechanical assistance or other infrastructure interventions that can reconnect otherwise inaccessible areas
• Application and validation of the methodology in Coimbra, Portugal

Selected Publications

• Design of Bicycling Suitability Maps for Hilly Cities
  Tralhão, L., Sousa, N., Ribeiro, N. A., & Coutinho-Rodrigues, J. (2015). Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Municipal Engineer, 168(2), 96–105.

• Building a Bicycle Suitability Map for Coimbra
  Ribeiro, N. A., Tralhão, L., Coutinho-Rodrigues, J., & Sousa, N. (2013). Energy for Sustainability 2013: Sustainable Cities — Designing for People and the Planet.

Research Funding

• European Regional Development Funds
  Energy and Mobility for Sustainable Regions — New Urban Sustainable Mobility
  Research Project (2014)