Los Angeles County jurisdictions have plans to install over 1,000 miles of new bikeways over the next twenty years, yet in an era of limited funding and competing budget priorities, these jurisdictions lack a standard tool to evaluate the benefits of bicycle improvements. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) recently developed a web-based GIS sketch-planning tool, accessible to all 89 jurisdictions, to address this need.

Developed in consultation with city staff, stakeholders, and a panel of technical experts, this bicycle performance evaluation tool draws from multiple independent variables related to Los Angeles County demographics, land use, transportation infrastructure, and other characteristics relevant to bicycle travel demand, which are stored at the census tract level. Users input project-specific attributes and designate the location of the project using GIS tools. The web-based software then extracts relevant land use, demographic and transportation network characteristics from underlying shapefiles to generate project impacts.

Statistically significant relationships between independent variables and bicycle travel are described by two unique trip prediction models (for work trips and recreation trips, respectively). Non-bikeway project type impacts are evaluated through research elasticities. Project portfolios can be evaluated according to projected impacts on environmental factors, mobility and congestion, accessibility and equity, economic conditions, public health, and household costs.