Every year in Lithuania, there’s more people in major cities trading cars for bicycles, and in smaller towns, bicycles are increasingly becoming a preferred mean of transportation. There is also a noticeable rise in the attention of municipalities towards bicycle lanes and their network development. However, is bicycle and road infrastructure in Lithuania really being designed efficiently and according to the collected data?
We discuss this with Miglė Zabielaitė-Skirmantė, a third-year doctoral student in Environmental Engineering at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VILNIUS TECH). She is currently preparing her dissertation on the subject of "Planning Transportation Infrastructure in Cities Based on Simulated Bicycle Traffic Forecasts."
– You are currently working on your dissertation. Could you tell us more about the problems it analyzes?
– My dissertation is about the design of cycling infrastructure (cycling and traffic lanes) with the consideration of cycling traffic. Perhaps it's easier to understand the topic by comparing cycling infrastructure to the vehicle one. We design streets and traffic lanes based on current and projected car numbers. If two traffic lanes on a street are enough to ensure smooth traffic, nobody designs a street with six traffic lanes. This is not done for rational investment allocation, environmental sustainability, and sustainable urban development. When it comes to cars’ traffic flows, data is collected, analyzed, and if necessary, modeling is performed before the development projects are undertaken.
However, the same cannot be said for bicycle traffic flows – data is neither collected nor analyzed. Due to the lack of long-term data on bicycle traffic, we don't know how bicycle usage trends change over the years, and we can't plan rational, demand-based cycling infrastructure. We've all felt the consequences of this data gap when walking on a narrow pedestrian path while the adjacent bicycle lane is empty, or when we feel unsafe riding on a narrow bicycle lane. The parameters of bicycle lanes should be chosen to meet current and projected needs.
– What is the goal of these analyses and your dissertation work?
Other researchers have developed both bicycle traffic calculation and forecasting methods, but they are difficult for the average person or designer to understand. The methods they propose often require specific knowledge and software for calculations. However, those who design transportation infrastructure or bicycle lanes typically lack such data or skills. This is where I see the biggest problem. My goal is to create a calculation method that is understandable to the average designer, using freely accessible data about the city, such as the population and modal split. I hope that my proposed method for calculating bicycle traffic will help make informed decisions when selecting technical parameters for bicycle lanes.
– After studying and analyzing this topic for three years, what conclusions have you drawn?
– Firstly, existing methods for forecasting bicycle traffic are understandable only to other researchers and cannot be used by designers.
Secondly, in order for more daily trips in the city to be done cycling rather than using other means of transportation, people's perception of bicycles needs to change. Currently, the majority of city residents see bicycles as a leisure activity, which is why they are not used for daily commutes to work or school.
Thirdly, the current technical regulations in Lithuania state that the width of bicycle lanes should be determined based on the number of cyclists per hour. Similar parameters and traffic volumes can be found in Dutch bicycle lane design guidelines, which state that technical parameters for bicycle lanes should be selected based on peak-hour bicycle traffic. This is a fundamental flaw in our legal framework that negatively affects urban development. Evaluating peak-hour traffic and evaluating traffic throughout the day are two different things.
– Why is this topic relevant and important for Lithuania? Or is it a more global issue?
– I believe that this topic is equally relevant to both Lithuania and the rest of the world, as every designer should have access to an easily understandable calculation method for bicycle traffic that is based on freely accessible data. This would allow us to better serve public needs and develop new street or bicycle lane projects more efficiently as the selected infrastructure parameters would be based on clear traffic data.
– If, for example, the state were to apply the conclusions you have drawn to improve bicycle and road infrastructure, what would be the benefits?
– We would have a database of bicycle traffic flows that could be freely used. There would be clear trends in bicycle usage over the years. The technical regulations would be updated, stating that technical parameters for bicycle lanes must be selected based on peak-hour data.
– Why did you choose this topic? Is it personally important to you?
– Yes, it is personally important to me because I am a designer and I design streets and bicycle lanes myself. The idea for this topic came up while working on one of the street projects, where a new bicycle lane had to be integrated, which required to determine the current and prospective bicycle traffic. That's when I realized that there was no easily understandable methodology for forecasting bicycle traffic, and there was no database to evaluate changes in traffic over time when the territory changes. The only thing that could be used was the city's sustainable mobility plan and the modal split mentioned in it.
– You recently went on an internship. What experiences did you gain from it, and how will it benefit your dissertation?
– I completed my internship in Copenhagen, during which I had to communicate with representatives from the city municipality and ride bicycles in the city to test the bicycle transportation infrastructure myself.
While visiting the city municipality, I learned that since 1993 every two years the city has conducted surveys of residents related to daily trips and transportation choices. Bicycle traffic is measured at intersections and data is collected as well as analyzed. If when designing bicycle infrastructure there is not enough space for bicycle lanes in the cross-section of a street, the number of car lanes is reduced, or a one-way traffic is organized for cars, or public transport stops are built without entrances. Thus, Copenhagen is a living example of how important it is to analyze bicycle traffic data and how it improves infrastructure development.
When riding a bicycle in the city, I saw a number of different examples of bicycle lanes, traffic lanes, and intersection arrangements that could improve the transportation infrastructure in our cities. Probably one of the main differences between cycling in Vilnius and Copenhagen is the feeling of safety. Car drivers are cautious, give way to cyclists, which cannot be said about the relationship between drivers and cyclists in Vilnius.
– Thank you for the interview.
Interviewed by Milda Mockūnaitė-Vitkienė, Internal Communications Project Manager at VILNIUS TECH Public Relations Department.
