ARTICLE FROM THE BOOK:
Cyclists & Cycling Around the World – Creating Liveable
andBikeable
CitiesCyclists& Cycling
Aroundthe World
Edited by Juan Carlos Dextre, Mike Hughes & Lotte Bech
Published by Fondo Editorial, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2013
ISBN: 978-612-4146-55-8

The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide Turning innovation into action in U.S. cities
By Jeff Olson, R.A. – Principal, Alta Planning + Design, USAIn 2011, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) publishedits landmark Urban Bikeway Design Guide. This innovative document is the resultof partnership between U.S. cities and a creative project team that developed anew toolbox for designing urban streets. The project was sponsored by the bicycle
industry, with funding from the Bikes Belong Coalition and the SRAM Cycling Fund. The
NACTO Guide was developed using on-line collaboration tools, with full colour, threedimensional graphics and the input of bikeway design professionals from throughout
the U.S. For many years, urban designers in the U.S. had been limited by the current
national standards produced by the federal government (the Manual of Uniform TrafficControl Devices, or MUTCD) and by State Departments of Transportation (the AASHTO
Guidelines for the Development of Bicycle Facilities). These national level guides are
the result of national committees, take years to develop and are primarily intended forstate and federal agencies. Because the demand for innovative urban bicycle facilities inthe U.S. was steadily increasing, NACTO decided to produce a new kind of design guidethat was developed by cities, for cities. The new NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide
is a living document produced in both an online version ( see Appendix) and a printedversion that can be continually updated and changed over time.
The effort to create the NACTO Guide represents a significant change in the bicycling
movement in the U.S. For many years, leaders in progressive transportation had tried toimprove the MUTCD and AASHTO guides, but the pace of change in cities continued to
be faster than these national documents could be updated. As cities including Portland,
Chicago, New York and others began to use innovative designs from around the world,a gap was developing between contemporary best practices and the existing nationalguidelines.

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Portland, Oregon Mayor
Sam Adams, Mia Birk of Alta
Planning + Design and others
discuss the concept of theNACTO Guide in October,2009. Photo: J.Olson

Design elements that were commonplace in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Montreal andother international cities simply were not in the manuals being used in the U.S. Cyclespecific traffic signals, cycle tracks, bike boxes and other innovations were known to be
successful in other places, but American designers were being kept from using thembecause U.S. guidelines for these treatments did not exist. Because most U.S. designprofessionals rely on published design guidelines as protection from legal liability, thephrase “it’s not in the manual” became a common response to why communities could notuse the innovative treatments that were being implemented in cities around the world.
In October 2009, a group of national leaders met at the headquarters of Alta Planning+ Design in Portland, Oregon to discuss creating a new urban bikeway design manual.
While many people had talked about doing this before, it was a core group initiated by
Mia Birk of Alta, Rob Burchfield and Roger Geller of Portland, along with support from theBikes Belong Coalition and the SRAM Cycling Fund that moved the concept forward. Akey to making this initiative possible was that the mayors of large U.S. cities were being
challenged to implement significant initiatives for bicycling. Led by Transportation
Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan from New York, the cities had formed a new alliancecalled NACTO, the National Association of City Transportation Officials. The NACTO cities
were trying to innovate, but they were experiencing institutionalized resistance when
they tried to install designs that were “not in the manual.” Mayor Sam Adams of Portland
personally attended that first meeting in 2009, and made it clear that he and his peers inother U.S. cities supported the creation of a new way to solve this problem.

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Cyclists & Cycling Around the World

After that initial meeting in Portland, NACTO engaged a consulting team led by Alta,
Kittelson & Associates, Open Plans and a group of advisors from the U.S., Denmark andthe Netherlands to develop the new design guide. The project was promoted under
the NACTO Cities for Cycling program, and had the support of member cities including
Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, NewYork City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and Austin. Momentumfor the project accelerated quickly. When NACTO hosted a “Cities for Cycling” event atthe Brookings Institution in December 2009, the keynote speaker was artist, musicianand author David Byrne – and it was clear that the bicycling movement was being taken
to a new level. NACTO issued a request for proposals for the guide, and the winning
project team was tasked to produce the new guide within a year. The online versionof the guide was launched in May, 2010 and the printed guide was released in October
2011. The NACTO team created a game-changing document that has significantlyadvanced the field of urban cycling in America. At the event celebrating the release of
the printed guide, USDOT Secretary LaHood said, “This is an extraordinary piece of workthat’s long overdue.”There are three key issues that the new NACTO Guide represents: the use of web-based
technology in planning, changing perspectives on the types of urban bicycle facilities,
and lessons learned for global advancement of best practices for active mobility. Each ofthese issues is discussed in the following sections.
“USDOT Secretary Ray Lahood with NYCDOT Commissioner Janette
Sadik-Khan and Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon at the publicannouncement of the new NACTO Guide in Washington, DC in October, 2011.
Photo: Darren Flusche, League of American Bicyclists

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Key Issue: Technology and planning
The NACTO guide utilized web-based planning, communications and social media tools
to develop a living document. The project consultants and study review team members
were able to share experiences from real projects, document their innovations andcollaboratively produce a document quickly and efficiently. Joe Gilpin, who served as
Alta’s project manager for the NACTO guide, worked with Open Plans to utilize BaseCamp on-line project management and file sharing tools. Designer Nick Falbo of Altautilized Google Earth and 3D Sketchup software to create photo-realistic images for thedocument based on real projects being developed by the partner cities. Each treatment
developed in the guide was shared with the study review team, who linked innovative
treatments and best practices from real projects to the project website. This process
enabled NACTO to create a new type of on-line, graphically based, web-based guide inless than one year from concept to completion.

Bike box at a signalizedintersection (inteligible)a bike lane approach.
NACTO guideIntersection crossing markings
with dotted lines and coloredconflict areas NACTO guide236Cyclists & Cycling Around the World

Graphic Courtesy of Alta
Planning + Design
One - way protected cycle trackwith raised curb and parking
buffer. Nacto guide

The NACTO Guide features realistic 3D graphics for innovative treatments including bikeboxes, intersection markings and cycle tracks.” These graphics include real examples andphotographs of projects that have been implemented in the NACTO cities. For example,
below are both a 3D graphic and a photo of a one-way cycle track from the NACTO Guide:

Key issue: Separate but equal design.
As the bicycling movement has evolved, the types of facilities being implemented havechanged. In the 1990s, the U.S. design guidelines were based on primarily three typesof bikeways: separated bike paths, signed bike routes on roadways, and designated bikelanes. These facilities were primarily oriented to skilled, adult, male cyclists who made up
the existing American cycling population. At the same time in Amsterdam, Copenhagen,Montreal and other progressive cities, bikeway design became increasingly oriented toseparating bicyclists from motorised and pedestrian traffic. Urban designs including
cycle tracks, bike boxes, coloured pavements at intersections, dedicated bicycle signals

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Photo: NYCDOT/NACTO

and other innovative treatments were developed. Since these treatments were perceived
as safer and easier to use by a wide cross section of the population (especially women,children and seniors), they supported a larger and more diverse range of bicyclists. The
NACTO guide represents a major shift towards implementing these types of ‘separate but
equal’ treatments in American cities.

Key issue: Sharing best practices globally
The world’s cities are rapidly learning to share information and ideas in new ways. The
NACTO guide symbolises a greater level of collaboration for cities around the world.
The involvement of international members of the consulting team provided support forinnovation and the exchange of ideas. This process can be repeated in other countries,
cities and places that are working to create active communities where bicycling is safe,
healthy and fun. NACTO has created a new level of collaboration in the U.S. bicycling
community. There is now an ongoing series of NACTO Cities for Cycling Road Show
events to promote innovation in urban mobility. The NACTO guide and the processthat was used to create it can be a model for using technology creatively, promoting
innovative design and sharing best practices around the world. If we work together, we
can make the world a better place for bicycling, for cities, and for future generations.

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Cyclists & Cycling Around the WorldThe NACTO Guide Study Review Team included bicycle design practitioners from throughout
the U.S. Alta Planning + Design was the lead consultant for the NACTO Guide, along withan international team of design professionals. A link to the lists people and organizations
involved in this project is included in the references section of this article.
Jeff Olson
jolson@altaplanning.com

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