Geospatial Solutions for Bike and Pedestrian Safety

Bill Singleton, Vice President at Ecopia AI (Ecopia), recently joined a webinar focused on GIS for bike lane safety and efficiency, part of a broader series on asset management for state and local governments. The session highlighted innovative geospatial strategies designed to improve the safety of bike lanes and promote active transportation, advancing the goal of more connected and accessible communities. In this blog, we summarize the key insights from the webinar and provide a copy of the recording.

Funding opportunities for bike and pedestrian planning

The webinar begins with Bill highlighting a historic opportunity to enhance bike and pedestrian safety across the US. He explains that the US has a variety of federal funding opportunities to support the development of bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

One notable initiative is the Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program (ATIIP) which is part of the government’s Investing in America Agenda and is supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This program focuses on creating networks of connected bike and pedestrian paths, improving access to public transit, and ensuring safe travel for non-motorized transportation modes. Bill explains that ATIIP aims to address barriers to safe, accessible, and equitable pedestrian and bike networks, particularly in disadvantaged communities and those with a higher reliance on public transportation. 

Additionally, initiatives like the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program provide essential funding for bike infrastructure projects, complementing other federal programs such as Safe Streets for All (SS4A), Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Program, Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), and Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) Program. Bill explains that these initiatives promote active transportation as a safe, sustainable, and healthy mode of travel. For Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and State Departments of Transportation (DOTs), these funding opportunities are essential for planning and designing active transportation networks that include sidewalks, bikeways, and trails. These networks play a vital role in connecting key community destinations, including schools, workplaces, businesses, recreational areas, and medical facilities. Bill shares that investing in bike and pedestrian infrastructure can not only reduce traffic congestion but can also increase community health and lower greenhouse gas emissions. By prioritizing these initiatives, communities can enhance the quality of life for citizens while contributing to sustainable urban development that aligns with national goals.

Bill emphasizes that when applying for grants, it is important to carefully review requirements and prepare comprehensive proposals that demonstrate the potential impact and sustainability of proposed projects. The competitive nature of these grants means that successful applications will likely be those that clearly articulate the benefits of the project in terms of safety, connectivity, and community enhancement–and that's where the highly precise geospatial data comes into play. 

Exploring barriers to cycling: safety and connectivity 

In the next segment of the webinar, Kevin O’Brien from the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) addresses the often hidden and sometimes dangerous challenges of DC’s rapidly expanding active transportation network.

While the city has made significant strides in developing its bicycling infrastructure, Kevin notes that traffic fatalities have unfortunately risen, and bike commuting rates remain stubbornly low, in the single digits. He identifies connectivity and safety as major barriers to cycling in the city. Drawing from his experience as an end-user of Washington, DC’s biking facilities, Kevin highlights critical network gaps that deter potential cyclists. He explains that many individuals are discouraged from biking due to a lack of convenient routes, particularly for east-west travel, which presents a significant challenge in the region.

Kevin emphasizes that poorly designed bike facilities can lead to hazards; for instance, a protected bike lane may suddenly transition into a precarious area, creating confusing and dangerous situations for cyclists. He also points out that even when bike lanes are well-connected and strategically placed, they can be obstructed by vehicles, street trees, or debris, which forces cyclists into vehicle traffic.

To enhance bike lane safety and eliminate barriers to cycling, Kevin emphasizes the need for GIS-based solutions. High-precision geospatial data that identifies gaps in the network and obstructions—such as street trees—plays a crucial role in improving safety. Additionally, implementing effective maintenance strategies can help keep lanes clear of debris, further enhancing safety. Overall, Kevin highlights the importance of consulting with end users, whose input is vital in the planning process. By incorporating their perspectives into design initiatives, communities can create a safer and more inviting environment for all cyclists.

Analyzing bike lane accessibility through network analysis  

As the webinar continues, Craig McCabe from Esri shares an approach for evaluating bicycle safety and accessibility across Washington, DC. 

Craig begins by highlighting the importance of bike lanes to mitigate the stress and risks associated with urban cycling. He then presents a network analysis project aimed at assessing the safety and comfort of cycling in the city by assessing the availability of bike lanes. Craig describes the methodology behind the network analysis. The approach involved analyzing access to various neighborhoods and regions within DC and characterizing different communities based on their access to key opportunities. Craig explains that his team established origin points (census tracts) and identified various opportunity factors such as government services, health resources, education, employment, and places of worship. By creating "spiderwebs" of routes emanating from each tract's centroid, they were able to visualize and analyze cycling routes effectively. The culmination of their efforts was a network access model that scores routes based on the frequency of destinations—daily, weekly, and less frequent—while heavily weighting routes with better bike lane availability. This scoring system normalizes for distance, combining all the weighted factors into a comprehensive score that ranks neighborhoods based on their access to opportunities. 

Craig then shares a link to an interactive StoryMap where the findings can be explored in detail. 

Promoting safe driving behaviors 

Shifting gears, Samantha Kriegsman from Samsara presents how Samsara’s solutions, particularly AI dash cams, are helping to reduce safety incidents in road networks. 

Samantha shares that enhancing urban mobility hinges on creating safer streets for all users, and improved vehicle safety can not only protect drivers but also promote the safety of cyclists, pedestrians, and others sharing the roadway. Samantha explains that Samsara offers dash cams that can be installed on city vehicles. The cameras capture driving data, which is sent to the cloud, allowing back-office teams to access footage of critical events. This supports proactive coaching, enabling targeted interventions based on specific driver performance metrics. 

Samantha presents a compelling example from Denver, where Samsara's platform helped improve road safety. The city encouraged safe driving behaviors within its fleet, resulting in an impressive 94% reduction in overall safety incidents, creating a safer environment for both drivers and the community.

In Boynton Beach, Florida, the use of AI dash cams led to a 58% reduction in measurable risk factors compared to similar-sized cities. This decrease included significant drops in speeding, harsh braking, and distracted driving, ultimately contributing to safer roads for residents.

Leveraging AI-powered geospatial data for transportation planning

Challenges in transportation mapping data collection 

In the next portion of the webinar, Bill highlights the crucial need for comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date data in transportation planning projects. He points out that MPOs, county governments, and State DOTs often struggle to obtain high-precision geospatial data necessary for effective planning. While teams can use open platforms to gather information, it is frequently outdated, fragmented, or lacking in detail. Alternatively, collecting first-party data can be costly and time-consuming due to the manual digitization process, which may take months or even years, resulting in stale data by the time it’s ready for use. 

To address this challenge, MPOs and DOTs across the US are partnering with Ecopia. Ecopia extracts highly precise transportation map geometry from the latest imagery, providing vectorized data of critical transportation infrastructure including bike lanes, sidewalks, shoulders, medians, crosswalks, and more with the accuracy of a GIS professional. This eliminates the need for manual digitization, enabling teams to quickly access the high-precision data they require for geospatial analysis.

Evaluating pedestrian routes in Baltimore

Bill then provides examples of how Ecopia’s data has improved transportation network safety across the US, focusing on a project with the Baltimore Regional Transportation Authority. Before partnering with Ecopia, the team relied on a sidewalk inventory compiled from hundreds of sources. This fragmented data made it difficult to accurately assess the existing infrastructure and identify gaps. To address this issue, Ecopia quickly developed a comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date sidewalk inventory for Baltimore, offering a detailed, up-to-date view of the region’s transportation infrastructure.

Bill highlights that the high-precision sidewalk data provided by Ecopia included width measurements, which can help identify areas needing improvement or expansion to enhance pedestrian accessibility. He notes that having this detail is crucial for assessing compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards and is also valuable for SS4A grant applications.

Digitizing pedestrian right-of-way features in San Bernardino 

Civil engineers are often engaged by DOTs and MPOs for network planning, analysis, and project management. Bill shares that Ecopia collaborated with the firm Fehr & Peers on a multimodal network analysis project for the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA), producing 17 features such as bike lanes, sidewalks, turn lanes, and medians across more than 20,000 square miles—45 times faster than previous manual digitization efforts. The high-precision data provided by Ecopia helped Fehr & Peers and SBCTA to determine the most effective strategies for reaching their multimodal planning goals, including minimizing barriers between various transportation modes to improve accessibility and interconnectivity.

A new era for bike lane safety 

Federal funding initiatives in the US are driving advancements in transportation infrastructure, fostering healthier, more sustainable, and equitable communities nationwide. At the same time, AI is transforming access to high-precision geospatial data, enabling communities to make informed decisions based on comprehensive, accurate, and current geospatial data. With these technological advancements, decision-makers now possess the tools necessary to assess and improve safety, accessibility, efficiency, and equity within transportation networks creating a safer and more connected future.

To discover how to leverage Ecopia’s high-precision transportation data for bike and pedestrian planning, or to find out how we can assist with transportation planning grant applications, schedule a call with our team today.