The value of cycling for a city and its residents has long been suspected, but tangible evidence hasn’t always been easy to come by.  A new report from Portland State’s Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) attempts to fill the void.

The study finds that the presence of bike lanes on a city’s streets can not only improve the health of residents, but also the trade of businesses.  The researchers examined 14 corridors across Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Memphis, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis, and found they had a positive impact on both employment and sales.

“I think that it is very significant that we found that positive business outcomes to the food service and retail industries on these corridors are persistent, even when we looked at different data metrics on employment or sales or when different analytical methods are utilized,” the researchers explain.

Good for business

The report builds upon previous studies that had examined the impact street improvement corridors had on specific cities, but the researchers believe this is the first time consistent analytical approaches had been employed on multiple corridors in multiple cities.

They hope that their findings will provide policy makers and urban planners with a clear and robust analytical framework to support their investment in non-motorized transport infrastructure.

“The Street Improvement Study supports with data what we have seen in many communities: adding bicycle infrastructure boosts a neighborhood’s economic vitality,” the researchers say. “

The commercial benefits of improved bike infrastructure were especially felt in industries such as food, as when motor vehicle and parking infrastructure was replaced with bike lanes, both food sales and employment went up.

“There is tremendous potential to expand on what we learned in this research project to additional cities and corridors, and to provide policymakers with the opportunity to evaluate street improvement projects before implementation or to collect additional economic/business metrics before and after implementation,” the researchers conclude.