AASHTO Bike Guide - Designing for All

Bicycling represents a clean, sustainable, and healthy form of transportation. This session will discuss how streets can be reconfigured to meet the needs of all ages and abilities. 

The 2024 AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities (Bike Guide) replaces the 2012 edition of the Bike Guide and brings forward design recommendations that align with the current state of the practice. It emphasizes the need to plan connected bicycle networks and provides the design tools needed to implement those plans and is a significant shift in designing streets that meet the safety and comfort of bicyclists of all ages and abilities. 

The AASHTO Bike Guide is the first AASHTO guide to address the design of Separated Bike Lanes, so the session will provide a deep dive into this topic. The session will also touch upon new design solutions from the Bike Guide, including bicycle boulevards, buffered bike lanes, intersection design treatments, and signal strategies to meet the needs of bicyclists. The Guide also includes expanded guidance on topics such as contextual bikeway selection, design user, and sight distances. Sufficient flexibility is permitted to encourage designs that are sensitive to local context and that incorporate the needs of bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists.