South Middlesex Times

Researchers at Rutgers University–New Brunswick have discovered that the installation of a bike lane at a high-traffic intersection in a Jersey Shore town significantly reduces driving speeds. The study, published in The Journal of Urban Mobility, suggests that this "traffic calming" effect could enhance road safety and decrease the risk and severity of crashes.

“We are giving you more evidence that bike lanes save lives,” said Hannah Younes, lead author of the study and postdoctoral research associate at the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center in the Rutgers Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. “And it’s not only cyclists’ lives that could be saved. It’s more than that – drivers and pedestrians as well.”

The research team, comprising experts from various departments within Rutgers University, focused on Cookman and Asbury Avenues in Asbury Park, N.J. Cookman Avenue is a local two-lane road intersecting with Asbury Avenue, which leads directly to popular Atlantic Ocean beaches. Drivers often take a legal right-turn-on-red at this intersection without stopping first, creating hazardous conditions for pedestrians and cyclists.

To address this issue, the researchers created a temporary bike lane on Cookman and Asbury Avenues using orange road cones. They surveyed random bike and electric scooter riders about their use of bikes and scooters and their attitudes toward bike lanes. The survey indicated general approval for bike lanes.

Using computer vision techniques to analyze over 9,000 motor vehicles' speed and trajectory before and after installing the bike lane, they found significant reductions in driving speeds: a 28 percent reduction in average maximum speeds and a 21 percent decrease for vehicles turning right. For those heading straight, an 8 percent reduction was observed.

Marking the bike lanes with cones proved more effective at reducing speed than painted-only lanes. Painted-only lanes were associated with an 11 to 15 percent speed reduction but only for drivers turning right.

Younes hypothesized that drivers slow down when they see cone-marked bike lanes because these make the driving lane narrower and require more concentration compared to painted lines on the road surface.

With pedestrian deaths rising nationally—7,388 pedestrian deaths occurred in 2021 according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety—the study's findings could influence new traffic policies or revisions of existing ones. Cities nationwide are adopting policies like Vision Zero aimed at eliminating all fatalities and serious injuries on public roads.

Other researchers involved in the study include Clinton Andrews, Robert Noland, Wenwen Zhang, Leigh Ann Von Hagen from the Bloustein School; Jie Gong and Jiahao Xia from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Dimitris Metaxas and Song Wen from the Department of Computer Science.