The bicycle & pedestrian counts have been completed for the fall of 2014, marking the 3rd year of bike/ped counts in the area. Of the eight locations counted, one showed the highest count ever recorded for that location (Twyckenham Drive) and three had new lows while the remaining four were within norms. In total, the counts for the eight locations were down 26% over the same time periods in 2012 and 2013. This may have been due to the weather, which was considerably cooler than the prior two years.
Using standard adjustment factors provided by the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project (NBPD), the counts have been annualized and show that Riverside Trail would have 131,000 cyclists per year, Notre Dame Avenue is second busiest at 109,000 followed by Juniper Road at 65,000 per year.
The traffic count project is a cooperative effort with trained volunteers from the Bike Michiana Coalition, the City of South Bend, Indiana University at South Bend, and Bike the Bend. The basic assumptions of the methodology are that, in order to estimate existing and future bicycle and pedestrian demand and activity, agencies nationwide need to conduct counts in a consistent manner similar to those being used by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and other groups for motor vehicle models.
The Michiana counts also show data on gender, pedestrian traffic, bicycle helmet usage, and bikes riding against traffic. The BMC is happy to share this information with interested parties.
