3.4 Seven Steps to planning a Network

The existing cycle network and wider urban area should be mapped and an inventory prepared, even if this is at informal level. The inventory will include:

• All roads where cycling is permitted
• All roads where cycling currently occurs
• Unofficial routes, through parks, on footpaths, through building complexes, through breaks in fences etc.
• Any links or connection points from residential areas to the network
• Any barriers, limitations or bottlenecks that could affect route choice (e.g. one way streets, bridges, major junction delays or dangers, night-time closures, level crossings,  etc)
• Quality of Service rating (if available)
• Cycle parking locations
• Other relevant physical infrastructure
• For maintenance reasons, record segregated facilities
• Record which cycling directions are provided for

Mapping Accidents

It is critical to map all reported cycling accidents. In network planning or improvement existing accident locations need to be included and addressed through the 4-step process for Conflict Management.

Mapping Accidents Sample

Inventory Mapping

Inventory Mapping


The inventory should generate a comprehensive map including:

• Main trip attractors or generators in the urban area
• Quality of Service ratings (A*-D) for the routes within the network
• Length, type and direction of infrastructure provided throughout the network
• Location of bicycle parking
• Other as appropriate

Sample Inventory

Mapping Cyclist Accessibility to the Network and Key Zones

Development densities within an urban area, together with its physical layout will influence the cycle network.

A well-developed cycle network will have a mesh of routes running at 250m “squares”.  This density of routes allows for a feasible choice of routes close to any location that will not impose significant detours for urban cyclists.

Modern GIS tools will allow for mapping of cycling accessibility to the cycling network and to the major centres. This will also identify gaps or sections of poor accessibility.

Residential streets should not be included if the streets are

• for access only,  or
• are not part of a through cycle route.

Dealing with Barriers and Severance Locations

All breaks or severance in the continuity of a route should be clearly identified.

Large roundabouts, major junctions or road crossings, valleys, network pinch points, can all have a fundamental impact on the network.  In particular, the confluence of cycle routes as they approach and exit from bridges and pinch points should be specifically detailed.

At such locations cyclists may experience unacceptable detours or delays that would reduce the overall Quality of Service for the route.

If there is no solution to a key point of discontinuity or severance, or if unacceptable detours and delays cannot be avoided, the cycle network should not be planned around these locations.

Trip Demand

An efficient and effective Cycle Network will target the greatest quantity of existing and potential cycle traffic.  This requires a knowledge of overall trip demand within the urban area (all trips by all modes), and an understanding of existing and potential cycling demand.

The main sources of information on trip demand are:

• Census data (CSO last census analyses 2006)
• Origin surveys: Household / Area
• Destination surveys: Key employers, shopping / commercial centres, educational centres, surveys associated with mobility management plans, etc.
• Use of transport Models: Saturn, OmniTrans, etc.
• Other datasets: Traffic counts, roadside surveys, etc.
• Trip generation rates: use of standard / typical trip rates for certain types of land use developments

Using this information, the existing trip demand, together with the potential for cycling short trips (i.e. 6km or less) can be estimated and located.

Useful outputs can include:

• Trip Length profile to key destination centres, and numbers of short trips
• Zone-to-zone trip movements (employment-based)
• Educational Trip demand

Potential Cycling Demand: New Users

Within the overall trip matrix, potential cycling trips are those journeys (or part of a multi-modal journey) that are 6km or less in length, and which generally do not involve significant movements of goods or other passengers.

All Day Trip Profile

While peak hour trips such as those to work or education are significant, off-peak trips are equally important potential bike trips.  The 2006 Household Survey (Central Statistics Office) for the Greater Dublin Area revealed significant trip volumes outside of the two peak periods:

Examples include trips to:

• recreation, sport fields and leisure centres
• community based services and centres, places of worship, etc.

Residential streets should be cycle friendly to avoid cycling on the footpath

Table: Cycle trip profile over 24 hours based on a survey of 2,500 persons.

Factors that increase Trip Rates – Children, Employment

The survey also showed that households with children made 25 to 33% more trips than those without children and the trip rate did not drop-off during the summer.  In addition those in employment had a 25% higher trip rate as compared to those not in employment.

Therefore, network planning should consider how it serves areas with younger families and/or higher levels of employment.

All existing and potential cycle trips need to be assigned to the Cycle Network so as to indicate where the greatest pressure for cycling is currently and will be in the future. This will allow for prioritisation of network improvements.

In the absence of a dedicated cycling assignment model, trips can be assigned manually. The assignment process should reflect the key route choice factors, which cyclists use:

• Directness i.e. best cycle journey time / distance
• Safety
• Quality of Service

Gradient also needs to be considered as steep gradients can deter cycling on particular routes and cyclist may choose flatter, if slightly longer alternatives that require less effort.

Compare to existing trip-patterns
Existing cycling patterns, if known should reflect the post-assignment pattern although the overall numbers would be higher.

The cycle network must cater for future needs as well as for existing latent demand. As such network planning should consider the likely growth in demand arising from:

• Future trends, expected policy outcomes, target mode shifts, etc.
• Development Plan projections for countywide and local areas

Smarter Travel and the National Cycling Policy Framework set out clear targets for reducing car use and increasing cycle usage together with the means for achieving these at a national level. Smarter Travel states that the future network should be planned to cater for cycle policy measures including:

• public transport / cycle opportunities
• increased cycling as part of school and employment mobility management plans

These additional trips and zones should be mapped onto the network and future trips quantified and assigned as in Step 3.

Cycling does not operate in isolation from the other modes in transport planning. As such in cycle network planning it is also necessary to consider future proposals (both short and long-term) for the other transport modes. Early identification will ensure that potential conflicts can be avoided or reconciled.

Map out other strategic proposals that could affect the cycling network, for example:

• Bus network plans
• Traffic and signalling plans
• Pedestrianisation schemes
• Rail Interchange proposals
• Town centre masterplans, Strategic Development Zones (SDZs) etc.
• Others as appropriate.

Opportunities that exist within the development plan should also be reviewed, e.g. capitalising on infrastructure and maintenance projects to provide new or improved cycle links:

• Urban or town street improvement schemes
• road maintenance,
• renewal of sub-surface utilities
• Others as appropriate.

Strategic Traffic Management Plan:

Within the Greater Dublin Area, the cycle network will be an integral part of the Strategic Traffic Management Plan for the region.

Steps 1 to 5 provide a view of existing cycle trips, future potential cycle trips, important zones and centres, forecast growth etc., mapped against the existing cycle provision.

Step 6 maps and prioritises the key improvements required on routes within the cycle network and will normally identify:

• connections to key destinations
• routes where there is high trip demand and low QOS
• accident locations requiring remedial or improvement works
• gaps, detours, or deficiencies in network
• barriers, bottlenecks, limitations or lack of permeability

For each of the improvements identified above, it is important to consider:

• alternative design solutions to determine the best solution for the local circumstance
• what is the effect of doing nothing, i.e. how critical is the proposed improvement?
• potential conflicts with other infrastructure or development programmes
• opportunities for cycle network improvement within other infrastructural or maintenance programmes

The improvements will form the basis of the cycling infrastructure programme considered in Step 7.

The programme should include all the improvements and their delivery timeframe. Ideally, proposals should be mapped and tabulated according to:

• Priority
• Urgency (safety)
• Cost
• Hierarchy level within the cycle network (principal, feeder, access)
• QOS improvement

A detailed programme for the cycle network should also identify:

• Contingencies, dependencies or risks to delivery
• Land acquisitions, enabling works, e.g. utility diversions etc.

The Department of Finance Capital Appraisal Guidelines set out a solid method for assessing schemes and programmes.  The principles within these guidelines should be followed as good practice, even where the cycle network programme may fall below certain thresholds.