Fayetteville in the U.S. has celebrated its inclusion in the international five-cities pilot of the CycleRAP Assessment Model along with Madrid, Barcelona, Bogota and Sao Paulo.

The pilot, involving Fundacion Mapfre, iRAP, the Union Cyclist Internationale (UCI) and PTV, has worked with local partners in each city to test the model and produce maps showing how safe local infrastructure is for cyclists and users of other types of mobility vehicles. Results and a complementary knowledge base were developed to support other cities undertaking CycleRAP assessments, and to provide general guidance on designing safer streets and networks for cycling and light mobility.

Fayetteville is the only designated bike city in the country and local network KNWA Fox 24 shared local experience of the year-long trial:

The pilot found most bike trails in Fayetteville are safe, but confirmed expected high-risk locations, providing the evidence-base to support targeted improvements.

According to Brannon Pack with Experience Fayetteville, 50 miles of paved trails and street bike lanes were assessed using an electric bike fitted with a GoPro camera. Pack stated the program found at least 70% of the city’s biking trails to be safe.

“Fayetteville truly is an award winning bicycle friendly community but that takes work and has taken years of work by a lot of people to get us to where we are. But there are still more opportunities that exist within our network to make sure everyone that lives in Fayetteville can connect to it,” said Pack.

CycleRAP is an evidence-based infrastructure risk evaluation model. It aims to reduce crashes and improve safety specifically for bicyclists and other light mobility users by identifying high risk locations without the need for crash data. The model uses data about the features of a road, street or path to evaluate the risk of crashes for bicyclists and light mobility users – irrespective of the type of facility and pinpointing and mapping where crashes are likely to occur, offering suggestions for treatments to reduce this risk.

Understanding the infrastructure risk for cyclists and light mobility users and showcasing best practices to the world have been the main goals of the project.

Results of the five-cities project were released last month at the UCI Mobility and Bike City Forum in Belgium.

For more information:

• Download the CycleRAP Pilot in Five Cities Report here
• On CycleRAP, visit https://irap.org/cyclerap/