School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Ph.D. Thesis Defense Announcement

USING CHANGES IN REVEALED IMPEDANCE TO ASSESS THE POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF NEW CYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE USING BIKEWAYSIM

By REID PASSMORE

Advisor: Dr. Kari Watkins

Committee Members:  Dr. Randall Guensler (CEE), Dr. Angshuman Guin (CEE), Dr. Clio Andris (SCaRP and Interactive Computing), Dr. Chris LeDantec (Northeastern University)

Date and Time:  November 15, 2024.

12:00 – 3:00 PM EST / 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST

Location: Room 1104, 215 Sage St, Davis, CA

Zoom: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/94935518122

This research proposes a framework for assessing the impacts of new and existing cycling facilities 
using minimum cycling impedance routing. Cycling impedance represents the relative difficulty of 
cycling and considers travel time, exposure to automobiles, hills, and the provision of cycling 
infrastructure. With map-matched cycling GPS traces from CycleAtlanta, this research calibrates 
cycling impedance functions using particle swarm optimization. The calibrated impedance functions 
are applied to a 250-square-mile Metro Atlanta study area network to assess the impact of 38 
planned bicycle facilities on 3.6 million trips from the Atlanta Regional Commission Activity-Based 
Model. Five metrics, trip impedance reduction, percent detour, change in link betweenness 
centrality, impedance reduction contribution, and bikesheds highlight the impedance reduction 
impacts of new cycling infrastructure. Planners, engineers, and advocacy groups can utilize the 
framework to evaluate proposed cycling infrastructure and prioritize projects that stand to reduce 
the most cycling impedance. As new cycling trace data and network data become available, 
researchers can update the impedance functions to reflect the behavior of current cyclists and 
develop new impedance factors.