Streets that are safe and comfortable for All Ages & Abilities bicycling are critical for urban mobility.

NACTO cities are leading the way in designing streets that are truly safe and inviting for bicyclists of All Ages & Abilities and attract wide ridership. This guidance—developed by practitioners from cities across North America—builds on NACTO’s Urban Bikeway Design Guide and sets an All Ages & Abilities criteria for selecting and implementing bike facilities. Building bicycle infrastructure that meets this criteria is an essential strategy for cities seeking to improve traffic safety, reduce congestion, improve air quality and public health, provide better and more equitable access to jobs and opportunities, and bolster local economies.

This All Ages & Abilities facility selection guidance is designed to be used in a wide variety of urban street types. It considers contextual factors such as vehicular speeds and volumes, operational uses, and observed sources of bicycling stress. In doing so, it allows planners and engineers to determine when, where, and how to best combine traffic calming tools, like speed reduction and volume management, with roadway design changes, like full lane separation, to reduce traffic fatalities and increase cycling rates and rider comfort.

The All Ages & Abilities criteria is a national and international best practice that should be adopted for all bicycle facility design and network implementation; lesser accommodation should require additional justification. Along with a problem-solving approach to street design, the All Ages & Abilities benchmark should be applied across a city’s entire bicycle network to grow bicycling as a safe, equitable mode for the majority of people.