Available at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/3253
Date of Award
3-2026
Degree Name
MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department/Program
Civil and Environmental Engineering
College
College of Engineering
Advisor
Anurag Pande
Advisor Department
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Advisor College
College of Engineering
Abstract
Edge Lane Roads, also referred to as Advisory Bike Lanes, are a shared roadway treatment that designates space for cyclists while allowing flexible use of the roadway by motorists. They are commonly applied on lower speed corridors and can be used both where roadway width is limited and where agencies seek to manage vehicle speeds, clarify cyclist positioning, or improve shared roadway operations. The configuration provides visually designated space for cyclists while allowing motorists to encroach into that space when yielding to opposing traffic. Although interest in these facilities is growing in North America, quantitative tools for evaluating their operational performance remain limited. This study develops a microsimulation framework in PTV Vissim to represent Advisory Bike Lane operations using a lane-based configuration with calibrated lateral positioning and overtaking behavior. Field observations from the Graham Street installation in the Presidio of San Francisco provide calibration targets for operating speed, directional lateral placement, and passing interactions. The model is validated using conventional microsimulation measures, including directional volume comparison, mean speed error, eighty-fifth percentile speed difference, and comparison of observed and simulated lateral position distributions. Results show that the calibrated model reproduces observed speed distributions and directional differences in lateral positioning and replicates two distinct passing regimes observed in the field: assertive overtaking and cautious trailing. An exploratory analysis of Federal Highway Administration monitoring data from thirteen Advisory Bike Lane corridors indicates that changes in operating speed vary substantially by context and are not explained by simple linear relationships with average daily traffic and lane width. The framework demonstrates that commercially available microsimulation software can represent the negotiation dynamics that characterize Advisory Bike Lane operations when carefully calibrated to field observations.