Optimizing sustainable cities using enhanced cycle routing – A case study in Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Bicycle commuting is a sustainable, low-carbon, and healthy alternative transportation option that should be well-accepted by the general public. In the recent years there has been a slight increase in cycling activities at a city level all over the world. However, the adverse effects from exposure to traffic-related air pollution, injury from traffic crashes, and lack of well-designed cycling infrastructures impede the general public from switching from vehicles into bicycle commuting as a daily traveling mode. In order to achieve a low-carbon lifestyle and future sustainable developments in Auckland, New Zealand, the local council has invested a large amount of money and time on building and promoting cities’ cycling infrastructure. It includes a constructed master plan to build a car-free city central and create more cycling infrastructure for the cyclists across the city. Even though the local government has been investing in building more cycleways in Auckland. The numbers of cyclists or cycling activities still has not reached the expected level as the cycling activities had a decline trend comparing with previous year. To encourage the general public to ride a bike as a daily commute option a cycling network should address people’s concerns instead of only building more cycleways. This dissertation aims to identify the optimized cycling routes for the general public within the existing network system in Auckland. Subsequently, it will evaluate the optimized bicycle routes from different perspective in four studied neighbourhoods. For this purpose, the study will use ArcGIS network analysis to determine the least costs cycling routes for minimum ambient air pollution concentration, lowest travel costs, highest road safety, and cycling environment (road gradient). The results show that decreasing exposure to traffic-related air pollution might require longer travel distance and time, while the alternative shortest bicycle path with the lowest travel distance and time but with a higher occurrence rate of traffic accidents. The results of the optimized bicycle paths vary according to the specific factors and neighbourhoods studied. The methodology and the results from this study might be valuable information for the local council for future cycling network design in Auckland.