Making the Case for Active Transportation (Again)

Just in time to help make the case is a new report about the return on investment, in terms of fuel savings and reduced health care costs, of Portland's bikeways. Thomas Gotschi, the paper's author, writes, "This paper provides the first cost-benefit analysis for an urban bicycling network in the US. The analysis is made possible not only by almost 20 years of investments and growth in bicycling, but also by the availability of long term data unique for a US city which document the impacts of investments.” The paper concludes that bicycling investments are "cost-effective, even when only a limited selection of benefits is considered.” Gotschi, an APBP member, is a researcher with the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. (Read the report: Journal of Physical Activity and Health)