The Causal Effect of Cycling Infrastructure on Traffic and Accidents: Evidence from Pop-up Bike Lanes in Berlin

Philipp Schrauth ()
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Philipp Schrauth: University of Potsdam

No 48, CEPA Discussion Papers from Center for Economic Policy Analysis

Abstract: This paper analyzes the effect of new bicycle lanes on traffic volume, congestion, and accidents. Crucially, the new bike lanes replace existing car lanes thereby reducing available space for motorized traffic. In order to obtain causal estimates, I exploit the quasi-random timing and location of the newly built cycle lanes. Using an event study design, a two-way fixed effects model and the synthetic control group method on geo-coded data, I show that the construction of pop-up bike lanes significantly reduced average car speed by 8 to 12 percentage points (p.p.) and up to 16 p.p. in peak traffic hours. In contrast, the results for car volume are modest, while the data does not allow for a conclusive judgment of accidents.

Keywords: congestion; urban; traffic; environment; accidents; cycling; health; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O18 Q56 R11 R41 R42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-tre and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pot:cepadp:48

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