Bicycle Infrastructure Makes $

I came across this study today published by the North Carolina Department of Transportation Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation. It's basically a report on the economic impact of bicycle facilities on the Northern Outer Banks region of North Carolina. I've provided an excerpt of key findings below. You can get the full report here. The results are stunning, even to a dyed-in-the-wool bicycle advocate like myself.

Significant findings from the study include:

• 17% of visitors to the area report bicycling activity while there; this is approximately 680,000 bicyclists annually.
  

• A conservative estimate of the annual economic impact of bicyclists is $60 million.

• The annual economic impact of cyclists is almost nine times as much as the one-time expenditure of public funds to construct special bicycle facilities in the region.
  

• 1,400 jobs are created or supported annually with the expenditures made by bicyclists.

• Almost half of surveyed bicyclists earn more than $100,000 annually and 87% earn more than $50,000. Forty percent have a Masters or Doctoral degree and an additional 38% reported completion of a college degree.
  

• The quality of bicycling in the region had a positive impact on respondents’ vacation planning with 43% reporting that bicycling was an important factor in their decision to come to the area, 53%reported bicycling as a strong influence in their decision to return in the future, and 12% reported staying 3-4 days longer to bicycling in the area.
  

• Nearly two-thirds of respondents indicated that riding on bicycle facilities made them feel safer.

• Over three-fourths of all survey respondents indicated that additional bicycle paths, paved shoulders and bike lanes should be built.
  

• Nine out of ten survey respondents strongly agreed that state and/or federal tax dollars should be used to build more bicycle facilities.

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