Bicycle and Pedestrian Counts

Bikes Count Summary Poster.png

Overview

In June 2014, the City of Lincoln installed the first permanent trail counters to collect data for bicycle and pedestrian activity on the Rock Island Trail. In the fall of 2015, a mobile counter was purchased and has been available for short term use at several locations across the trail network. Four additional counters were added to the trail network in 2017, bringing the total number to five, with a sixth installed on the N Street Cycle Track in fall of 2021 that replaced the former data collection system on the track. 

The permanent counters collect and transmit data daily. The mobile counters are only at one location for a two week period before rotating to the next site. The 27 mobile counter locations are counted biannually and the data is extrapolated with adjustment factors to get an estimated annual daily and total annual users. Click on the link below for an interactive map and up to date data for the permanent counters and mobile counters. Not all mobile count locations will have data as the program for the mobile sites began in May 2022. Some sites will not be counted until 2023 for the first time and others will be counted in fall of 2022.

In early 2022 the City was selected to participate in the League of American Bicyclists "Bikes Count Data Competition". Data collected since 2016 was provided to EcoCounter to clean and analyze, resulting in a high level analysis shown on the "Bikes Count in Lincoln" poster. As you can see, bicycling in Lincoln has steadily grown since the first counter was installed, exploding during the Pandemic with a 45% rise in bike counts in 2020. Our N Street Cycle Track continues to perform well compared to existing separated trails like the Boosalis and MoPac East. What didn't make it in time for the poster were counts taken on the 11th and 13th Street bike lanes which confirm better designed bike infrastructure encourages more riders to use the facilities. These findings were presented with more detail during a webinar which can be found on the League's blog here.

Up to Date Counts Platform

2017-2020 Individual Counter Reports

Billy Wolff Trail (2017-2020)

Boosalis Trail (2017-2020)

MoPac Trail East (2017-2020)

MoPac Trail West (2017-2020)

Rock Island Trail (2017-2020)