Want more jobs? Build more bike lanes

The bike lane on Jarvis became a flashpoint when it was opened last year. A new study suggests projects just like it might be just the thing for lowering unemployment. (COLIN MCCONNELL/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO)

As the City of Toronto debates changes to its downtown bike lanes, a new study suggests city officials might be wise to build even more of the lanes, not cut back.

Why? It could create more jobs.

A new study released Monday has found bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure is more labour-intensive to build and creates 46 per cent more jobs overall than road-only projects.

The University of Massachusetts study, which examined 58 infrastructure projects in 11 U.S. cities, found that for each $1 million spent, cycling projects create a total of 11.4 local jobs. Pedestrian-only projects create slightly less, with an average of 10 jobs for $1 million spent, and multi-use trails create nearly as many with 9.6 jobs for the same amount of money. But road-only projects strictly for cars generate the least number of jobs, with just 7.8 jobs per $1 million.

“The main driver in the difference in job creation effects is the labour intensity of the various projects,” said Heidi Garrett-Peltier, the lead author of the study, titled “Pedestrian and Bicycle Infrastructure: A National Study of Employment Impacts.”

Garrett-Peltier says more engineering and planning is required when building new bike lanes and sidewalks, and this requires more labour. Cities have to consider where to mark the lanes, how to refurbish a road when adding a new lane, where to place drains and retaining walls, and what kind of signs to add, she says.

“And there are some projects in bike and pedestrian infrastructure that are more capital intensive,” she adds. “If a multi-use trail requires a bridge to be built, that will change the employment impacts than a trail that doesn’t require a bridge.”

While the study looked only at U.S. cities, Garrett-Peltier believes the overall trend is the same throughout North America.

“I do think if we included more projects and more cities, we’d see the same pattern emerge, but not necessarily in every city,” she said.

The study, which took about a year to complete, comes as U.S. lawmakers debate future funding for bicycling and walking infrastructure in a six-year Surface Transportation bill.

-- Paul Choi, Staff Reporter

Comments

[John]

Headline is misleading. Cycling lanes don't *create* more jobs in a given district, it just takes more man hours to build and configure roads with bicycle lanes.

[ry]

How is this different from saying bike planes cost more to build?

[greengrift]

What a ridiculous rationale for building bike lanes!

Under this logic, we should not use heavy machinery in construction and instead force workers to use shovels. Better yet, take away their shovels and give them spoons.

Bike lanes make sense if enough people use them. For me, the current network of bike routes is sufficient to get to work on my bike in good time. When the weather is nice, it can even get a little congested at busy intersections. But at other times, the bike lanes are empty.

The transportation network in Toronto should accommodate all popular modes of travel, but specious arguments favouring bike lanes because their construction uses more labour is a pointless diversion.

[Sherman]

Wonderful, create more unionized jobs for life. When the city of Toronto has built a bike lane on every kilometre that Toronto has to offer, are we simply going to lay off those same workers? Given the fact that once employed by the public sector, there is a huge outcry when jobs are cut, i don't see how creating work to employe people in a city ridden with debt makes sense.

[Ron L]

Let me get this straight. A good way to create jobs is to tax the public and use the money to build bike lanes???? Wow. I can't figure out why every street in Canada doesn't have a bike lane. What a progressive, forward thinking (intellectually and ethically bankrupt) concept. Keep it up TO Star. I love it.

[Jeremy]

Wait? The argument is 'because bikes lanes cost the city more money (because they are more labor intensive and take longer to build) this is a good thing because it creates more jobs!'.

I am actually for bike lines (though not on major streets), and that is a poor argument. Saying that 'it costs more and that's a good thing because it will keep contractors employed' is kind of crazy.

Something more like 'the barrier for entry on a job that you can reasonably bike to is much lower due to the removal of transit costs allowing job seekers to find positions further away from there place of residence' would be excellent if you could find some data to support that.

This.... this is a poorly worded title for an article that goes over facts that make bikes lines a bad investment.

[Andy H]

What a joke - the left lunatics who break traffic laws on their bikes (endangering pedestrians) are the ones who put the city billions in debt, spending money on art's festivals, where naked women stand in a room and u have top decide if will exit by the fat woman or the thin one. As far as economics goes, how about the idea that building more roads, and lowering commercial property taxes will make Toronto more appealing to companies, so they may relocate here. We have the worst commute in North America and bike lanes make them worse. Building more roads and and extending the subway will lower commute times and make Toronto more attractive for companies to move to, adding to Toronto's economic growth, and tax base. How about that??????

[Barry McCockiner]

Yes, it will create more temporary jobs (read: cost more tax dollars) for bike and pedestrian infrastructure. Many thanks for the misleading findings. This took a year to produce?

[Kaalo-pa]

I just read the report - this is a very mis-leading article. Those 11.4 jobs per million is for bike only - to me that means not on a road (i.e. bike trails); otherwise the report authors would have classified it as road infrstucture with bike lanes or multi-use
FYI: The 11 cites in the study:
 Anchorage, Alaska
 Austin, Texas
 Baltimore, Maryland
 Bloomington, Indiana
 Concord, New Hampshire
 Eugene, Oregon
 Houston, Texas
 Lexington, Kentucky
 Madison, Wisconsin
 Santa Cruz, California
 Seattle, Washington

[Matthew]

We have a horrid public transit system, an expressway that is crumbling, congestion, and a whole myriad of other problems, all of which will create many jobs. Bicycle lanes are the bottom of queue -- irrespective of how many jobs they may or may not create. But hey, perhaps bike lanes would be better, we could hire a bunch of consultants and engineers, pay them millions and have them ponder for months on how to modify the road for bikes, then hire a crew to tear up the entire road and widen it to add bike lanes! Maybe it does create more jobs... may even end up costing more than a new subway line if we manage to create enough jobs...

[ggcarere]

what a waste of time-remove the lanes restore the parking and access for people who live and work on jarvis and the bikes will still have a place to ride on if they wish- a waste of time and money all around...

[PopaJo]

So lets get that straight, people who don't pay tax for plates, tax for gasoline, tax for permit, tax for tires, and many more taxes that I can't think of, will get their own free roadway subsidized by me.

Give me a break.

[John Spragge]

(sigh) When a study reveals that a particular form of construction creates more jobs per dollar invested than other forms, that does not mean that construction costs more. More jobs per dollar means that the value of the project comes from labour, which actually benefits people who need jobs, rather than other project costs for roads, such as raw materials (read quarries that destroy farmland and pollute ground water), land costs (tearing down homes and businesses for road widening), and other raw materials and machinery (read oil and particulate pollution). Bicycle facilities also return massive health dividends, thus reducing one of our society's biggest cost drivers, and increasing the value added by our work force: the sedentary lifestyle enabled and symbolized by the automobile has a positive correlation to a constellation of debilitating and life-shortening conditions comparable to smoking. As Richard Florida points out, bicycle-friendly communities tend to enjoy greater wealth, sophistication, and quality of life.

Oh, and the public art doesn't add billions of dollars to the debt, and car registrations and gas tax do not pay for city roads. Overall, cyclists, who pay property taxes like everyone else, contribute more relative to what they use than drivers.

[Stephanie Turner]

In response to John Spragge... very well said... thank you for clarifying the big picture!