Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) is a road classification technique based on the comfort of bicyclists in the traffic stream. One commonly used LTS framework ranges from LTS 1 to LTS 4, classifying road segments that would be comfortable for any bicyclist to segments that only the fearless would brave on a bicycle, respectively. Over the past several years, a variety of papers have been written about different methods for assigning LTS values to road segments and how these LTS values have been used to inform planning and infrastructure decisions through connectivity analysis. Since demand modeling for bicycling is absent from many regional travel demand models (including DVRPC’s), a measure of the potential use of a bicycle facility is difficult to obtain. Instead of focusing on demand, bicycle network connectivity is often used as an accessibility metric. Much of the connectivity analysis in prior research compared existing conditions to a “bike-plan buildout” scenario, or similar, to compare project merits. This project, instead, provides an example of a different type of LTS and network connectivity application. For detailed information about the data in this layer please go to the DVRPC Bicycle LTS and Connectivity Analysis Documentation Explore and view analyze results using the Bicycle Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) and Connectivity Analysis Tool - This regional screening tool was developed to help identify and rank roads where bicycle facility improvements would have the greatest local and regional connectivity benefit to the low-stress bicycle network. LTS is a road classification scheme based on the estimated comfort of bicyclists in the traffic stream. DVRPC’s LTS assignment is based on the number of lanes, effective vehicle speed, and the presence and type of bicycle facility on the road segment.

attribute | description | data type | possible values/ ranges --- | --- | --- | --- gid | unique identifier | Long | length | segment length | double | totnumlane | Total number of lanes | long | 14-Jan speed_lts | estimated vehicle travel speed | long | 0-75 typeno | roadway type from DVRPC's regional travel demand model | text | linklts | level of traffic stress factor used to calculate shortest paths | double | slope_perc | percent slope of segment | double | slopefac | multiplier used to account for slope when calculating shortest paths | double | 0, .37, 1.2, or 3.24 lts_score | Assigned level of traffic stress | text | 1, 2, 3, 4 bikefacili | type of bicycle facility on segment | text | Bike Lane/ Bike Route/ Buffered Bike Lane/ No Accomodation/ Off-road Trail/Path / Protected Bike Lane/ Sharrows main_results | indicates if a segment is part of the top 50 percent of LTS 3 segments in terms of the number of low stress paths it could enable if improved | text | Y = yes or main_results_ipd | indicates if a segment is part of the top 50 percent of LTS 3 segments in terms of the number of low stress paths it could enable if improved in the IPD weighted shortest path anlaysis | text | Y = yes or main_priority | indicates segment ranking based on the number of shortest paths connected by this segment in the standard shortest path analysis; only includes LTS 3 segments; lower number (such as 10) indicates higher priority (top 10 percent) | double | 10, 20, 30, 40 ,50 main_priority_ipd | indicates segment ranking based on the number of shortest paths connected by this segment in the IPD weighted shortest path analysis; only includes LTS 3 segments; lower number (such as 10) indicates higher priority (top 10 percent) | double | 10, 20, 30, 40 ,50 transit_priorities | segment would enable the most low stress paths standard shortest path analysis using transit stops as destinations; only includes LTS 3 segments | text | / bus/ rail/ rail, bus/ rail, trolley/ trolley/ trolley, bus transit_priorities_ipd | segment would enable the most low stress paths in the IPD weighted shortest path analysis using transit stops as destinations; only includes LTS 3 segments | text | / bus/ rail/ rail, bus/ rail, trolley/ trolley/ trolley, bus trails_priorities | segment would enable the most low stress paths in the standard shortest path analysis using trail access points as destinations; only includes LTS 3 segments | text | Y = yes or trails_priorities_ipd | segment would enable the most low stress paths in the IPD weighted shortest path analysis using trail access points as destinations; only includes LTS 3 segments | text | Y = yes or schools_priorities | segment would enable the most low stress paths in the standard shortest path analysis using schools as destinations; only includes LTS 3 segments | text | Y = yes or schools_priorities_ipd | segment would enable the most low stress paths in the IPD weighted shortest path analysis using schools as destinations; only includes LTS 3 segments | text | Y = yes or