Baltimore, MD and Bend, OR are two completely different cities. Baltimore has a population of over 600,000. Bend hovers at about 80,000. Baltimore is on the right coast, Bend is on the left coast. We couldn’t be more different. But just maybe, Bend could learn something from Baltimore.
From a post by the League of American Bicyclists,
According to a new report by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst building bike lanes and pedestrian projects, and bike boulevards, create more job per million dollars spent than road repairs and road resurfacing.
image from ESTIMATING THE EMPLOYMENT IMPACTS OF PEDESTRIAN, BICYCLE, AND ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE
From the report “Estimating the Employment Impacts of Pedestrian, Bicycle, and Road Infrastructure,”
“We find that pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure projects create 11-14 jobs per $1 million of spending while road infrastructure projects create approximately 7 jobs per $1 million of expenditures.”
Click here to read the full four page report.
A bigger question looms: Will this report’s findings change our thinking about the benefits of bicycle infrastructure projects?
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