Outer Banks businesses benefit from bicycle paths and lanes

Occasionally I'll stumble across reports that study whether the costs of building bike paths or bike lanes justify the expenditures of public funds.

In all cases, the bike facilities pay for themselves. And not just for increased health and safety of users, but in cold hard cash for businesses.

Nine-fold return

For instance, a report entitled “Bikeways to Prosperity” looked at whether $6.7 million worth of state and local spending for an extensive network of bicycle facilities on the Outer Banks of North Carolina was justified.

The study, researched in 2003 and published in 2004, found that a conservative estimate of 40,800 visitors a year vacationed in the northern Outer Banks for the bicycling.

Their spending was responsible for an annual economic impact of $60 million and support for 1,407 jobs in the area. So, a one-time expenditure of $6.7 million spent on the bicycle network results in $60 million a year — an economic return about nine times the original expenditure.

Isn't that a good return?

Survey

The study was conducted by the researchers at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education at North Carolina State University.

In their survey of some 500 bicyclists, 12% reported staying an extra 3 or 4 days for bicycling in the area. Further, 55% said the bike route network helped them feel safer while riding, and 53% said bicycling influenced their decisions to return in the future.

The study “provides evidence that the expenditure of public funds on bicycle
facilities in an area with a substantial amount of tourism can be a worthwhile investment.”

It recommended that other areas similar to the Outer Banks could boost their local economies by investing in bicycling.

Meanwhile, the report is being cited to encourage the expenditure of a couple of million dollars to build a 60-mile trail network atop Coldwater Mountain near Anniston and Oxford, Alabama.

Resources

For more about bike trails in the Outer Banks, check Bike Paths on the Outer Banks, Outer Banks – Bicycle Paths and OBX Cycling websites.

Sojourn and Carolina Tailwinds are just two examples of bike touring outfits that send bicyclists on vacations to the Outer Banks.

The photo above from the North Carolina Department of Transportation shows a group of Canadian cyclists enjoying a bicycle tour of the Outer Banks.

You can learn more about bicycle tourism at “10 indicators that bicycle travel is blooming,” by Adventure Cycling Association,  Adventure Travel Trade Association, and Adventure Tourism Market Report.