2025/12/11 by Meghan Winters, Colin Ferster, Karen Laberee
Environmental Science · Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Older Adults Driving Studies #Urban Green Space and Health #Urban Transport and Accessibility
paper · pdf · doi:10.17269/s41997-025-01139-w
crossref issued 2025/12/11 · crossref published 2025/12/11 · crossref published-online 2025/12/11 · openalex created_date 2025/12/11 · openalex publication_date 2025/12/11 · crossref created 2025/12/11 · crossref deposited 2025/12/11 · crossref indexed 2026/07/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
INTERVENTION: Governments are investing in safer cycling infrastructure to provide transportation options that support health, mobility, and environmental outcomes; these can be considered population health interventions. RESEARCH QUESTION: We aimed to measure change from 2022 to 2024 in cycling infrastructure in Canada to understand what and where changes happened, and who was impacted. METHODS: We extracted data from OpenStreetMap.org (OSM) in 2022 and 2024 and coded them according to the Canadian Bikeway Comfort and Safety (Can-BICS) classification system (high, medium, or low comfort and safety). We measured differences (2022-2024) in length and type of cycling infrastructure within census subdivisions. We related differences in cycling infrastructure metrics with population composition within dissemination areas, nationally, by city size, and for particular cities, examining specific population groups (children, older adults, recent immigrants, racialized people, and low-income populations). RESULTS: Total Can-BICS-OSM cycling infrastructure in 2024 increased to 27,098 km (15.3%) from 23,502 km in 2022. Most new infrastructure was multi-use paths (2725 km). High-comfort bike-only paths increased by nearly 50% (49 km). Nationally, access increased for recent immigrants, racialized people, and people with low incomes. Overall, areas with more children and older adults saw less increase in access to infrastructure, but within small and medium cities there were often increases. CONCLUSION: Using a national dataset, we detected an increase in cycling infrastructure in Canadian communities, with mobility and health implications for many equity-deserving population groups. The greatest increases, proportionally, in cycling infrastructure were seen in small- and medium-sized cities.