Infrastructure or Amenity: The Role of Bike Lanes (Job Market Paper)

I study the effects of Seattle bike lanes on commuting patterns and amenities from 2000 to 2012. Using reduced form estimations, I find that bike lanes encourage more people to bike but also contribute to increased car congestion. A hedonic approach reveals that bike lanes raise housing prices, highlighting their overall impact through channels including commuting and amenities. I calibrate a quantitative spatial model and estimate the amenity effect given recovered amenity fundamentals. The result implies that paved bike lane increases amenity levels, but shared bike lane does not. Counterfactual simulations indicate that building more bike lanes reduces aggregate welfare, as the rise in congestion outweighs the improvements in amenities.