The City of Williamsburg submitted a request to the HRTPO to develop study on the economic impacts of bicycling and bicycle facilities. As an initial step, HRTPO staff conducted a literature review of approximately 35 studies on the subject and found that there are two groups of studies:

• Model-based studies- studies that use input/output models to estimate economic impact.
• Survey-based studies- studies that typically use collected data to estimate tourism expenditure.

HRTPO staff attended a meeting of the Historic Triangle Bicycle Advisory Committee (HTBAC) on April 16, 2018, and presented a spreadsheet summarizing all 35 studies. During the meeting various ideas for this study were discussed that could be included in the study:

• Purpose of the study
• Gathering economic data
• Comparing the Hampton Roads region to other biking regions (benchmarking)
• Data to be used for the study
• Analysis of existing surveys to find out what the proposed survey for this study should look like

HRTPO staff intends to form a Project Steering Team (PST) to ensure that the study meets the needs of the region. Moreover, the PST will also help with data sources. Membership is on a voluntary basis, and the first PST meeting will be held in early June.