Do bike lanes reduce traffic volume?

I have never seen this website before, but it offers statistical data about a wide variety of subjects.  I was doing research on how bike lanes affect volume of traffic and congestion when I stumbled upon it. Planners like to say that by building bike lanes, auto traffic will decrease because more people will ride bikes, and that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).   That sounds like it could be right, but is it true?

At a meeting last Sat. regarding our city's transportation system plan, the discussion turned to ways to reduce congestion on State St. including adding bike lanes.  I asked if there was research to show that bike lanes reduce traffic volume:  Is there any proof that what you are proposing will have the desired outcome?  The two engineers (one a traffic engineer) did not know.  The did not know of any research to prove that people would get out of their cars and start to bicycle to work, and that traffic volumes would go down.  On the most congested streets, bike lanes are suggested as a mitigation technique to lessen volume.  But the study cited here maintains bike lanes would only ADD to the congestion!  

This isn't rocket science.  It is common sense vs idealism.  We need to start making plans by conjuring a desire able outcome - the what-if-we-could-do-this kind of brainstorming you need to do come up with ideas.  But ideas need to be tested against reality by using scientific data.  The "bike lanes will get people out of their cars" idea fails to make the grade.  No doubt there are places that prove the exception, but public policy cannot be made based on hoping one's jurisdiction will be the exception.  

In the article below, note that there are no examples of roads with added bike lanes that had a decrease in traffic volume - only increases in congestion that vary based upon what level of volume to capacity the streets were at prior to the addition of the bike lanes.  If bikes lanes don't work - to decrease volume, congestion and greenhouse gasses - why are they being promoted so heavily as a viable  transportation mode to replace automobiles?  Is this a plan to intentionally make traffic worse, to frustrate drivers so they will WANT to leave their cars at home - and it isn't about bikes at all?  

Bike Lanes Don't Cause Traffic Jams If You're Smart About Where You Build Them

By Gretchen Johnson and Aaron Johnson

FiveThirtyEight  April 11, 2014

These days, road construction isn’t just benefiting drivers. As cities re-design streets, they’re making a concerted effort to create more bike lanes. This is happening not only in large metropolises like New York City, San Francisco and Chicago. Bike lanes are in the planning or construction phases in Louisville, Ky., Raleigh, N.C., the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, Ferndale, Mich., Rutland, Vt., and Elyria, Ohio.

New bike lanes certainly make life better for cyclists, but how do they affect drivers? This question is hotly debated, especially when a new bike lane replaces a lane used by vehicular traffic. It seems that unless a ton of people start commuting by bicycle, giving away a lane would cause increased car traffic. But is this really the case?