Photo by Rob Ketcherside, via Flickr
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U.S. Department of Transportation announces major street safety initiative — Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx called it “the most innovative, forward-leaning” initiative “ever”, the department will be working toward safer places and safer policies for people on foot and bike, just as they do for people in cars, trucks, and airplanes. The initiative is heavy on changing the way we design our streets—the most important factor for improved safety—from start to finish. With new, research-based design guidance, partnerships with local, state, and national transportation staff and public interest groups, and a focus on interconnected networks, we expect big results. Read more >>
First-ever Puerto Rico Complete Streets Congress — Presented by AARP Puerto Rico on October 3, the Congress convened 160 transportation, public health, and other community leaders who wanted to elevate Complete Streets policies and strategies across the island. Participants focused on public health issues and implementation of the state’s 2010 Complete Streets law. Read more >>
Diseños peligrosos reports available — Latinos walk for just over 14 percent of their trips, the highest of any racial or ethnic group in the U.S. But they’re also among the most likely to be killed in traffic violence, representing 18.6 percent of all pedestrian fatalities—a pedestrian fatality rate 43 percent higher than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. With support from AARP, we are pleased to make four state-specific reports on the epidemic of pedestrian fatalities available in Spanish:
Complete Streets design practicum — Join two of our national expert instructors for an interactive, web-based training on designing safe, multimodal streets on October 29. Our instructors will use an actual project and walk through their design process live with the audience, developing options to balance the needs of people, place, and access. Presented in partnership with the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals, this webinar is free for their members and $85 for non-members. Learn more and register >>
Capital Ideas: Innovative state transportation funding — The coming 2015 state legislative sessions present an opportunity to tackle transportation funding questions going unanswered at the federal level. Join Transportation for America in Denver November 13-15 for a detailed, interactive curriculum of best practices, campaign tactics, innovative policies, and peer-to-peer collaboration. Learn more >>
Livability fact sheets — AARP Livable Communities teamed with the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute to produce a series of 11 fact sheets on strategies to make communities better for people of all ages. Read more >>
Accessibility of jobs by transit in major U.S. cities — How many jobs are actually accessible via transit? A new study from the University of Minnesota presents the most detailed evaluation of this metric in 46 of the most populous U.S. cities. Researchers gave more weight to jobs reachable within a shorter timeframe and to those accessible to a greater number of people to develop a ranking system, detailed metro-level values, and block-level maps of accessibility. Their findings will be useful to transportation and transit agencies looking to measure performance of their systems beyond the typical auto-first metrics such as congestion. Read more >>
Estimating demand for bicycling and walking — In August, the Transportation Research Board released a guidebook with methods and tools for practitioners to estimate bicycling and walking demand as part of land use and transportation planning in a region, along a corridor, or within a specific project. The guide is an important step forward for prioritizing projects, making cost-benefit analyses, measuring the health impact of investments, and making better choices during planning. Read more >>
FHWA releases updated BIKESAFE — The new version of BIKESAFE, the Bicycle Safety Guide and Countermeasure Selection System, features an overview of bicycling safety; discussion of 46 engineering countermeasures; case studies from communities that successfully improved bicycling safety; and an expert system tool for countermeasure selection. BIKESAFE is available online >>
Urban Street Design Guide training in DC — The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) will host a workshop based on the NACTO Urban Street Design Guide on November 5 at ITE Headquarters in Washington, DC. Register today >>
New Partners for Smart Growth conference — Early bird registration for the 2015 New Partners conference is now open until November 10. To be held January 29-31 in Baltimore, the multidisciplinary program offers workshops, tours, focused training sessions, and peer-learning opportunities. Register today >>
ICYMI: Federal funding sources for walking and bicycling activities — The Federal Highway Administration offers a table of potential funding sources for a long list of activities to improve the transportation system for people walking and bicycling. Read more >>
Federal policy update — The Safe Streets Act (H.R. 2468) gained four new cosponsors in September. We thank Representatives Timothy Bishop (D-NY1), Charlie Rangel (D-NY13), Beto O’Rourke (D-TX16), and Adam Smith (D-WA9) for taking a stand on safe street designs. Ask your members of Congress to support a federal safe streets policy—or tell them thanks for doing so—with our online form letter >>
On September 9, the Florida Department of Transportation announced its new Complete Streets policy and plan for statewide implementation. The state has focused intensely on the safety of people walking and bicycling in recent years, and the new Complete Streets effort builds on that with an increased emphasis on culture change in the agency, context-appropriate design solutions, slower speeds, and pro-active design treatments. Read more >>
The Maine Department of Transportation adopted a Complete Streets policy this summer. After two years of collaboration with nonprofit, public interest, and governmental partners, the DOT unveiled a policy that will guide transportation decisions so that people of all ages and abilities walking, bicycling, driving, or taking transit will be able to do so in a safe, comfortable, and convenient way. Read more >>
Boulder, CO city council approved a package of minor changes to city ordinances to clarify legal sticking-points about parking, walking, and bicycling—and open opportunities for the city to implement innovative street designs and open streets events. Read more >>
Portland, ME‘s Franklin Street is being redesigned as an vibrant, active corridor safe for travelers in automobiles, on bicycles, or on foot. Preliminary design for lower speed limits, new sidewalks, improved transit stops, and protected bike lanes. Read more >>
Hoboken, NJ unveiled a bold, proposed redesign of Washington Street that adds new traffic lights, pedestrian countdown signals, curb extensions, redesigned bus shelters and stops, protected bike lanes, and 32 loading spaces for deliveries. Read more >>
The Traffic Commission in Peoria, IL is now the Transportation Commission, reflecting the city’s Complete Streets commitment, and has new responsibilities that reflect the diversity of travel modes and needs. Read more >>
New Complete Streets policies:
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