Winter 2013

 

PBIC hosts NHTSA administrator for pedestrian enforcement event
in North Carolina

Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center staff along with local agency partners hosted National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator David Strickland for a pedestrian safety press conference and enforcement event.

The event, held in November, was part of North Carolina’s Watch for Me NC campaign, which is working to reduce pedestrian crashes in North Carolina through enhanced education and enforcement of pedestrian laws. The campaign, which targets drivers and pedestrians, is one of several NHTSA focus projects on pedestrian safety.

Strickland joined Durham, N.C. Mayor Pro Tem Cora Cole McFadden, Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez and Lauren Blackburn, director of N.C. Department of Transportation’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Division, for a press conference about the need for reducing pedestrian crashes. Several area news organizations attended the event.
Following the press event, Strickland observed Durham police officers as they held a pedestrian enforcement operation, pulling over drivers who failed to yield to officers trying to cross the street.

PBIC staff members have been actively involved in the Watch for Me NC campaign, identifying high-crash intersections for targeted enforcement, working with state and local officials to help craft educational messages, and tracking the success of those efforts. To learn more about the campaign, visit www.WatchForMeNC.org.

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APBP names Charlie Zegeer its 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient

Charlie Zegeer, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center’s director, was recognized by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals for his continued work in improving pedestrian and bicycle safety in the United States.

APBP named Zegeer its 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient during the ProWalk/ProBike conference in September.

The award “recognizes individuals who have made a substantial commitment to the profession and who have shown excellence in the field of bicycle and pedestrian planning, design, advocacy, or education.”

Zegeer joined the UNC Highway Safety Research Center in 1986 and has served as director of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center since 1999. He has produced more than 150 reports and publications and is a “highly respected author in the field of transportation research, a leader in pedestrian and bicycle safety, and a strong mentor to young professionals,” the APBP noted.

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Walk Friendly Communities releases new guide book

The Walk Friendly Communities program has created a new guide for helping communities become more pedestrian friendly. “Giving Cities Legs: Ideas and Inspirations from Walk Friendly Communities” highlights many of the efforts from the communities to earn Walk Friendly Community status during the program’s first three rounds.

Download a copy of the guide at www.walkfriendly.org/about.cfm.

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PBIC releases summary report on annual activities

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center has released report on the center’s activities and the state of walking and bicycling within the United States.

“Fostering Livable Communities through Resources, Training, and Research” highlights much of the work PBIC staff and the organizations partners have completed during the last two years, such as case studies, webinars, research reports, and on-site training. The report also details the increase in the number of pedestrian and bicyclists on the road as well as federal funding for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. 

Download the report at: www.pedbikeinfo.org/collateral/PBIC_AnnualReport.pdf.

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PBIC creates new YouTube Channel

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center has created a new YouTube Channel for hosting and promoting its archived webinars, as well as other relevant PBIC videos.

The site, www.youtube.com/pedbikeinfo, features many of the center’s recent webinars including all webinars from the series on the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials newly updated “Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities” and from the series on the intersection of public health and transportation co-hosted with the American Public Health Association.

Webinar recordings also remain available on the PBIC website, www.walkinginfo.org/webinars.

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Study links how public health can be considered in transportation planning

“Promoting Active Transportation: An Opportunity for Public Health” is a new study co-authored by the Safe Routes to School National Partnership and the American Public Health Association that identifies links between public health officials and transportation planners.

The report explains how public health officials can better understand how transportation facilities are built into communities, regions and states and clarifies the role public health officials can play in altering that process to improve public health through increased physical activity.

The report can be downloaded at http://action.apha.org/site/R?i=QBucbniGjg8Uz4_jUYD64w.

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Complete AASHTO Bike Guide webinar series available online

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center and Toole Design Group’s seven-part webinar series on the updated American Association of State Highway Transportation Official’s Guide for the Design of Bicycle Facilities can now be viewed online. The webinar series covers changes to the fourth edition of the guide, which was released in June 2012.
The webinars are:

• Overview of Revised AASHTO Guide for Development of Bicycle Facilities
• Bicycle Planning
• On- Road Facilities Part 1: Bike Lane
• On-Road Facilities Part 2: Shared Lanes, Paved Shoulders, Bicycle Boulevards and Traffic Signals
• Off Road Facilities: Shared Use Path Design
• Off Road Facilities: Share Use Path - Roadway Intersection Design
• Maintenance and Operations

Recordings of the webinars as well as presentation slides are available at http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/aashto.

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Featured Case Study: Allen and Pike Streets Corridor Improvements

Background

Allen and Pike Streets, located in the Lower East Side and Chinatown communities, had a wide concrete center mall that was a remnant of the 2nd Avenue elevated train line. As a result of many community-initiated workshops, members of the surrounding communities thought that Allen and Pike Streets presented an excellent opportunity to transform the streets into a pedestrian boulevard. In 2009, the New York City Department of Transportation responded to the requests and developed a plan that was well-received by the Manhattan Community Board 3 Transportation Committee and included the community's suggested modifications.

Problem

The Allen-Pike Streets corridor connects the Lower East Side with the new waterfront East River Greenway. It suffered from high-speed and weaving traffic in off-peak hours. The corridor had three travel lanes in each direction, a bicycle lane located between a parking lane and a travel lane, and a central 24-foot concrete median that had two rows of aged trees. Crossing the roadway as a pedestrian meant walking more than 110 ft. The median did not provide welcoming public space and there was no safe way to cross between the median malls because turning vehicles blocked access. Additionally, on-street bike lanes were often blocked by double-parked vehicles, which forced cyclists to move into traffic lanes.

Solution

The Allen-Pike Streets corridor was narrowed from three travel lanes to two travel lanes with left-turn bays and an occasional right-turn curbside bay in each direction. Left turns were banned from northbound and southbound movements for all vehicles except southbound buses. The bike lanes were moved to the inner curb next to the pedestrian mall. Flexible delineators were added to a striped buffer zone to further protect cyclists. Left-turn signal phases were added to the left-turn bays to provide a conflict-free crossing between the malls for both pedestrians and bicyclists. Four malls were connected and closed to cross-traffic with roadbed plazas defined by color-coating, planters and fixed seating. These were cross-streets with little utility to the traffic network, but their elimination improved the usefulness of the protected bike lanes and eliminated multiple conflicts from the crosswalks at each of the four intersections.

Results

By using relatively inexpensive pedestrian infrastructure improvements, eliminating conflicts and reconfiguring the street, this project achieved better pedestrian and bicycle connectivity, improved safety and enhanced the quality of life along the Allen-Pike Streets corridor in a short implementation period. The total number of crashes within the project area decreased by 9 percent since implementation, and there were 12 percent fewer injuries for all users.

The success of the project has led to a the permanent build out of the malls with lush buffering plantings and seating areas that place pedestrians farther from traffic. The project will have raised unidirectional bike lanes on each side of the malls that will themselves be buffered from traffic by a ribbon of landscaping on both sides. The path will dip down adjacent to each left-turn bay, bringing the cyclists back onto the road.

More Information

For additional information on pedestrian projects in New York City, visit the following sites:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/home/home.shtml
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/sidewalks/pedestrian_projects.shtml

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New Resources

The following resources have been recently added to the PBIC Online Library, a centralized, Web-based collection of pedestrian- and bicycling-related materials. To search the library, please visit www.walkinginfo.org/library or www.bicyclinginfo.org/library.

Creating Walkable and Bikeable Communities: http://www.walkinginfo.org/library/details.cfm?id=4773

Steps to a Walkable Community: http://www.walkinginfo.org/library/details.cfm?id=4774

Cycle-Rail Toolkit: http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/library/details.cfm?id=4775

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Announcements

New report examines impact of NMT on travel behavior

The Transit Cooperative Research Program Report 95, Chapter 16 provides an enhanced look into how travelers use non-motorized transportation options in a variety of contexts.

The report examines travel behavior, as well as recreation and public health outcomes, from creating or changing non-motorized travel options, such as sidewalks, bicycle lanes, street crossings, bicycle storage and showers. The analyses are done in both urban and non-urban contexts for a more complete understanding of the impact of non-motorized travel facilities on individuals.

To read the report, go to http://www.walkinginfo.org/library/details.cfm?id=4772.

PBIC is looking for new ped/bike images

Did you know that PBIC has a website dedicated to cataloging bicycling and pedestrian images and videos? Be sure to upload any pictures or videos you have to our site, www.pedbikeimages.org. We want photos of your bike lanes, multi-use trails, ciclovia/open streets events or upgrades to existing infrastructure.

Like us on Facebook

Be sure to follow us at www.facebook.com/pedbike for the latest PBIC news and updates.

Ped/bike deaths rise, injuries fall in 2011

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 4,432 pedestrians and 677 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles in 2011. That’s an increase of 3 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively, compared to 2010. Despite those deaths, the number of bicyclists and pedestrians killed in accidents has been trending downward since 2004.

At the same time, the number of reported injuries fell, with 69,000 pedestrian and 48,000 bicyclists injured in collisions with motor vehicles. Those numbers are down 1.4 and 7.7 percent, respectively, compared to 2010.

Federal funding for ped/bike facilities rebounded in 2012

Federal-Aid Highway Program funding for pedestrian and bicycle facilities and programs climbed to $853.8 million in 2012, a nearly 8 percent increase over 2011, according to the Federal Highway Administration. The program funded 2,248 projects this year.

Funding peaked at $1,188.6 million in 2009 due to a large increase in funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Easter Seals creates new wayfinding guide

Easter Seals' Project Action has created a new pocket guide for improving how people travel to stores, restaurants, work and other locations. The guide was developed in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Health Aging Research Network. To download the assessment, click here.

Study uses GPS to track cyclist routes

A new study out of Portland State University used GPS units to record the routes cyclists take. The study offers new insight into the attractiveness of bike lanes, paths and bicycle boulevards to cyclists as well as how other factors, such as intersection designs and road slopes, impacted routes cyclist chose.

The study, which was supported by Active Living Research and the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium, can be found at http://otrec.us/news/entry/bike_research_leading_to_smarter_regional_investments_easier_rides.

NHTSA turns to YouTube to talk about safety

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has created a new safety character, Sergio Silbato, to reach out to Spanish speakers about pedestrian safety. Sergio is the Spanish language version of Willie Whistle.

You can see the new safety public service announcement at http://youtu.be/4_OpiD2axCM.

APHA puts out call for abstracts on public health issues

The American Public Health Association is seeking presentations for its 141st annual meeting and exposition to be held Nov. 2-6, 2013 in Boston. The organization is seeking abstracts in all areas of public health as well as those that focus on the annual meeting’s theme: Think Global, Act Local, with a focus on best practices around the world. The deadlines for submitting abstracts range from Feb. 4 to Feb. 8.

Find out more about the annual meeting at http://www.apha.org/meetings/AnnualMeeting or submit your abstract at https://apha.confex.com/apha/141am/oasys.epl.

International Bicycle Urbanism Symposium is seeking abstracts

The International Bicycle Urbanism Symposium, which will take place from June 19-22, 2013 at the College of Built Environments, University of Washington is seeking abstracts on papers dealing with:

• Ways that cities can best encourage and accommodate bicycle use 20-30 years in the future
• Leading research that addresses bicycle use and effects of innovation in infrastructure and programs
• Best practices and how these can inform long-term planning for bicycle use.

More information can be found at: www.be.washington.edu/bicycleurbanism.

TLUPAQ Conference k papers on transportation and air quality

The Transportation/Land Use Planning and Air Quality Conference is seeking 20 papers for its 2013 conference in Charlotte, NC. The conference theme is “Developing Healthy and Livable Communities” and papers should focus on research and strategies regarding the integration of transportation planning, land use and air quality.

Specific topics of interest include:  smart growth implementation and evaluation, scenario planning and livability design strategies, intelligent transportation strategies and implementation, climate change, pricing strategies, information systems, MOVES model evaluations and data, technological innovations, and health impacts of land use and transportation decisions.

Papers are due to Srinivas Pulugurtha at SSPulugurtha@uncc.edu by  Feb. 8, 2013. Guidelines for submitting papers can be found at:  http://pubs.asce.org/authors/book/proceedingssub/ConfProcAuthorGuideCamReady.htm .

Bike League launches new program to promote women bicyclists

The League of American Bicyclists has created Women Bike to encourage more women to bicycle and become active in promoting bicycling. More information about the program can be found at: http://blog.bikeleague.org/blog/2012/09/league-launches-women-bike/.

Bike League expands its Bicycle Friendly Cities program with Diamond Level

The League of American Bicyclists has added a new top tier to its Bicycle Friendly Cities program: Diamond Level.  The new level, which exceeds the current top tier Platinum, will be based on “The number of people riding and citizen satisfaction. Cities will delve into a more detail evaluation of ridership and level of service, using standard methods of measure like the American Community Survey and National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project, but also more challenging and broader tools such as Copenhagen’s Bicycle Account.”

More information can be found at: http://blog.bikeleague.org/blog/2012/09/beyond-platinum-creating-world-class-biking-cities-in-the-u-s/ .

The German Marshal Fund is looking to host international bike share conference

The German Marshal Fund’s Urban and Regional Policy Program is seeking partners for an international conference on bike share programs. The event, scheduled to be held in the spring 2013 in New York City, will cover a variety of topics regarding bike share programs internationally, including funding programs, locating bike share stations and promoting cycling culture. For more information on the conference, contact Brent Riddle at the German Marshall Fund, briddle@gmfus.org.

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Pedestrian and Bicycle Issues in the News

The following is a brief compilation of pedestrian- and bicycle-related news stories from around the world. Web links to the following news stories are time sensitive, so some stories might not be accessible after the initial publication date without required registration.

Drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians can take the high road to safety

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

November 15, 2012

City should speed ahead with bike-share plans

Philadelphia Inquirer

November 26, 2012

LBPD, Bike Long Beach Encourage Cyclists to "Walk It or Lock It" On Sidewalks

Long Beach Post

November 22, 2012

Rethinking Willamette Street

The Register-Guard

November 25, 2012

Fairfield to create first bike route

Ctpost.com

November 25, 2012

Sebastopol supports ordinance adding protection for bicyclists, walkers and joggers

Press Democrat

November 20, 2012

Bike-friendly changes could alter El Camino Real in San Clemente

The Orange County Register

November 13, 2012

City's plan will implement alternative cycling routes around streetcar

Daily Wildcat

November 21, 2012

Does the city budget create a policy for safer cycling?

The Coloradoan

November 19, 2012

Bike-pedestrian trail plan coming together: Bike lanes among possibilities

The Shawano Leader

November 14, 2012

Street, bike concept betters communities

News-press.com

November 21, 2012

Local Officials Help Bicyclists Peddle Their Cause

Roll Call

November 14, 2012

Traffic safety measures take effect on Cayuga County streets

Auburn Citizen

November 6, 2012

Kirksville Police launch bicycle safety, awareness campaign

Lakenewsonline.com

November 20, 2012

Council to take up bike-ped safety tonight

Mountain View Voice

November 20, 2012

Parking fears put brakes on Provincetown bike lane proposal

Wicked Local Wellfeet

November 20, 2012

‘Town Hall’ Upcoming for Bicyclists

Baltimore Magazine

November 1, 2012

Medina, Milan gets Safe Routes to School grants

Jackson Sun

November, 19, 2012

Bicycle lanes reduce traffic woes

Deccan Chronicle

November 17, 2012

Sidewalk bicycle law is rarely enforced

Glendale News-Press

November 13, 2012

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Upcoming Events

Transportation Research Board 92nd annual meeting
http://www.trb.org/AnnualMeeting2013/AnnualMeeting2013.aspx

Active Living Research Conference
http://www.activelivingresearch.org/conference2013

New Partners for Smart Growth
http://www.newpartners.org/

National Planning Conference
http://www.planning.org/conference/

International Trails Symposium
http://www.americantrails.org/2013/

Lifesavers Conference 2013
http://www.lifesaversconference.org/

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