Culture change at large agencies like state DOTs is slow but steady. In California’s case, the agency has taken several important steps, prompted partly by SSTI’s 2014 external review. The agency started by updating its mission, vision, and goals—shifting its focus from strictly “mobility” to “a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system.” It is now formalizing that mission in its design process through a Complete Streets policy directive.
Multimodal
Facing ridership slumps, agencies weigh the costs of free transit
Transit agencies across the country are weighing the potential impacts of lowering transit fares or making transit free to passengers, but riders and transit advocates are concerned the fare cuts could translate into worse service. Research suggests there may be better ways to improve service and increase ridership, including leaning on partners to help cover costs.
Utah and Washington DOTs measure connectivity across highways under recent federal pilot program
The state DOTs in Washington (WSDOT) and Utah (UDOT) recently developed methods to evaluate the comfort, safety, and connectivity of active transportation networks, focusing on bicycle and pedestrian connectivity across highways. The studies leverage newer data sources and GIS techniques to think about how highways can create barriers for nearby communities and how major corridors can be made more permeable.
After COVID, who’s driving the bus?
Localities can learn from each other to get out of the current bus driver staffing crisis, and also to stop the next such crisis before it gets to this point. But understanding the crisis and how we got here is an important first step. As an example, bus riders in Pennsylvania’s two largest cities are struggling to get where they need to go.
Pedestrians respond to built environment changes, according to study
With consistent growth in most urbanized areas around the world, changes to the built environment to accommodate multimodal travel will become one of our most important adaptations. A recent study from Melbourne, Australia, of pedestrian flows over five years found that built environmental changes accounted for 50-60% of the increase in foot traffic in the downtown region.
State laws are empowering people to cross the street
Amid drastically rising pedestrian deaths, more states are considering how changes in pedestrian laws can help tip the balance in favor of those on foot and inspire a cultural shift to make walking safer and more commonplace.
A small town transforms its main street and community
The town of Hillsboro, Virginia, is celebrating the reopening of its main street—Virginia State Route 9—after extensive reconstruction. The installation of sidewalks, crossings, parking, and traffic circles at either end of town has helped to slow traffic and restore a residential feel to this more than 200-year-old rural hamlet.
Hawaii shows pedestrian safety can improve, even in historically dangerous year
The rate of pedestrians struck and killed by motorists in the U.S. has increased by 45 percent in the last decade and the pandemic has only made it worse. Despite many factors at play, Hawaii has gone against this trend, with pedestrian fatalities dropping from 37 in 2019 to 21 in 2020.
Underreported crashes are a barrier to making streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians
Transportation agencies often rely on police generated crash reports for improving roadway design and making streets safer for all users. A recent study from Washington, D.C., however, found that almost one in three car crashes involving a cyclist or a pedestrian goes unreported. With such a wide gap in data, it is quite possible agencies don’t fully understand the real risks pedestrians and cyclists—the most vulnerable users—face, let alone address those risks.
Bike facilities often follow income gains, not the other way around
A new study found little evidence that new bike infrastructure leads to displacement of low-income households or people of color, despite the two sometimes being linked in public discourse. The data reveal some bias toward mostly white neighborhoods in terms of where new facilities are installed, but sharrows, or markings that indicate a preferred bicycle route, account for more of the difference than separated bike lanes.