The Paradox of the Cul-de-Sac

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Last week I posted this article from The Atlantic about how urban design--specifically long blocks and meandering street patterns--can lead to less walking and poorer health for residents. The cul-de-sac in particular gets a bad rap, a feature that leads to homes that are literally and figuratively cut off from the surrounding environment. So reviled is the cul-de-sac that they are often banned, or at least discouraged, in newer planning codes. I've recommended such code language myself.

But I have a confession to make: I live on a cul-de-sac.

Actually, here's the real confession: I love living on a cul-de-sac.

This sits uneasily with me, given my extensive knowledge of the reasons I shouldn't like cul-de-sacs. I know my cul-de-sac interrupts a grid network that's clearly desirable, given the number of people who hop the neighbors fence at the end of the cul-de-sac. I realize that I have to travel an extra three blocks every time I leave my house to go to the grocery store, and that I'm more likely to drive because of those extra blocks (well, I'm probably not more likely to drive, but my neighbors might be).

Even so, I love the fact that there is (seemingly) less traffic on my street. I love that my kids can play soccer in the space in front of my house, and I love that our neighborhood can do things like, say,  shut down the street with orange cones and set up an obstacle course for toddlers as part of an annual block party without getting grief from the authorities or needing a street closure permit.

Cool Ped Stuff #31: Let's Walk To...

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I can publish a blog post, but that's about as fancy as my technical web skills get.

 

Fortunately, there are a slew of people out there who are way better at this stuff, and they're using their skills to figure out new and creative ways to use all the neighborhood-level data about land use and transportation that's becoming more accessible every day.

 

Let'sWalkTo a fun site that let's users search for bars, restaurants and entertainment (you know, the essentials)--plus some other key amenities--by walking time. The goal is to facilitate walking and make it easier for people to get out and explore new locations on foot. Here's shot of what the site looks like in my neighborhood:

 

I don't really need to be convinced to walk places in my own community (unless it's raining. Californians are weird that way), but I could see myself relying on this site a bunch when I'm in a new neighborhood or a city I'm not familiar with. The site is still pretty new, so try it out and send along any suggestions for improvements.

NHTSA Pedestrian Safety Facts

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Photo courtesy of www.watchformenc.org

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is out with its annual report on pedestrian safety (or rather, lack thereof), and has put together a helpful fact sheet that outlines some of the key findings from its evaluation of traffic crashes involving pedestrians in 2013.

There aren't many big surprises (children and seniors are disproportionately hurt or killed while walking, alcohol plays a role in many pedestrian crashes, more people are hit at night), but a couple things struck me:

• Over two-thirds of pedestrian fatalities were men. It's hard to say why this is. I suspect one reason is that men walk more at night, whereas many women wouldn't feel safe doing so. Irony.
• California, Texas and Florida have the most pedestrian fatalities. They also have the most people, so that's not especially surprising. On the other hand, those are all states with large Hispanic populations, who tend to walk more--and thus run more risk of being hit by cars (especially if they're living in poorer neighborhoods without good pedestrian infrastructure).
•  Nearly 70 percent of fatalities happened at "non-intersections." There are still many people who would argue that this means pedestrians were "jaywalking"--and thus at least partially culpable for the crash. Hopefully we're moving toward a time when we recognize that poor street design, not people asserting their rights to use public space, is the real problem.

You can read through the full fact sheet here.

Strategic Framework for Increasing Walking in California

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California Walks is building support for its Strategic Framework for a walkable California. A collaborative effort of the advocates from across the state, the Framework outlines some ambitious goals for California, including:

• By 2020, every California walks at least 30 minutes each day
• By 2020, deaths and serious injuries among seniors and children who walk are reduced by half
• By 2016, California adopts a Vision Zero policy to eliminate traffic fatalities in 10 years
• By 2020, Active Transportation Program Funding is tripled

With five years or less to achieve this vision, California Walks will need plenty of help. You can help spread the word about the Strategic Framework and volunteer for one of the Action Teams here.

Newest self-driving prototype has built-in crosswalk

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Photo courtesy Mercedes-Benz

 

 

Mercedes-Benz is getting a lot of buzz for introducing the "F 015 Luxury in Motion" concept car at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Debates over the appeal of the vehicles' look aside (Wired describes them as "bars of soap on the outside and sleek, vaguely European conference rooms inside"), the cars--do we still call them cars?--represent yet another step toward what many now see as an inevitable future where computers do all the driving.

 

Is this good for pedestrians?

 

I've long said that the safety benefits of driverless vehicles outweigh any potential costs. Driverless cars don't get drunk or distracted by their cell phones. Not only do they recognize and react to a pedestrian in front of them, the Mercedes model can even project a real-time crosswalk and pleasantly direct the person to cross. Forget safety, imagine the cost savings in crosswalk paint.

 

There is a potential downside, of course. Driverless cars will make driving easier and more appealing, and that could lead to an even more auto-dominated streetscape. Cars provide amazing mobility, but they don't over the health and social benefits that active transportation does. As we move toward a time when cars do their own driving, we need to take care that "car potato" doesn't become the new "couch potato."

Pacific Beach Street Mural, Times Two

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Here's a quick video of the lovely street mural installed a few weeks ago at a key crossing for the local middle school, complimenting the mural on the other side of the school.

There are so many great things about this project, from the fact that it was designed by a student (who also happens to be our neighbor), to how it improves crossing conditions at a key route to and from school (and the local ice-cream shop), and that it brought together the community to create some nice public art for everyone to enjoy.

Of course, like all great things there are challenges. Here in PB, some of the less community-minded locals think it's fun to deface the street murals with tire marks. And for some cities, even getting something so outside-the-engineering-box installed is difficult, as there can be pushback from ever-cautious traffic engineers who worry that street mural crossings won't conform to state and federal design standards. (Note: it is important to consider how the crossings might confuse pedestrians with visual impairments, who rely on regular patterns in crosswalks to lead them in a safe path across the street).

Still, it's exciting to see our neighborhood becoming a little more safe and beautiful every day!

This Week on Foot

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Image courtesy of www.greatergreaterwashington.org

It's a week for creative design, as Flowerpots create a safer pedestrian crossing from Gallaudet to Union Market,  there's a Proposal to curb car traffic in Brunswick Street in favour of pedestrians, NY state gets $70M for bike, pedestrian paths, and Long Beach gets $1 million state grant for more pedestrian, bicycle access on Edwards Blvd. Yet Sidewalk audit shows walkability could be better in Bennington , and a Survey shows residents still crave walkability in downtown Alpharetta . Maybe we should look to Walkable, Bikable Dresden for more ideas, or consider The Airtight Case for Road Diets. Perhaps if we think about How Observing and Recording Pedestrian Activity Transformed a City Center we'll understand more about Why a Street Designed for Transit Is Also Great for People.

And we'd better get at it, because although on Day #089: Engaging streets might be the norm, we really have to ask ourselves today: Is the U.S. Ready for Seniors Who Want to Stop Driving?

Some places probably are. Seattle creates its first ‘Arts and Cultural District’ on Capitol Hill, and they're Making schools in Coquitlam more walkable. And even as we bring our best ideas to promote walkability abroad, like this trip by NACTO to Take Safer Street Designs to Developing World Cities, here at home we're still struggling with our own problems, like Are LA’s Walkable Neighborhoods and Bike Lanes Only for the Creative Class?

While we're asking the tough questions, how about this one: Which Calls for More Regulation, Sprawl or Smart Growth? I don't know if I can answer that one, but I do know that #StreetsR4Families: Walk/Bike to School Day Is Easy.

Finally this week, Trick-or-treaters beware: Pedestrian risk increases tonight, and like me I'm sure your City urges pedestrian safety on Halloween.



 

Happy Halloween

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If you're heading out with kids this Friday, here's Zillow's annual ranking of the best cities to fill your bags with treats. Nice to see LA and San Diego moving up in the ranks! Check out this post for more detail about the neighborhoods to hit in each city (here in San Diego it's Del Mar Heights, Torrey Pines, Kensington, Loma Portal and Mission Hills).

Halloween is one of the most dangerous evenings of the year for pedestrians, so even though Zillow weights WalkScore evenly with other factors in developing its rankings, you might want to prioritize pedestrian safety when you choose your route. Take care out there!

This Week on Foot

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Source: www.trulia.com

With Halloween nearly upon us, this week we learned The Worst Places To Seek Refuge During The Zombie Apocalypse (turns out zombies like walkable cities, too).

Risk of attracting zombies aside, cities across the country are doing what they can this week to make their communities more pedestrian friendly. In Little Falls, the City Adopts Complete Streets Policy, a Road diet study rolls out in North Carolina, and there are Visions of Vibrancy: Center City Philadelphia, ICBC aims to curb pedestrian injuries in fall, winter with new campaign, and an App competition keeps pedestrian experience safe.

But not everyone agrees on what to do about pedestrian safety. While in New Jersey Kearny should be more bike- and pedestrian-friendly, state says and they agree It’s time for Amherst to create ‘pedestrian spaces’, in Georgia Officials split on pedestrian death solution and A simple sidewalk caused uproar in Tulsa's historic Maple Ridge. The Mayor nixed it.

And even though Swiss pedestrian safety takes turn for worse and there may be a Pedestrian-Cyclist Toll Coming To The Golden Gate Bridge, elsewhere in the country people are more excited about walking, as this Survey shows residents still crave walkability in downtown Alpharetta and in Detroit there's an Urgency of resurgence: Build on momentum with intentionality, opportunity, walkability.

If you're wondering what's New in the DOT Fast Lane --UTCs have a key role to play in bike-ped safety, and it should be interesting to see what happens to our favorite walkability ranking site now that Redfin buys Walk Score, marking first acquisition in company history.

Finally this week, These conservatives make the case for vibrant cities. Most of their friends ignore them. Maybe they should spend some time thinking about these 3 Ways To Close The 'Play Gap' Between Rich And Poor Kids (walkability is one!).
 

Walk to Get Your Groceries Challenge

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Last week I took the Strong Towns Walk to Get Your Groceries Challenge, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: take a walk to get your groceries, then tell others about your experience. For me this isn't so much a challenge as something I do pretty much every week, but the folks over at Strong Towns recognize that for a lot of people walking to get groceries is a novel idea, and can really raise awareness about the issues that pedestrians face navigating a typical neighborhood to do a mundane task.

Since I was already out on my bike, I "cheated" and biked a route that I often walk for groceries. It's about a mile each way to this particular store, and although there's another market closer to me I often walk the longer distance to get some extra exercise in and to pick up some of the specialty products only available at the more distant store.

Here's a summary of the trip in photos:

Whether on bike or on foot, we often choose to cruise through our neighborhood via alleys because they have less traffic than the adjacent roads and are often easier to navigate with a stroller than the poorly-repaired and often narrow sidewalks (plus my daughter thinks they're interesting spaces).

You can see one of the main reasons we take to the alleys here: no curb cuts. Try getting stroller or bike with a kid on it down that curb, especially while balancing a sack of heavy groceries.

This week on foot

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Source: ProtectedIntersection.com

This week we learn about 6 Intersection Designs That Actually Prioritize Pedestrians, which Syracuse could probably benefit from since 'I cannot walk anywhere': Correspondence on the sad state of 'walkability,' in greater Syracuse. Elsewhere in New York, they're contemplating Vision Zero and the Challenge of Culture Change at NYPD and a Walkability project discussed for Downtown Brooklyn, while Centerville buys into I-15 pedestrian bridge, Active Trans Launches a New Crusade Against Dangerous Intersections in Chicago, and After pedestrian deaths, Mountain View asks residents to suggest traffic fixes. After all that bad news, it's a good thing La Mesa gets grant for pedestrian, bicycle safety.

As we continue on The march to walkability, Nashville Mayoral Candidates Mull A More Walkable City and New Efforts Under Way To Improve Pedestrian Safety In Philly. Things aren't looking so great in LA, where Metro Moving Forward With Flawed Complete Streets Policy, or in Florida where according to one Engineer: State DOTs have ‘blood on their hands’ because lanes too wide. And it's not just roadways; Critics Say Railroads Should Do More To Prevent Pedestrian Deaths.

Outside the US Karachi needs to walk off its energy crisis and there are Calls for 20mph zone after pedestrian injured in crash. Clearly everyone needs lessons from Zurich: Where People Are Welcome and Cars Are Not

Closer to home we wonder Could Tulsa be the next Portland? If so, maybe they need someone like this Metal artist decorates pedestrian walkway. Looks good to me. 

October 22 Webinar on Nonmotorized Transportation

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Learn more about how federal transportation funding has been helping pedestrians on 10/22 from 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM (PT).

Representatives from each of the four Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program pilot communities will discuss the strategies they used to promote bicycle and pedestrian projects and the lessons learned.  The Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program was established in SAFEATEA-LU Section 1807 and  provided over $25 million each to four communities (Columbia, MO; Marin County, CA; Minneapolis Area, MN; Sheboygan County, WI) to demonstrate how walking and bicycling infrastructure and programs can increase rates of walking and bicycling.   

Register here.

This Week on Foot

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Photo courtesy of Hometown Life

This week Safe Kids encourages pedestrian safety during ‘Walktober’ and schools across the country participated in International Walk to School Day. As just a sampling, in Katonah students walk, bike to school and a Catonsville school holds Walk to School Day. But even with these efforts, Parents worry about children walking to school, seek crossing guards. Why can't we Make it safe for our kids to walk or bike to school?

They're trying to do that in Glendale, where Projects aim to improve pedestrian, traffic safety in Glendale, and New traffic light aims to improve pedestrian safety in College Park, while Gulch-to-SoBro pedestrian bridge takes big step. Signs make walking Chapel Hill easier and 12 Westchester towns, villages praised for traffic safety--but elsewhere DelDOT Report Shows Pedestrian Safety Problems and Pedestrian crosswalk vandals on the rise. Kind of makes you ask hard questions. Like How safe is Denver for pedestrians?
Safer than Detroit, apparently. This week Liberty Mutual releases pedestrian safety study showing Seattle top for pedestrian safety as Detroit comes in last. And New York has its challenges, too. Surviving a Walk in NYC Should Not Depend on Luck. Maybe they should learn What Old Transit Maps Can Teach Us About a City's Future, or take a look at our Capitol, where Progress on Parking Reform Could Make DC More Walkable and Affordable.

Here in San Diego, there are other ideas about how to achieve those goals. We're told we should 
Stop Talking About Density. Start Talking About Place. While we're at it, we should be Remembering the Human Scale in Walkable City Neighborhoods, although that leads us to wonder: Livable Streets or Tall Buildings? Cities Can Have Both.

But can it also have bikes? Chicago Trib Bikelash Writer is Confused About the Real Threat to Pedestrian Safety. Maybe we should be Putting 'Walkable City' to the test. 

It's International Walk to School Day!

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Happy International Walk to School Day!

This year there are over 600 schools participating in California alone, encouraging students to walk and bike with fun incentives like prizes and music. Walk to School Day is a great way to get your school community excited about active transportation, increase physical activity for both parents and kids, and even address some of the traffic craziness that drop-off/pick-up entails. There are lots of good resources available here to help you plan an event.

If you didn't walk this morning (technically we biked, which is ok too), it's not too late to walk on the way home. Happy walking!

 

Cool Ped Stuff #30

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The most fun you can having waiting for a light to change, and it might even discourage pedestrians from crossing against the light. (Or we could time signals so pedestrians don't have to wait so long, but that's another post).

A Mixed Bag for PB Pedestrians

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Last weekend our neighborhood got a little more pedestrian-friendly, courtesy of this awesome new crosswalk art in front of the local middle school. Not only does the street painting add some loveliness to a distinctly boring stretch of roadway, it will hopefully improve visibility and crossing safety for students who use this route to walk to and from school (or at least to and from their parents' waiting cars). Kudos to beautifulPB for their work on this project.

But just when it looked like we might actually be starting to take active transportation seriously in Pacific Beach, this happens:

Those signs (they also block the bike lane on a nearby street) are in place as part of a festival at a local park on the beach. While no doubt there are locals who would be interested in walking or biking to the festival, they won't be doing it here, particularly not if they need to push a stroller or use a wheelchair.

The best part? In what surely wasn't intended to be an ironic move, the signs are there to inform drivers that they can't stop and block vehicle traffic. Yep, blocking the sidewalk and bike lanes is totally fine, but it's so critical that no one slows down cars (heavens!) that there has to be a sign every ten feet telling drivers to keep moving.

San Diego Waterfront Park Gets it Sort of Right

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Yesterday we visited downtown San Diego's new Waterfront Park, highly touted for its futuristic playground equipment...

...not to mention its kid-friendly water feature (which I should point out is much more popular on a sunny day, though the clouds and cold--for us-- weather didn't deter my toddler).

Less kid-friendly are the pedestrian connections to the waterfront path that would otherwise connect the new park with existing parks and tourist attractions along North Harbor Drive. While the path is probably less than 100 feet from the edge of the park, here's how you're supposed to get there:

Welcoming to the pedestrian, isn't it? I especially appreciate that while you can almost make out the curb cut at the far end of the "crosswalk," you would have to navigate around three sets of raised curbs to get to it.

Oh, but first you also have to deal with this:

That would be a free right that encourages drivers to swoop through the crosswalk with little regard for a pedestrian hoping to get across the street. (Sure there's the nominal yield sign in place, but nothing about this design would lead a driver to actually yield--much less pay attention to--a pedestrian at the curb).

Cool Ped Stuff #29 : Kids, Poop and CO2

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With two kids under three years old, the unfortunate fact is that poop plays a disproportionate role in my life.

Happily, that's not the only reason that Worse Than Poop, a new film idea from mother-son collaborators Vanessa and Elliot Warheit, resonates with me. The movie is intended to teach kids about the pollution problems created by too much driving. Toward that end, it will use animation and a pretty gross (read: kid-friendly) metaphor to help viewers visualize the true output of carbon dioxide that we create when we drive. The film will also highlight all the other fun, cool ways to get around besides driving, which would make it a great tie-in to a Safe Routes to School program or other community efforts to get kids walking and biking more.

However, this is all contingent on the full 3-5 minute show actually being made. The Warheits have a Kickstarter campaign to fund the project that ends on May 31. They're about $6,000 short of their goal--totally reachable if you help contribute now. Read more about Worse Than Poop and see fun photos of Elliot's transportation exploits here.

People (in cars): The truly deadliest animal

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You can't fault the creativity behind Bill Gates' efforts to draw attention to the problem of malaria by designating this week Mosquito Week. The accompanying movie poster (Skeeternado!) and infographic--not to mention abundant press coverage--show just how much clever marketing and deep pockets can help promote a cause. Of course, if you're reading this blog it shouldn't take you long to spot the major error in the graphic:

As many of the comments on this blog post have noted, the latest figures from the World Health Organization show that last year 1.24 million people died in traffic crashes. Not only does that number trump malaria deaths, it's on par (or higher, depending on the year) with deaths from HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

A disproportionate number of those deaths are pedestrians. A disproportionate number of those pedestrians killed are vulnerable users like kids, adults, the poor. I've written before about how road safety--especially pedestrian safety--would benefit from a high-profile sponsor like the Gates Foundation. Any takers?

New Baby to Walk, Same Problems with Walking

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We might live 100 miles further south and 12 miles closer to the beach, but the problems we have taking this baby for a stroll are the same we faced the first time around: poorly maintained, narrow sidewalks, obstacles blocking the pedestrian travel path, and inconsistent curb ramps all combine to make walking with a stroller an exercise in frustration. 

All those baby books that recommend taking your child for a soothing walk in the evening obviously never tried it in my neighborhood, where every five feet the sidewalk juts up with a Mt.Everest-like buckle. The next time my kid is awakened for 31st time as I bump her over another tree root, I'm planning to call the Mayor's office and just hold the phone over the stroller so he can enjoy her screams as much as I do. 

People who have never tried to heft a 50-pound load of baby, diaper bag, stroller, and three gallons of milk over a curb this high might be inclined to discount this problem as just another mommy-centric rant in a world that places undue importance on the comfort of children and their hovering parents. But as I said to my husband as we sweatily manhandled our stroller over yet another sidewalk obstacle, "Imagine doing this in a wheelchair." Cities have a legal, if not moral, obligation to provide sidewalks that allow all their citizens to travel with relative safety and ease, regardless of physical ability. What makes walking easier for someone with a stroller is also going to make it easier for someone in a wheelchair. Or someone with a cane. Or someone who just doesn't want to trip if they get caught up in scintillating conversation with the person walking next to them. 

And guess what? Improving walking conditions for parents can also help conditions for people who drive--even if they don't have kids. Moms (and dads, but mostly moms) make a lot of short trips in their cars that add significantly to local congestion. Things like taking the older kids to school, picking up some bread from the store, or filling a prescription could all be accomplished on foot, but unless walking is easier and safer that's not likely to happen and we'll continue to be plagued by traffic and the many problems that go along with it. 

Then of course there's the health piece--walking for exercise is pretty much the only thing new moms are allowed to do in the first weeks after having a baby, but it's not easy to get the full benefits of walking when you have to stop every few feet to maneuver around a parked car or shimmy between, say, a fire hydrant and a pole: 

I especially love the added insult of having a ADA curb ramp immediately adjacent to a sidewalk that someone in a wheelchair would never be able to use. San Diego, you can do better than this. 

Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State (2013)

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Here are a few good--or rather, bad-- stats on pedestrian fatalities by state. Want to take a guess which state has the most? Nope, it's not New York with uber-walkable NYC...

Worth noting, however, is that even though our fair state has the most pedestrian fatalities, we don't have the highest percentage of pedestrian deaths; that dubious distinction goes to New Jersey, followed closely by New York (the full table also includes Washington, D.C. with 47 percent, but it's hardly reasonable to compare state statistics with city statistics, so we'll set that aside).

 The real question is how these numbers compare with the number of people out there walking--we know that pedestrians are ove-represented when it comes to deaths/injuries, but are these percentages wildly disproportionate? Without good data on walking mode share, we can't really know--all the more reason to push for better pedestrian counts. 

CicloSDias Comes to PB

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The latest incarnation of CicloSDias came to our neighborhood this weekend, providing a great excuse to walk and bike in what would otherwise be a pretty unfriendly stretch of Garnet Avenue and Cass Street. Here are some pictures of the festivities.

For the unfamiliar, the Ciclovia movement started in 1976 (!) in Bogota Colombia, but grew to international prominence under the leadership of mayor Enrique Peñalosa in the 1990s. Since then cities across the world have followed suit with their own version of Ciclovias (sometimes know as Sunday Streets or Open Streets events), including several dozen cities in the US (more info in this nice write-up from Atlanta Streets Alive).

While Sunday's Pacific Beach event was populated primarily by cyclists in all shapes and sizes, there were also plenty of walkers, a handful of skaters, and (this being a beach town) any number of skateboarders enjoying the sunny weather and lack of cars. Despite the abundance of cyclists, I felt pretty comfortable walking the route with my two-week-old in her stroller; I didn't see anyone pedaling at an unsafe speed or being overly aggressive towards slower folks. While it would have been nice to have a few more booths or activities along the route, the adjacent businesses provided lots of excuses for pit stops.

From an anecdotal perspective, whether or not the event increased business traffic seemed to depend on the type of business. Some of the restaurants seemed slower than usual, and I doubt the auto-parts store was seeing much action, but the cafes and ice-cream shops seemed to be doing a brisk trade (they got our business, at least!).

Trip and Fall Lawsuits vs. Sidewalk Repair

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Reading through this article about how much the City of Helsinki spends on trip and fall compensation over the winter ($1.37 million) got me wondering about those same costs here in San Diego. Granted, conditions in Finland aren't exactly comparable to those here, but according to a study cited in the article Helsinki would save at least $10 for every $1 spent on road maintenance and planning. Would fixing our sidewalks before someone falls actually save us money in the long run?

On their face, the calculations here, suggest no--at least, not in legal fees. Repairing San Diego's sidewalks would cost at least $6 million each year, and it would take another $170 million to install sidewalks in all the place they're missing. But the City only pays out about $350,000 each year to resolve trip and fall lawsuits (yet another reason we're lucky not to have snow and ice, I guess). The situation is the same for our largest neighbor to the north. Los Angeles has a sidewalk repair backlog of $1.6 billion, while the city spends a "mere" $3 to $5 million on trip and fall suits each year.

But these numbers don't take into account the added value that well-kept sidewalks might contribute to their adjoining properties. There's little research how sidewalks specifically impact property values and sales, but one study suggests that walkability in general adds up to $34,000 to home values, and another shows rents in walkable shopping areas can be over 50 percent higher than those in their less-walkable counterparts. Retail sales in walkable areas are higher, too.

Since sidewalks (particularly those in good repair) are a critical piece of the walkability puzzle, they're obviously adding something to the mix, and cities are benefiting from those sidewalks in the form of higher revenues from sales and property taxes. Add that to the decreased legal fees from trip and fall lawsuits, and it's hard to understand why any city would hesitate to fix its sidewalks sooner rather than later. 

March Webinars

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March 6, 10 am -12 pm (PST)

Innovative Transportation Stormwater Management: Green Infrastructure in Road Projects

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Wastewater Management and the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Project Development and Environmental Review are teaming up to co-sponsor the webcast “Innovative Transportation Stormwater Management: Green Infrastructure in Road Projects.” 

Roads can convey a variety of pollutants into our waterways and can increase the volume and velocity of stormwater generated. Green infrastructure techniques are one solution that can be used to reduce and treat stormwater runoff. This webcast will include brief overviews about green infrastructure from FHWA and USEPA and showcase two state transportation organizations committed to innovative initiatives to improve water quality and manage the quality and quantity of stormwater runoff from road surfaces. The speakers will highlight collaborative projects, policy recommendations to strategically incorporate green infrastructure into the roadway funding and approval process, and describe a programmatic approach to the design and construction of stormwater BMPs along with a chloride offset program.

Register here.

March 14, 10 am- 11:30 am (PST)

Pedestrian Safety and the Highway Safety Improvement Program

This webinar will provide an overview of the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and its applications for addressing pedestrian safety.

Karen Scurry (Federal Highway Administration Office of Safety) will provide an overview of the program and discuss the relationships between the different HSIP programs, eligibility requirements, resources for additional information, and examples of pedestrian focused projects that have used HSIP funds.

The webinar will also feature presentations from two states – Arizona and California – to focus on how HSIP is applied on the state and local levels.  Providing these presentations will be Kohinoor Kar (Arizona Department of Transportation) and David Cohen (FHWA California Division).
The presenters will also participate in a question and answer session to answer questions from the attendees.

Register here. 

March 20, 11 am - 12:30 pm (PST)

Keeping Pedestrians Safe in Urban and Suburban Settings

Pedestrian fatalities have been on the rise over the past couple of years. By attending this free webinar, you will find out more about how we can reverse this unsettling trend and make our urban and suburban communities safer for pedestrians. Walking is the mode of choice for some, and the only choice for many. It is imperative that pedestrian safety becomes a priority for and incorporated into all planning and design processes. 

This webinar, Walking Shouldn't Be Hazardous to Your Health, Part 1: Keeping Pedestrians Safe in Urban and Suburban Settings, will provide an overview of tools, campaigns and strategies you can use to work toward a positive impact on pedestrian safety and help reverse pedestrian fatalities and injuries. Our featured speakers, Noah Budnick and Michael King, are experts in the field of pedestrian safety and the built environment. They will walk you through addressing pedestrian safety in both urban and suburban settings, tackling these issues through campaigns and design.

Register here.