 National Bike to School Day is May 8, 2019
The National Center for Safe Routes to School is organizing National Bike to School Day, to take place on May 8. This event builds on the popularity of Walk to School Day, which is celebrated across the country – and the world – each October. Bike to School Day connects communities with many issues such as creating safer and more friendly routes for biking and walking to school, building a sense of community or school spirit, and inspiring families to walk and bike to school. Registration for Bike to School Day is now open.
AAA Publishes American Driving Survey Results
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a report outlining the findings from its American Driving Survey for 2014-2017. In the survey, Americans over the age of 16 were asked to report all of their driving activity over a 24 hour period. The goal of the survey was to assess the participants’ risk of being involved in a motor vehicle crash, and to summarize the public’s exposure to crash risk in relation to certain demographic characteristics. Participants in the 2016-2017 survey reported driving more miles per day than in the 2014-2015 survey, which could have impacts on safety, congestion, and livability.
Austroads Develops a National Approach to Measuring Crash Outcomes
Austroads, an Australian organization of road transportation and traffic agencies, published its national framework for measuring non-fatal crash outcomes. The report documents the first stage of a pilot project to improve the measurement and reporting of serious injury road crashes by matching police crash data and hospital data. Improved crash data could ultimately enhance the ability of agencies to address roadway safety challenges.
 FHWA Publishes 2019 Recreational Trails Program Annual Report
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published the 2019 Recreational Trails Program (RTP) Annual Report. The RTP provides funds to States to develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities for both nonmotorized and motorized recreational trail uses. This Annual Report describes RTP funding and administration, with examples of the variety of projects that States have funded to build and enhance recreational trails across America.
Center of Transportation Studies Releases Multimodal Connections Report
The Center of Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota published a report that considers user access to transit corridors. The report explains how users access transit stations through consideration of mode choice, route choice, and ridership estimates. It also assesses how the quality of multimodal connections available at transit stations affects use patterns. The report was developed through the Center’s Transitway Impacts Research Program.
 TRB Releases Recorded Presentation on Funding Infrastructure With Land Value Capture
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) released a recording that discusses value capture financing. Land value capture may help communities achieve transportation, environmental, economic development, and fiscal self-sufficiency goals. This recording seeks to help local officials match the right funding mechanism with their own particular circumstances.
AASHTO Publishes Case Study on Outreach to EJ Communities
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Center for Environmental Excellence published a new case study titled “Using Social Media to Reach Environmental Justice Communities.” The case study discusses strategies to effectively use social media to improve outreach and participation of EJ communities in transportation planning and project development. It also highlights best practice examples from the Georgia Department of Transportation and the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
Report Identifies Relationships between Modal Choice and Emotional Well-Being
A new report from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota explores the relationship between daily travel behavior and emotional well-being. The report examined the impacts of daily travel modal choice on six emotions: happy, meaningful, tired, stressful, sad, and pain. The findings imply that the travel mode associated with the most positive emotions is bicycling.
Report Considers the Future of Mobility
A new report from McKinsey & Company’s Center for Future Mobility considers actions that municipal and business leaders can take to promote seamless mobility in cities. The concept of seamless mobility imagines a transportation system in which public and private transportation modes and systems work together to provide seamless integration, as well as a wider variety of modal choices. The report concludes that improvements to urban mobility systems will require financial investments, imaginative policies, and collaboration between the public and private sectors.
 FHWA Releases Environmental Justice Analysis and Transportation Planning Report
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released a report titled “Environmental Justice Analysis in Transportation Planning and Programming: State of the Practice.” The report outlines the state of the practice among State departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations regarding how these agencies are considering and addressing environmental justice concerns in their transportation planning and programming processes. It concludes with a discussion of notable practices for integrating environmental justice analyses with plans, programs, and decision making processes.
FHWA Publishes Report on Demographics and Environmental Justice Analysis
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published “Addressing Changing Demographics in Environmental Justice Analysis, State of the Practice.” This report includes national demographic trends and documents how metropolitan planning organizations, State departments of transportation, and other transportation agencies are adapting Environmental Justice (EJ) analysis techniques to understand transportation impacts in communities undergoing rapid demographic change. The report highlights notable practices for responding to demographic change in EJ communities. |
