Walk and Roll: WSDOT Active Transportation Update May 12, 2020

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Recent editions: May 5 (news round-up), April 27 (trainings/resources), April 13, 2020 (news round-up). 

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ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION NEWS FROM WSDOT AND PARTNERS

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Safe Routes to School and Pedestrian/Bicycle Program Call for Projects

If you missed our informational webinar on the Pedestrian and Bicyclist Program and the Safe Routes to School Program grants you can view the archived edition for an overview of program goals, evaluation criteria, eligible project elements, and the online portion of the application.

Applications are due July 13 (Pedestrian/Bicyclist Program) and July 20 (Safe Routes to School).The archive and other information are linked on the program page

Contact for questions: Charlotte Claybrooke, Active Transportation Program Manager, Claybrc@wsdot.wa.gov. 

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WSDOT Public Transportation First/Last Mile Grants

The Transportation Demand Management Technical Committee and WSDOT’s Public Transportation Division announce the release of the state’s First Mile/Last Mile Grant. Application deadline is May 22, 5pm.

The purpose of this grant program is to improve the beginning or end of a trip to public transportation services.

Eligible applicants: Businesses, cities, counties, metropolitan planning organizations, nonprofits, ports, regional transportation planning organizations, and tribes. Transit agencies are not eligible.

Eligible projects: Projects must propose first mile/last mile solutions to fixed route public transportation services, including public agency operated buses, ferries, rail, water taxis, tribal transit and vanpool.

Solutions may include shuttles, ride hailing, vanpool, vanshare, carpool, bike share, paratransit and demand response. Other solutions may include bicycle lockers, pavement striping, transit pass subsidies, incentives, public education, marketing and parking management.

Funding availability: The Legislature appropriated $1,000,000 for this grant program in the 2019-2021 biennium. WSDOT intends to distribute grant funds to both rural and urban communities around the state.

There is no match requirement for this grant program. WSDOT will send award notices in June 2020. Projects may begin upon notice of award and must be fully expended by June 30, 2021.

To apply:

  • Application form/instructions; deadline May 22, 5pm
  • More information: Elizabeth Bastian, bastiae@wsdot.wa.gov or 206-716-1158, or Evan Olsen, olsene@wsdot.wa.gov or 360-705-6929.

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Mode-Neutral Usage: Resource Links

If you missed the May 5 Vision Zero Network "Words Matter" webinar on this topic you can read a recap and view the webinar here. Active Transportation Division Director Barb Chamberlain presented on how the Safe Systems Approach, Positive Traffic Safety Culture, and multimodal/mode-neutral usage can support more effective communications.

Past editions of Walk and Roll that include Mode-Neutral Usage tips:

  • Modal Usage and Traffic Safety: Video of presentation to City of Bellevue staff Dec. 2019
  • The "For Whom" Test
  • Be Mode-Specific for Clarity
  • It's Accessible and Active, Not "Nonmotorized"
  • Older editions aren't available as online archives. We'll update and re-run these topics to create a complete online repository: Send in the Substitute; Improvements, Changes and Benefits; #DriverNotCar; It's Infrastructure, Not an Amenity; We're People, Not Modes or Vehicles; How Many Lanes?
  • Have a usage question or idea for more mode-neutral and inclusive language? Email barb.chamberlain@wsdot.wa.gov with your ideas/questions for possible use in a future edition.

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FIVE+ THINGS TO READ

Don’t Close Parks. Open Up Streets.: "Especially during a pandemic, simply preserving public space is a profoundly high-yield investment in physical and mental health."

The pandemic could make cities more bike-friendly—for good: "While some cities are simply targeting the densest areas to ease crowding, others are essentially taking advantage of shutdowns to jumpstart their plans for bike and pedestrian infrastructure."

What Covid-19 teaches us about how to fix freeways: "The experience of the past few weeks should be a powerful object lesson in how to effectively fight traffic congestion. If we manage demand for the roadways at the peak hour to keep traffic volumes below the tipping point, we can get our existing roadways to carry even more traffic than they do now at speeds right up to (and even above) posted speed limits."

Pandemic as prologue: "Our inability to imagine catastrophe, in other words, has brought it to fruition. As a society, we simply cannot imagine what is coming, because we have become too inured with the comforts that be."

What COVID-19 Response Can Teach Us About Roadway Safety: "Driving safely has become a form of civic responsibility; no one wants to overburden our healthcare system by redirecting resources to preventable crashes."

The Government Must Decide If It Wants Pedestrians to Die or Not: "At the heart of the problem is the NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), the one that results in the star-rating system you hear about on all those car commercials. NCAP does precisely zero assessment related to the safety of a vehicle for those outside the car. It’s all about the people inside the car."

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TRAININGS, CONFERENCES, WEBINARS

We add new trainings as we find them so the list changes with every issue. Some of these offer continuing education credits. All times are shown in Pacific time zone. 

All webinars listed are FREE unless a price is noted. All items are webinars unless a location is noted.

May

Planning Ahead

GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

  • RCO grants: Deadline May 1 for several programs including Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP- Recreation; WWRP Habitat; WWRP Forestland; WWRP Farmland). A separate application will be due Nov. 1 for programs including the Recreational Trails Program.\
  • AARP Community Challenge: Deadline May 15 for quick-action grants program to fund projects that can help communities become more livable for people of all ages.
  • WSDOT Pedestrian/Bicyclist Program GrantsDeadline July 13
  • WSDOT Safe Routes to School GrantsDeadline July 20
  • USDOT TIFIA Rural Project Initiative loans can be used to construct pedestrian/bicyclist infrastructure
  • Have any funding opportunities people should know about? Send to barb.chamberlain@wsdot.wa.gov

AWARDS, COMPETITIONS AND KUDOS

PLANNING AND PROJECTS

  • Division Connects, Spokane: Study on the Division Street corridor
  • Children of the Sun Trail, Spokane: Planning efforts for the section of the NSC Children of the Sun Trail south of the Spokane River to the I 90 vicinity are ramping up. Engage in the process of determining the trail location and development of public space in and around the NSC. Visit NSCPlace.com for upcoming workshops, public surveys, and emerging concepts.
  • E-bike use in National Wildlife Refuge System: Federal regulations proposed to permit e-bike use. Learn more in AASHTO article, federal regulation notice. Submit comments by June 8, 2020.
  • Benton-Franklin COG Active Transportation Plan: Provide input.
  • Looking for a WSDOT project to check on status, get email updates, attend an open house? Start here.

Have an upcoming project, open house, public comment opportunity? Construction projects people should know about as they relate to biking/walking? Compliments on a project? Send to barb.chamberlain@wsdot.wa.gov

PRESENT AND PARTICIPATE

  • StreetSmart invites submission of published resources on integrating health in transportation by May 15 for a clearinghouse being developed with the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Account creation required to submit; ITE members will use their member login.
  • Washington State Ridesharing Organization call for presenters deadline Aug. 7 to present in their one-day digital conference Sept. 22, 2020.

RESEARCH AND RESOURCES

SURVEYS AND DATA COLLECTION

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