Walk and Roll: WSDOT Active Transportation Update Jan. 12, 2022

ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION NEWS FROM WSDOT AND PARTNERS

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State Active Transportation Plan Published

The state's new strategy and needs assessment for people who walk, bike, and roll in Washington is now available online. This comes just as Congress has enacted new federal initiatives – with programs in active transportation, safety and healthy streets – and the state is beginning to consider how new revenues from climate-related sources might be invested. This plan combines Part 1, published in May 2021, and additional chapters that received public comment September-October 2021.

In the press release announcing the plan's release, Gov. Jay Inslee noted that the plan addresses multiple challenges facing the state. “We need a greener future for our children and grandchildren and walking and cycling represent the cleanest and greenest modes of travel,” said Gov. Inslee. “We also need to make our system accessible for those people who can’t drive and who rely on walking or rolling to transit to get where they need to go—these multimodal journeys also contribute to our climate goals. I’m proud of our state for creating a bold plan to create safer and more accessible active transportation connections for all Washingtonians.”

The plan points out that improvements for people walking, rolling or cycling provide more information to drivers as well through elements such as pedestrian-scale lighting and crossing visibility so drivers can see and stop in time. It explains the value of designs that provide a “self-enforcing road” to help people drive at the appropriate speed for a place with a mix of destinations and people walking or cycling. Making a road safer for the most vulnerable users makes it safer for everyone, including the people who drive there.

The plan's goals:

• Connectivity: Create and connect comfortable and efficient walking and rolling networks so people can reach their destinations and other forms of transportation and have everyday access to physical activity.
• Safety: Eliminate deaths and serious injuries of people walking and rolling.
• Opportunity: Eliminate disparities in access to safe, healthy, active transportation connections for people
  and communities most dependent on walking, bicycling, and transit.
• Participation: Increase the percentage of everyday trips made by walking or bicycling.
• Partnership: Collaborate and coordinate with public, tribal, nonprofit, and private partners to complete
  and improve the network across boundaries.

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Safe Routes to School and Pedestrian/Bicyclist Program Updates

WSDOT's annual report to the legislature on the Safe Routes to Schools and Pedestrian/Bicyclist Programs was published in December. The report includes an update on funded projects showing which ones have been completed (28 projects wrapped up in 2021) and which are under way.

In its 2021 session, the Legislature asked WSDOT to recommend changes to program application and selection processes with the goal of increasing participation by a greater diversity of jurisdictions. The report includes results of the analysis and recommendations. Some are changes WSDOT can make within the existing program structure; others would require additional funding.

Jurisdictions that responded to a WSDOT survey indicated the funding levels of these programs compared with the number of applications submitted is the #1 issue in their decisionmaking. Knowing how competitive the programs are, potential applicants decide not to invest their limited available time to identify projects or prepare an application.

The total available funding also limits the number of high-quality projects that can receive an award.  At current projected funding levels, the programs can only award to around 20 percent of applicants. Knowledge and capacity to develop strong projects was another frequent response, especially for smaller agencies.

Fast facts from the report:

• These programs are proven effective. 
  • A 2019 analysis of all projects found a 36-44 percent decrease in bicyclist and pedestrian crashes at project sites.
  • A 2020 review of 94 Safe Routes to School program projects found that most projects showed increases in students walking to/from school and 40 projects showed increases in the number of students biking.
  • That same review found that on average, schools with Safe Routes to School projects had a 33 percent increase in the number of students walking and a 104 percent increase in the number of students biking.
• Demand outstrips funding levels.
  • Since 2005 when the legislature began funding the Pedestrian/Bicyclist and Safe Routes to School programs, WSDOT has received 1,872 applications for projects requesting $1.03 billion. The legislature has funded 478 of these projects, totaling $251 million in state and federal funds.
  • In their most recent funding cycle, the Pedestrian/Bicyclist and Safe Routes to School programs received 242 applications requesting nearly $190 million – the most funding requested to date. Of this total, for the 2021-2023 biennium, the Legislature provided approximately $47.5 million in state funding for 51 Pedestrian/ Bicyclist and Safe Routes to School projects across the state.
• A majority of cities and counties have not participated so far. A majority of tribal governments have.
  • Of the 281 incorporated cities and towns in Washington,125 (45 percent) have applied and
    received funding as of 2021. Of the 39 counties, 19 have applied and received funding. Of the
    29 federally recognized tribes, 21 have applied and received funding.

Call for projects: The call for projects for potential funding in the 2023-25 cycle will be released in March. It will be announced in this newsletter and posted on the local programs funding page. We will offer a webinar on the programs and application process (available afterwards as an archive). 

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Cooper Jones Active Transportation Safety Council Annual Report

The Cooper Jones Active Transportation Safety Council (ATSC) created by the legislature has published its 2021 report to the legislature. The report includes white papers focused on reducing speed-related deaths and injuries and reimagining the definition of safety and a progress report on past recommendations from the council. 

Speed-related recommendations build on the work of the WSDOT-led work group that produced a 2020 policy framework for injury minimization through speed management. 2021 recommendations include the provision of data tools, trainings, funding, legislative changes and/or standards for setting speed limits with a focus on land use context; setting lower default speed limits that are city/county wide or within a given context; and expanding RCW 46.61.415 to include other road types where a 20mph default speed could be set without requiring multiple traffic studies. SB 5687, introduced in the 2022 legislative session, incorporates several of these elements.

Reimagining the definition of safety provides a starting point that will be expanded upon by the action team in 2022. The team dug into the challenge of developing a broad description of “safety” to frame ATSC work in terms of individuals, policies, and society. This effort features equity issues as a key component of safety in the transportation system. The teamhttps://ofm.wa.gov/budget/state-budgets/gov-inslees-proposed-2022-supplemental-budgets/appropriations-bills-2022-supplemental-budgets worked to develop a description of safety that helps explain how the built environment we live in, the policies and practices that govern the transportation system, and broader societal and historical forces all shape the decisions of people to walk, roll, or use public transit. 

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2022 Legislative Session: Bills related to active transportation

You can search for bill copies, detailed legislative reports, and other information at the legislature's bill information page. Policy bills introduced so far that have some bearing on active transportation include:

• HB 1607 concerning the safe routes to schools program. This would transfer funding for the SRTS program from the transportation budget to the general operating budget; specify that program purposes include facilities for new schools; and direct WSDOT and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to produce a report to determine whether the SRTS program should be administered by OSPI.
• HB 1915 authorizing the use of automated traffic safety cameras in hospital and city park speed zones. This would authorize the use of traffic safety cameras in city park speed zones and hospital speed zones, defined in the bill to be the area 300 feet from the border of a park or hospital property indicated by signage.
• SB 5707 extending additional uses for automated traffic safety cameras for traffic congestion reduction and increased safety. This would extend the "Block the Box" legislation authorizing use of automated traffic safety cameras to detect violations for crosswalks, dedicated transit lanes, other restricted lanes such as bike lanes, and stopping in intersections and other traffic-obstructed locations. It would expire June 30, 2025; currently it is set to expire in 2023. Hearing scheduled for Jan. 18 in Senate Transportation
• SB 5687 concerning certain traffic safety improvements. This would expand the Neighborhood Safe Streets Law (which allows cities to lower speed limits to 20mph without an engineering study) to any streets/roads in a jurisdiction and adds counties and WSDOT as agencies that could apply the law. It wouldpiloting  apply the "due care" standard to pedestrians that is currently the law for those operating a motor vehicle and clarifies pedestrian/bicyclist access on streets that have been temporarily reallocated, such as the safe and healthy streets created as a pandemic response. It expands use of automated traffic safety cameras to roads in a defined school walk area (currently law restricts their use to the school zone). Hearing scheduled for Jan. 18 in Senate Transportation
• HB 1786/SB 5689: Transportation appropriations bills proposed by Gov. Inslee for the 2022 supplemental budget. OFM page includes links to all appropriations bills and supporting documentation. Supplemental transportation budget includes appropriations to WSDOT for increases to the Safe Routes to School and Pedestrian Bicyclist programs and for regional trail connections as part of the statewide bikeways and trails network, and to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission for the Cooper Jones Active Transportation Safety Account. The capital appropriation bills HB 1781/SB 5651 include a number of trails and other projects. SB 5651 scheduled for hearing Jan. 13 in Senate Ways & Means; other bills have already had their first public hearing.

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Highway System Plan online open house

The Highway System Plan is WSDOT’s blueprint for preserving, maintaining, improving and operating interstates, US routes, and state routes in Washington.

You're invited to provide input on how to invest funds to improve the future system in the online open house. The opinion poll on the site lets you choose spending levels in various categories of highway-related activities including safety, active transportation, and increasing travel options. (Some categories have a minimum level based on past transportation budgets.)

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Human Services Transportation Plan out for public comment

WSDOT has just published the draft Human Services Transportation Plan. It will be available for comment through March 7, 2022. Human services transportation helps people with mobility challenges and other special transportation needs get to where they need to go. Some examples are buses with ramps and lifts, or transit vans that pick people up from their homes.

Find the document, comment form, and more in the online open house.

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New video: Protected bike lanes and more

The BikeSafe program at University of Miami's KiDZ Neuroscience Center created a video highlighting safe street design in the form of new and innovative protected bike lanes and protected intersections. The animation illustrates the plusses and minuses of a variety of designs in use on streets in a number of cities around the US, including Olympia and Seattle.

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FHWA updates Proven Safety Countermeasures

FHWA has updated their list of Proven Safety Countermeasures to add nine additional countermeasures, including:

Speed Management

• Speed Safety Cameras
• Variable Speed Limits
• Appropriate Speed Limits for All Road Users

Roadway Departure

• Wider Edge Lines

Pedestrian/Bicyclist

• Crosswalk Visibility Enhancements
• Bicycle Lanes
• Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons

Crosscutting

• Pavement Friction Management
• Lighting

These are in addition to the existing 19 proven safety countermeasures already on their list. The FHWA Proven Safety Countermeasures website has more details on both the new and existing countermeasures.

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#Map4DataEquity Challenge

The Taskar Center for Accessible Technology at the University of Washington has a challenge under way that ends Feb. 20, 2022. They are asking the public at large to take a Team Challenge and map out pedestrian infrastructure to help people who need to make better informed decisions about active transportation choices, specifically walking and rolling.

They invite enthusiastic and innovative individuals and teams to come together to use location and other technologies to map access in the public right of way. If you don't have a team you can find people through their Slack community.

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Safe Kids Washington Head Injury Prevention Campaign

Safe Kids Washington is teaming up with the Washington State Traumatic Brain Injury Council for awareness and education of head injury prevention. We are looking to partner with schools, Tribes, and cities looking to hold injury prevention education and awareness to provide bicycle helmets, resources on Return to School and Concussion Management teams, and traffic gardens as part of their planned activities. For more information contact Will Hitchcock at safekidswashington@doh.wa.gov.

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FIVE+ THINGS TO READ (or watch/listen to)

What It Means to Design a Space for ‘Care’: "Designing for long-term care of people and cities has to involve rethinking design practices and processes from within, alongside less hierarchical interactions with users and maintainers."

A Faster Path to Safer Sidewalks: "Fortunately, there’s a simple way to ensure that sidewalks will be accessible: Cities can require that the sidewalk abutting any property must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act when the property is sold.... In cases where the required repair cost would impose a hardship on low-income property owners, the city can pay for it."

Walking America’s car-centric hellscape: "Anyone who has ever tried to walk to a grocery store in a typical suburban neighborhood, for example, or cross a six-lane arterial to get from a Target to a Best Buy on foot, knows that to be a pedestrian in most of America is to work your way around a lot of obstacles."

One State Is Showing Us How to End America’s Addiction to Highway Expansion:  “You cannot work on climate without examining how you reduce the amount of driving — not end driving, because there are a lot of places driving is necessary. But how do you reduce the number of places that you need to get to by driving, through either walking, biking, or transit? You cannot get there by just electrifying everything.”

Filth, Automobiles, and Our Misguided Obsession With Traffic: "Our driving ideal is exemplified in car commercials, where a single vehicle has the city streets entirely to itself as it glides to a glamorous destination. But if the destination is so alluring, wouldn’t there be lots of other people and cars on their way? We forget that traffic is a sign of success.... Cities made for speedy driving, it turns out, are cities made for little else."

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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.

January

Jan. 12, 11am: Local Climate Response - Building Resiliency and Adapting to Impacts. Municipal Resarch and SErvices Center.

Jan. 14: Early-bird deadline to purchase Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals webinar package. 

Jan. 19, noon: Trains, Buses, People: An Opinionated Atlas of US and Canadian Transit. Eno Center

Jan. 19, noon: The Power of Partnerships - Leveraging public-private partnerships to deliver transformative active transportation facilities in complex urban environments. Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals. Cost varies with membership. Early bird discounts of 20% are available for members on all webinar packages until January 14.

Jan. 20: Early-bird deadline for Ethics of Engagement registration; save $50.

Jan. 21, 10am: Curb Management: New Strategies, Technologies, & Data Standards for the Future of Mobility. Populus

Jan. 25, 11am: Conflict Resolution Skills in Local Government. MRSC. $35; scholarships available

Jan. 26, 10am: Cities for Life: How Communities Can Recover from Trauma and Rebuild for Health. Smart Growth Online

Jan. 26, 11am: Mobility, Accessibility, and Resiliency of Community-Dwelling Older Adults. Transportation Research and Education Center.

Jan. 27, 10am: Child and Youth Pedestrian Crashes Deserve another Look: Why and How To Do It. Pedestrian Bicycle Information Center.

Jan. 27, 10am: Trail Ambassador Programs: Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices. American Trails.

Jan. 28, 9am: The Safe System Approach in Action. Road to Zero Coalition.

Jan. 28, 12:30pm: Design Thinking in Planning. Planning Association of Washington. Cost varies with membership.

Jan. 31: Early-bird registration deadline for National Bike Summit (March 27-30), which will be held as a hybrid event.

February

Feb. 3, 12:30pm: A New Take on Paying for Parking. SPUR Urban Center.

Feb. 8, all day: Washington State ITE and IMSA annual joint conference. Cost varies with membership.

Feb. 8, 10am: The Evolution of Virtual Public Involvement During the Pandemic: MPO Practices. FHWA.

Feb. 15, 10am: Is Transit-Oriented Development Affordable for Low and Moderate Income Households? Transportation Research and Education Center.

Feb. 16, noon: Accommodating Active Transportation Through Work Zones. APBP. Cost varies with membership.

Feb. 23-26: Ethics of Engagement. Thrivance Group. Early registration before Jan. 21 $35; standard $85.

Feb. 24, 10am: Process Matters: Rethinking Public Engagement in Polarized Times. MRSC. $35; scholarships available

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GRANTS AND FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

• City of Seattle is accepting applications for Safe Routes to School mini-grants on a rolling basis.
• USDOT Applicant Toolkit for Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) Initiative intended to help communities understand and apply for discretionary grants, some of which may be able to fund active transportation improvements.
• USDOT TIFIA Rural Project Initiative loans can be used to construct pedestrian/bicyclist infrastructure
• League Certified Instructor Equity Scholarship Program: Offers scholarships to people of color interested in teaching bike education courses in underserved communities. 
• Have any funding opportunities people should know about? Send to barb.chamberlain@wsdot.wa.gov

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AWARDS, COMPETITIONS, AND KUDOS

• Nominations for League of American Bicyclists annual advocacy and education awards
• March 2, 2022 deadline: Bicycle Friendly Business applications due.

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PLANNING AND PROJECTS

• Highway System Plan update: Online open house, opinion poll
• Spokane: Friends of the Centennial Trail maintains a page tracking projects on the trail.
• Spokane: Division Connects study on the Division Street corridor
• Spokane: Children of the Sun Trail planning efforts for the section of the NSC Children of the Sun Trail south of the Spokane River to the I 90 vicinity. 
• 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

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PRESENT, PUBLISH, PARTICIPATE

• Deadline April 30, 2022: Transportation Research Part D has a Call for Papers on Equitable Active Transportation.

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RESEARCH AND RESOURCES

• Guidance to Improve Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety at Intersections (NCHRP Research Report 926)
• Nighttime effectiveness of the pedestrian hybrid beacon, rectangular rapid flashing beacon, and LED-embedded crossing sign
• ITE Bicycle Signals Resource Hub
• Reconnecting to the New Majority: Pedaling Towards Equity
• How to Take on Harmful Jaywalking Laws - Decriminalizing Walking for Mobility Justice [video]
• Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center webinar archives

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SURVEYS AND DATA COLLECTION

• 50+ cycling survey (open through March 31, 2022)
• America Walks survey on sidewalk funding and maintenance
• America Walks survey on advocacy organizations
• BIPOC in the Built Information Network: If you identify as BIPOC and have made a contribution to education or practice in the built environment or know someone who has, submit a nomination form to be considered for inclusion in this resource.
• Washington Bikes: Nominate your favorite scenic bike route to be considered for future designation as a State Scenic Bikeway under the program administered by Washington State Parks
• Local Actions to Support Walking and Cycling During Social Distancing Dataset
• Share your e-bike story: Invitation from Cascade Bicycle Club.
• ITE Pedestrian Demand Survey: On behalf of the ITE Bicycle & Pedestrian Standing Committee, asks for information about crossings where before and after counts have been performed. Respondents will receive summary or link to completed results. Google account required to complete survey; for email option contact Mike Hendrix at mike.hendrix@perteet.com.
• Does your city/town have bicycle traffic signals? Add to the crowdsourced tracking spreadsheet of cities in North America

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