Walk and Roll: WSDOT Active Transportation Update - February 26, 2025

Washington State Department of Transportation sent this bulletin at 02/26/2025 11:35 AM PST

    Active Transportation Division News From WSDOT and Partners

    Connectivity -- Safety -- Opportunity -- Participation -- Partnership

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    What you'll find in this issue: 

    • What's up in the 2025 Washington state Legislature
    • The 411 about state and national design guidance updates
    • A first look at the Cycle Highways Action Plan
    • Recommendations for things to read/watch/listen to
    • Events and trainings to keep on your radar
    • Grants and funding opportunities
    • Surveys to take
    • Opportunities to present and publish 
    • Plenty of useful resources! 

     

    The Mobili-Tea Around ATD

    What you need to know about LAG manual updates

    TL;DR: For tribes and jurisdictions hoping to fund infrastructure work through Active Transportation Division grant programs, reviewing an update to WSDOT’s Local Agency Guidelines may help you deliver projects more efficiently.

    A deeper dive: The Local Agency Guidelines (LAG) provide local agencies with statewide policies and standards to follow when using Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or state funds for transportation projects. An update toward the end of last year now includes a chapter on developing state funding projects administered through WSDOT. Many of ATD’s funding programs are state funded and so our partner agencies may be interested in reviewing this new chapter, especially if they are first-time recipients or have new staff who have not worked in project delivery with state funds.

    There are other changes throughout the manual, but the standards chapter (Chapter 42) did not change: Those standards are set by an external committee defined in state law. As such, the main outcome of this update is clearer direction to funding recipients about how to use state funds. This could help speed up project delivery for new recipients.

    What ‘The Bike Guide’ Update Means for You

    Cardi B. E-bikeshare. TikTok. Delivery robots. Even “The Dress.”  

    None of these topics had yet entered mainstream conversation when The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) first started working on the fifth edition of its Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities.

    Its fifth edition took more than a decade of dedicated and thoughtful work to develop – and my colleagues say it was more than worth the wait. The fifth edition finally arrived December 13, and a month later Washington state multimodal transportation professionals joined the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals – Washington State chapter at contractor Toole Design’s Seattle office to celebrate with cake and speeches.

    The Bike Guide provides information about how to build for bicycle travel. Charlotte Claybrooke with WSDOT’s Active Transportation Division, who helped oversee development of the guide for AASHTO, describes it as a one-stop shop for developing bike facilities where all people of all ages and abilities want to ride bikes.

    A new edition of ‘the bike guide’ is a big deal for a few reasons, she says, and will likely directly affect many people’s travel experiences.

    • The Bike Guide supports designing for cyclists’ safety. Staff say that this update in particular emphasizes the importance of making changes on the street to protect people who bike, while outlining options available to do that.
      • This is in line with our state’s Complete Streets requirement. A Complete Streets approach is one where we plan, design, build, operate and maintain our transportation system so that it’s comfortable and convenient for everyone, no matter how they get around. The requirement means that when we undertake projects that cost $500,000 or more, we need to consider whether people can easily and safely bike through the space. If we identify ways to improve bike routes, we work with communities to plan and create them.
      • One thing staff appreciate is who it considers as a cyclist. The 1981 and 2012 editions designed mostly around a model user who was a confident bicyclist. This edition steps back and considers all users’ needs.
    • The Bike Guide provides a nationally approved set of the best guidance practitioners can cite for decision-making, all in one place. AASHTO is nationally recognized, reputable leader in providing guidance on all things transportation.
      • Local agency engineers may start designing to the new guide right away for most state and federal funding sources. Some jurisdictions may have adopted the Guide as their standard by reference, meaning engineers will have to consider the guide for their bikeway projects. Generally, for state routes, we have our own state Design Manual with guidance for active transportation treatments.
      • When WSDOT provides grant funding to a jurisdiction through Local Programs, jurisdictions reference the City and County Design Standards contained in the Local Agency Guidelines Manual while developing their projects. That manual allows the use of AASHTO guidance for most projects. Jurisdictions consulting our LAG Manual may begin to use the new Bike Guide effective immediately and must incorporate the updated design guidance no later than two years from the publication date. Jurisdictions can also reference our Active Transportation Programs Design Guide produced by ATD Active Transportation Programs Engineer Briana Weisgerber, which aims to put the best available design guidance in one place for those developing grant applications to our programs. Weisgerber’s guide shows what treatments you can use to address pedestrians’ and cyclists’ needs, Weisgerber says. The AASHTO Bike Guide gets deeper into the nitty gritty of bikeway design.
    • We’ve learned a lot about how to better design for bikes since the Fifth Edition came out – and those learnings are now ‘official’. “Our profession has boomed with new information and research about how to accommodate people who bike” since the 2012 edition came out, says Claybrooke. The new edition has some significant updates bringing the Bike Guide in line with new research and practice, giving credibility to treatments and practices practitioners have already been using.
      • “Everything in the guide is proven. It’s not new in the US, it’s just new under the AASHTO umbrella,” says Briana Weisgerber.
      • That can give more credibility – and legal justification -- to the engineers implementing those practices, too, Weisgerber says.
      • The cities really lead the way in bikeway innovation supported by research, Weisgerber and Claybrooke say. For instance, bike lanes got more popular in part due to the release of the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ Urban Bikeway Design Guide. (In January, NACTO also released an update to this guide that local agencies can use for most state and federal projects, as it is adopted by reference in the LAG Manual and federal funding standards.)

    With so many transportation systems bound to be affected by a Bike Guide update, lots of people participate in development. Every state in the country had a representative involved, and people on volunteer panels guiding development – like Claybrooke – sifted through thousands of feedback comments over the decade. By the end, the guide was very well vetted with only two states voting against its approval.

    It's tough to say when people might see the influence of this update where they live – it takes time to build transportation projects. However, ATD staff will be referencing it as we talk to local agencies and provide trainings, Claybrooke and Weisgerber say. 

    Eventually, things may not change significantly in big cities, which are often the places best able to pass levies that allow them to innovate outside the bounds of state and federal standards. “It’s likely smaller communities that may see improvement from this,” Weisgerber says. “Engineers may have felt nervous about trying some of these designs, but because it’s in AASHTO, because it’s referenced in the LAG Manual, smaller communities can have more confidence in implementing these facilities.” 

    Reading the guide

    Publication and purchasing details for the guide are available on AASHTO's website. Please reach out to WSDOTactive@wsdot.wa.gov for additional assistance accessing the guide.

    Tracking Bills in the 2025 Legislative Session 

    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:

    Feedback opportunity: Cycle Highways Action Plan 

    Many of us would like to travel between nearby communities in Washington without driving. In the 2023-2025 biennium, Washington state legislators funded a proviso that could support developing cycle highways, which would make it easier, safer and more comfortable to travel longer distances using active transportation. WSDOT is leading development of this proviso.

    Our team recently completed a Cycle Highways Action Plan draft report and we invite you to help us refine phase 1 of this plan. 

    This open house web page includes background information about the report, a link to the draft report and a link to the feedback survey. You are welcome to share your thoughts about the report with us before April 7.  

    Five+ Things to Read/Watch/Hear

    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 Standard Time.

    All items are webinars unless a location is noted.

    February

    March

    April

    Save the Date

    Grants and Funding Opportunities

    • For tribes and rural areas: Opportunity from USDOT: Build America Bureau – Rural and Tribal Assistance Grant Program. Applications open March 4 and portal closes April 3.
    • Rooting Justice: 501(c)3 non-profit organizations are the eligible applicants for environmental justice project funds. Due: March 15 (priority). Informational webinars were on Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. and Feb. 20 at 9 a.m..
    • Transportation Justice Leadership Grants from Front and Centered and WSDOT: A grant program funding the ideas of community. Any community-based organization or non-profit that has an idea on how to bring transportation justice to their community is invited to apply. It must be centered on the needs of communities and driven by the leadership of communities. Some possible categories include: Sustainable Transportation Options, Community Engagement/Equity, Capacity Building/Leadership Development, Environmental Stewardship, and Infrastructure Improvement. If you have a community partner that has an idea, please encourage them to apply. Rolling application process between now and mid-May 2025, with first round of reviews having happened in December 2024.
    • The Washington State Department of Commerce has ongoing climate planning grants and technical assistance available to local governments across the state. 

    • Keep track of all of the USDOT’s discretionary funding opportunities at the DOT Discretionary Grants Dashboard. Also, a full listing of pedestrian- and bicycle-related federal funding programs is available through FHWA. 

       Have any funding opportunities people should know about? Send them to WSDOTActive@wsdot.wa.gov.

    Planning, Projects and Surveys

    • Cargo bike user survey: A research team at Pennsylvania State University led by Professor Melissa Bopp is researching cargo bike users in North America and asking people to fill out this survey.
    • State of Public Space Survey: Project for Public Spaces is seeking participation in effort to understand current challenges and opportunities for public spaces in the United States. Providing a response enters participants in a drawing to win a book.
    • Pierce County Draft Vision Zero Action Plan is accepting feedback through February 26.

    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 WSDOTActive@wsdot.wa.gov .

    Present, Publish, Participate

    Calls for Papers/Abstracts: 

    Call for Applications/Nominations:

    Call for Members/Reviewers:

     

    Research and Resources

    We share new papers, established databases, thoughtful essays, and even older research that was ahead of its time. If these are helpful to your existing work or spark a new project: Email WSDOTActive@wsdot.wa.gov to let us know! 

    If you read this far, thank you! You're finding something of value here and you know someone else who should receive this kind of news. Forward WSDOT Walk and Roll to others and share the subscription link on social media (tag it #WSDOTactive).

     

    Hannah Weinberger
    Communication Lead, WSDOT Active Transportation Division
    hannah.weinberger@wsdot.wa.gov