Walk and Roll: WSDOT Active Transportation Update - March 20, 2025

Washington State Department of Transportation sent this bulletin at 03/20/2025 11:31 AM PDT

    Active Transportation Division News From WSDOT and Partners

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

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    What you'll find in this issue: 

    • AT Assistance Program 101
    • The quest to build a statewide bike facilities map
    • Bike Month planning tips 
    • Legislative bill tracking
    • 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

    Program spotlight: Active Transportation Assistance Program

    Our agency is grateful to be able to distribute grant funding to local agencies and tribal governments. Two of our largest grant programs are the Safe Routes to School and Pedestrian/Bicyclist Programs; they’ve provided communities over $170 million over the past two decades to help them develop infrastructure that gives travelers of all ages and abilities safer, more comfortable ways to get around. However, not every jurisdiction has enough time or resources to apply successfully for this grant funding. That can create a gap in access to state funding for communities that could benefit from it the most. 

    That’s where the Active Transportation Assistance Program (ATAP) comes in. In the ’23-’25 biennium, the Washington state legislature approved more than $5 million for ATAP as part of the SRTS and PBP grant programs, or 5% of those programs’ overall funding. SRTS and PBP are competitive, and there’s more demand for funding than what the state can provide. ATAP works with communities that both have high equity and safety needs and that haven’t recently received funding, to co-develop projects that can be successful in these programs.

    ATAP’s goal is to close the funding access gap in our grant programs, and also assist partners in building capacity to obtain resources from a variety of sources, such those state funding sources gathered at Transportation Efficient Communities

    “It’s a way to increase the geographic diversity of who is participating in those funding programs,” says Chris Hawkins, who manages ATAP. “We’re trying to ensure investments for active transportation go where the needs are greatest throughout the state.”

    More broadly, he says, ATAP is a way to encourage more communities to consider the benefits of active transportation and what they could build to help more people use it comfortably and safely.

    The program is by invitation only. Hawkins reviews several databases to help him determine which parts of the state would not only see safety, transportation, health and other benefits from the grant funding, but also that haven’t received that funding in recent grant rounds. Tribes are automatically eligible for the program and included in the ranked list for invitation. ATAP then invites those communities to work with WSDOT to develop active transportation projects and sends them detailed data packages and guidance such as the WSDOT Active Transportation Programs Design Guide. The packages include the jurisdiction’s five-year active transportation crash data and equity needs data, which can help them select a project to develop and plan of future grant applications.

    When communities accept the invitation, Hawkins and WSDOT contractors offer them the support they need to plan, develop/design, and potentially even build active transportation projects that would be competitive in SRTS or PBP application rounds. This kind of support ranges from funding for consultant services, to training and workforce development, with technical assistance offered throughout.

    ATAP doesn’t guarantee communities construction funds, but if communities fully develop a project in line with WSDOT’s guidance, “we’ll be ready to support you in getting that project built,” Hawkins says.

    The first round of ATAP was focused on inviting communities to codevelop a project with WSDOT. ATAP is also now offering the opportunity to codevelop an active transportation plan that helps the local and tribal partners envision their AT system, specify needed improvements and prioritize the projects to implement it.

    In its first cycle, ATAP initially offered 22 different jurisdictions the opportunity. About half of them responded with interest and had onboarding discussions with data-sharing, education and coaching.

    To date, ATAP has agreements in place with two communities, Richland and the Cowlitz Tribe. WSDOT offered to manage on-call consultants for these communities in the first year. Hawkins is working with additional communities on finalizing other agreements.

    The program is new but already encouraging more communities to apply for funding. Simply inviting communities to consider designing projects may have contributed to the comparatively large number of applications to the 2024 SRTS and PBP Calls for Projects. Many of the communities invited to participate in ATAP submitted applications that ranked highly for funding.

    Hawkins hopes to open opportunities to communities beyond those invited, such as for trainings and other important active transportation resources. Among recommendations to the Legislature in the Active Transportation Funding Programs Legislative Report (2024) is dedicated construction funding. Along with helping partners build co-developed projects, Hawkins hopes to help more communities develop active transportation plans in the years ahead.

    This near-term support could have longterm benefits: Offering support once can give communities the tools they need to plan and develop more projects in the future, with comprehensive plans updated to point toward full active transportation network development.

    “We want them to be thinking about their next grant application,” Hawkins says, “and it’s also setting them on a course for a lot more success in getting resources to shape their communities so that they’re supportive of people walking, bicycling and rolling for everyday transportation.”

    For more information about ATAP, reach out to Chris Hawkins at chris.hawkins@wsdot.wa.gov.

    Call for data: Help us build a statewide bicycle facility database 

    How do you decide which route to take when riding a bike in Washington state? For many of us, it can be tough to figure out the safest, most comfortable way to get from A to B – especially if we’re traveling between cities or towns.   

    That’s because there’s a lot we don’t know about our statewide bicycle network.  

    “On state roads, we generally know where we have bike lanes and how wide they are, but we don’t always know what type of buffer or protection they offer,” says Grace Young, GIS and Data Analyst with the Active Transportation Division.  

    It’s an issue people like Grace are actively working to solve. Grace first realized this need when working with Active Transportation Division colleagues started research for the Cycle Highways Action Plan. That plan explores how Washington state might work with local jurisdictions and tribes to plan for a statewide, long-distance bicycle network. 

    A lot of cities and counties have data on their own network, but there’s no unified statewide database to help us understand the quality of routes around the state, or how they all intersect. That information could help WSDOT and its partners understand what kinds of bike facilities are available, and where. Ultimately, that information would help everyone prioritize where to invest in connections.  

    A new collaboration between WSDOT staff like Grace and the state’s Recreation and Conservation Office aims to collect the puzzle pieces we need to see the whole picture.  

    RCO has kept a bike trails database for a few years, which WSDOT references for information about the locations of shared use paths. In August, WSDOT reached out to talk about expanding the database from trails to on-street facilities as well. In December, the two agencies asked a small group of data providers for feedback on the types of data they could collect about all these facilities.  

    They also are hoping to encourage jurisdictions to share on-street and trails data with the state.  

    “Bikers don’t care where jurisdictional boundaries are,” Grace says. “We need this information to plan the whole system.” 

    If you want to participate in this project and have data to offer, please connect with Grace at grace.young@wsdot.wa.gov.

    Tell us: What are you doing for Bike Month?

    May: It’s an auxiliary verb. A first and last name. And most importantly, the bike-iest month of the year.

    Every month is Bike Month for those of us who regularly use bikes for transportation, fitness or recreation. But we don’t always gather to reflect on all the things bikes add to our lives and how to help others enjoy the same. That’s what’s exciting about Bike Month and the full four weeks of celebration that go with it.

    We’d love to know: Are you planning any Bike Month activities? Do you know of any in your area? We want to help you get the word out about these events.

    If you’d like to plan something but don’t know where to start, we’ve compiled a short list of inspirational resources that could help. (Email WSDOTActive@wsdot.wa.gov for more ideas! We’re happy to help you tailor something to your interests.)

    And if you want to get a jumpstart, roll into April with the #30DaysOfBiking challenge! 

    • Dates to remember:
      • May 4: National Ride a Bike Day
      • May 7: Walk & Bike to School Day. (Here are some event ideas from the Safe Routes Partnership worth exploring.)
      • May 12-18: Bike to Work Week
      • May 16: Bike to Work Day
    • A one-stop shop: The League of American Bicyclist, the organization credited with promoting Bike Month, has a very comprehensive guide to planning and promoting activities.
    • Draw your bikexcitement in chalk on your favorite route! What do you love about biking where you live? What do you wish you could do on a bike? Reference the Seattle Department of Transportation’s coloring book for ideas.
    • The Bike Doctor Is In: Do you have some maintenance skills? Get your friends together to learn about fixing flats, pumping up tires, cleaning chains and frames, adjusting saddles and diagnosing those mysterious pings and crunches keeping them from riding smoothly.
    • Put the ‘train’ in bike training. Want company on your rides to school, work or errands? Get neighbors and colleagues together for a bike train. Bike trains are becoming more and more popular for student bike commuters, but are also a great way to appreciate friends’ company for riders of all ages.
    • Bike trains without the trains: It’s a great time of year to explore rail trails: Trails built along defunct rail lines. The Rails to Trails association has a great list for Washington state.
    • Events to look forward to: Cascade Bicycle Club has events scheduled throughout the month.

    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:

    The following is a list of bills that passed one house of the Legislature and may be considered in this session by the other house.

    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.

    March

    April

    Save the Date

    May is National Bike Month!

    Grants and Funding Opportunities

    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.
    • Eastside Urbanism invites ideas for safety projects to suggest for Bellevue's Vision Zero Action Plan, through March.
    • Washington State Dept of Commerce and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency are currently conducting a joint survey seeking feedback to inform the Washington state and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Metropolitan Statistical Area Comprehensive Climate Action Plans (CCAPs). Public feedback is critical to guiding the priorities for CCAP development, as well as topics for further engagement in your region over the next year. Complete the Washington CCAP Survey to offer GHG reduction measures, sectors of focus, and co-benefits of climate action that are important to you and your community.

    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