Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition released “The Best Complete Streets Policies of 2012,” a report examining all Complete Streets policies passed in the last year and highlighting those it judges to be the best.  In addition to analyzing and evaluating existing polices, the report explains the methodology used in ranking policies.

The study reports that 488 Complete Streets policies are currently in place nationwide at all levels of government. 

A recent report by researchers at the University of Oregon and Oregon Department of Transportation presents the results of a literature review and field study of rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFB) installations as well as a survey on the sequencing of pedestrian hybrid beacons (PHB).  The field study was designed to compare side and overhead-mounted beacons and RRFBs. Results indicate that the environment surrounding the crossing has an impact on compliance, and that the presence of a median can increase compliance. The PHB survey verified that drivers are confused about what these devices are and how they operate.  For the first deployment of a PHB in any given area, the study recommends that a public education program be included.

The study also contains guidelines for installation of RRFBs and PHBs, based on the literature review and the field study.  The major recommendation is that RRFBs be installed on medians when side-mounted devices are considered and at locations with posted speeds of 40 mph or less unless additional features such as stripping, signing, and advance warning RRFBs are used.  To reinforce and simplify the use of the guidelines, the authors include a decision matrix.

The new Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) “Pedestrian Forum” newsletter focuses on pedestrian hybrid beacons -- also known as HAWK beacons -- a treatment which is endorsed by the FHWA as a proven countermeasure in reducing crashes.

The Project for Public Spaces has produced an on-line “Rightsizing Streets Guide.”  The website features ten case studies from communities that have implemented road diets as a means to improve safety, gain public space, increase pedestrian and bicycle mobility and access, and/or enhance communities.  The site describes the rightsizing concept and best practices.

A final rule was published, which makes revisions to the joint Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Federal Highway Administration regulations that implement the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).  The revisions are aimed at streamlining the FTA environmental process for transit projects by establishing new categorical exclusions (CEs) intended to improve the efficiency of the environmental review process by making available the least intensive form of review for actions that typically do not have the potential for significant environmental effects.

The rule makes four major changes: (1) it creates ten new CEs to be located in a newly proposed section of the regulation at 23 CFR 771.118 (including bicycle and pedestrian facilities within an existing transportation right-of-way); (2) it expands public involvement methods to include electronic means; (3) it adds language on early scoping into the regulations; and (4) it modifies the list of project types that normally result in the preparation of an EIS.

For an overview of the rule, see the FTA presentation offering guidance on implementation of new CEs.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are collecting information and input from the public on priorities around increasing walkability.  The Office of the Surgeon General will use this information as a call-to-action to increase physical activity through walking among Americans. For more information, see the notice in the Federal Register.

The deadline for submitting information is May 1, 2013. More information is available in the Federal Register notice and the Every Body Walk Collaborative campaign. Organizations may submit comments through either site.

Last month, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Categorical Exclusions (CE) for Projects within the Right-of-Way and for Projects of Limited Federal Assistance.  CE pertains to the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) process.  This proposed rule is intended to facilitate implementation of provisions of MAP-21. As proposed, the rule may help improve project delivery for small projects – such as pedestrian and bicycle projects – which use Federal-aid highway program funds.  The links to the NPRM are as follows:

• PDF: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-02-28/pdf/2013-04678.pdf
• TEXT: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-02-28/html/2013-04678.htm

The proposed rule would allow CE for (1) any project within an existing operational right-of-way and (2) any project that receives less than $5 million of Federal funds or with a total estimated cost of not more than $30 million and Federal funds comprising less than 15 percent of the total estimated project cost.

The deadline and instructions for submitting comments on the proposed changes to FHWA’s and FTA’s regulations concerning actions to be categorically excluded under NEPA is April 29, 2013.

For questions on this NPRM, please contact Kreig Larson at kreig.larson@dot.gov.

The Walk Friendly Communities program has created a new guide to help communities become more pedestrian friendly.  “Giving Cities Legs: Ideas and Inspirations from Walk Friendly Communities” highlights efforts from communities that sought Walk Friendly Community status during the program’s first three rounds.

The Access Board has issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) to include specific provisions for shared use paths in the proposed accessibility guidelines for pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way (PROWAG). The proposed accessibility guidelines would apply to the design, construction, and alteration of pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way, including shared use paths, covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Architectural Barriers Act.

The supplemental rule is responsive to feedback the Board received from the public on its proposed rights-of-way guidelines as well as on separate guidelines it is developing for trails and outdoor developed areas.  Comments from the public on these rules urged the Board to specifically address access to shared use paths since they are distinct from sidewalks and trails.  Shared use paths, unlike most sidewalks, are physically separated from streets by an open space or barrier.  They also differ from trails because they are designed not just for recreation purposes but for transportation as well.  In addition, the Board invited comment on this subject in an earlier notice. 

The proposed supplemental provisions on shared use paths are further described in a published notice which includes instructions for submitting comments.  The deadline for comments is May 14, 2013.

The European Transport Safety Council released a report that reviews bicycle safety policies in European Union cities.  The report details cycling infrastructure and best practices for facilitating safe cycling.  While design practice, policy development, and regulatory contexts differ between Europe and the U.S., concepts for safe cycling described in the report may be adaptable to local conditions and needs.

Growing out of the guide book, “Steps to a Walkable Community,” which we wrote about in a previous post, America Walks and Sam Schwartz Engineering have created a new website, www.walksteps.org.  The website is an “online resource for developing strategies toward walkable communities,” with tactics and case studies that communities can use to help them in their efforts to become more walk-friendly.  The website allows users to create and share specific tactics in a “My Tactics” page.  The tactics are organized under the following six categories:

• Advocacy
• Policy
• Land Use
• Design and Engineering
• Encouragement and Education
• Enforcement

The National Complete Streets Coalition (NCSC) has released three new presentations that are available for individuals and communities to use and/or adapt to help inform and educate others about complete streets.  The first, “Introduction to Complete Streets,” covers the basics on why Complete Streets are needed.  "The Many Benefits of Complete Streets" addresses the value that a Complete Streets approach can add to your community.  Lastly, "Complete Streets: Changing Policy" outlines and describes the basic elements of an ideal Complete Streets policy. Each presentation includes citations and presenter notes.  In addition, see NCSC’s factsheets covering various topics that are related to and can potentially be addressed through complete streets.

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) has published a white paper that examines automated enforcement systems in order to assess their potential for improving bicyclist and pedestrian safety.  The paper argues that automated enforcement systems should be seen as one potential tool to aid crash prevention, rather than a comprehensive and final solution.  The author concludes that, to be effective, such systems should be implemented alongside education and engineering improvements, as well as other enforcement activities.

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has released a report  on a new method to estimate pedestrian and bicyclist exposure in large urban areas.  By calculating the average, estimated annual number of linear miles of roadway (or other motor vehicle shared facility) traveled by pedestrians and bicyclists in a given city, researchers can calculate a crash risk estimate defined as x number of crashes per 100 million miles of shared roadway travelled by pedestrians or bicyclists.

The report describes the application of this methodology to various shared facility types characteristic of the urban environment in Washington, D.C. These facilities included three types of intersections (signalized, four-way stop-controlled, and partially stop-controlled), midblock road segments, driveways, alleys, parking lots, parking garages, school areas, and areas with playing, dashing, or working in the roadway.

A new report by Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute discusses reasons to implement complete streets and how the complete streets approach to roadway design relates to other planning innovations.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), has published a white paper that develops a framework for metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to use to integrate health into the metropolitan area transportation planning. The framework addresses both how MPOs can approach health as a general, broad-based goal in comprehensive and interdisciplinary planning and also how MPOs can consider health during all stages of the metropolitan transportation planning process.

The report explores how health can effectively be incorporated in metropolitan transportation planning through case studies of the following four regional agencies:

• Nashville Area MPO
• Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC)
• Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG)
• San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)

As required by the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2010, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that hybrid and electric vehicles meet minimum sound standards in order to help make pedestrians more aware of the approaching vehicles.  The public will have 60 days to submit comments on the proposed rule. 

In acknowledgment of the growing importance of cycling as a means of transportation and of the value of bikeability for communities, Walk Score has launched a version of Bike Score, which seeks to measure the bike-friendliness of a city. 

Bike Score calculates a 0-100 rating of the bikeability of a location based on four equally weighted components:

• Bike lanes
• Hills
• Destinations and road connectivity
• Bike commuting mode share

The Bike Score for a city is then calculated by applying the Bike Score algorithm block-by-block throughout the city and weighting the scores by population density.   The result is a “heat map” for the city indicating relative bikeability.  Currently, Bike Score rates only ten U.S. cities: Minneapolis, Portland, San Francisco, Boston, Madison, Washington D.C., Seattle, Tucson, New York, and Chicago.

Bike Score was developed in collaboration with faculty at Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia under a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) has  published a white paper that examines the use of Health Impact Assessments (HIA) to evaluate bicycle and pedestrian plans.

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, in collaboration with Toole Design Group and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), have completed a study of current bike sharing programs in the United States. The study, Bike Sharing in The United States: State of the Practice and Guide to Implementation, explores the evolution of bike sharing in the U.S.  The report identifies success factors, surveys different funding models, examines demographic and geographic trends affecting implementation of programs, gives a step-by-step approach for developing a start-up program, and discusses ways to increase demand in and to expand existing programs.