Public Roads, a bimonthly magazine published by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), has published on article entitled, “Street Design: Part 1—Complete Streets.”   The article – the first of a two-part series on street design – looks at how complete streets policies can help make the transportation system more accessible to all travelers.  The article defines complete streets, cites U.S. Code supporting the concept of complete streets, gives examples (Context Sensitive Solutions and Safe Routes to School), and summarizes the roles of state DOTs and MPOs, as well as local governments and transit operators.

The rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB) device is a pedestrian-activated beacon system located at the roadside below side-mounted pedestrian crosswalk signs.  This FHWA-sponsored study examines and evaluates whether or not RRFBs increased driver yielding to pedestrians on high-volume, multilane crosswalks at uncontrolled locations.  The report, looking at 22 sites located in three cities, concludes that RRFBs produce an increase in yielding behavior. In addition, data collected over a two-year follow-up period at 18 of these sites also indicated that the positive effect of the RRFBs on yielding behavior does not diminish over time.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Safety Office has developed materials to assist states, localities, and citizens in improving pedestrian and bicycle safety.  Recently, the FHWA Safety Office produced two brochures that are available for free download.  One is on the safety benefits of walkways, sidewalks, and paved shoulders; the other is on safety benefits of raised medians and pedestrian refuge areas.

In addition, the FHWA has placed recordings of past webinars in its Pedestrian Safety Focus States and Cities program online and available for download (see the section “Past Recorded Webinars” approximately half-way down the FHWA Safety webpage).  The last webinar featured presentations on New York City’s Pedestrian Safety Study and Action Plan, and the State of California’s Pedestrian Safety Assessment Program. To view the recording, visit http://fhwa.adobeconnect.com/p47557469/.

The Sun Times reports that work has begun on the reconstruction of the bridge carrying Halsted Street over the Chicago River North Branch.  (This is the bridge just south of Division; not the bridge just north of Chicago Avenue.)  Halsted St. is a major north-south bikeway, and so in addition to motorists, cyclists should be aware that the project will shut down Halsted between Chicago and Division for one year.  No temporary bridge will be erected.

The new bridge – which cost $27M – will increase the number of travel lanes on the bridge from one lane in each direction to two lanes in each direction. The new bridge will include bike lanes on structure to maintain continuity with existing bike lanes on Halsted north and south of the bridge.

The Association of Bicycle and Pedestrian Professionals (APBP) will host a webinar on “Bike Boxes” on December 15, 2010, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. CDT.

A bike box is a colored or striped area at a signalized intersection that allows bicyclists to pull in front of waiting traffic.  Designed to be used only at red lights, the box is intended to reduce car-bike conflicts, increase cyclist visibility, and provide bicyclists with a small head start when the light turns green.  The concept is gaining popularity in cities across the U.S.  In Copenhagen, Denmark – where cyclist intersection safety has been studied longest and in the most depth – bike boxes have been demonstrated to improve bicyclist safety.

The cost is $50 per site for APBP members and $75 per site for non-APBP members.  Register online.  For more information, contact Debra Goeks (262-228-7025 or deb@apbp.org).

The University of North Carolina’s Highway Safety Research Center released a report that provides examples of potentially effective policies and implementing programs designed to enhance pedestrian and bicyclist safety and mobility.  It is based on a recommendation resulting from a 2009 international scan that explored approaches used in Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety and mobility.  The report was released in cooperation with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), with the sponsorship of U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and its International Technology Scanning Program.

The Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) National Cooperative Research Program (NCHRP) issued the report, “Guidance for the Design and Application of Shoulder and Centerline Rumble Strips.”  The report provides guidance for the design and application of shoulder and centerline rumble strips as a crash reduction measure, while minimizing adverse effects for motorcyclists, bicyclists, and nearby residents.  The report is of special interest to engineers and safety practitioners with responsibility for roadway design.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) have jointly developed and published the Livability in Transportation Guidebook: Planning Approaches that Promote Livability. The guidebook, working mostly through case studies, provides planning and policy practices, design and implementation strategies, and applications that have been developed to promote livability.  The Guidebook illustrates livability in transportation planning, programming, and project design.

The New Zealand Transport Agency released a report examining and recommending best practices for the lighting of pedestrian areas.  The report, “Public lighting for safe and attractive pedestrian areas,” seeks to provide the basis for reviewing pedestrian lighting plans through a survey of recommended practices.  It is based on literature review findings incorporated with information from the lighting industry.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation, in partnership with CEOs for Cities, presents a reception and lecture by the renowned Danish architect and urban planner, Jan Gehl on Wednesday, December 8, 2010.  A reception is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., with the lecture to follow at 6:00 p.m.  For more than forty years, Gehl has helped to transform urban environments around the world – including the Times Square pedestrian mall in New York City.  Gehl will describe his strategies for creating high quality, functional, people-friendly places and cycling- and pedestrian-friendly cities around the globe, using his latest book, Cities for People, as a point of departure.

This event is part of CEOs for Cities’ Give a Minute, and Change Your City campaign.  Give a Minute is a new kind of public dialogue about how to make Chicago an easier place to get around without owning a car.

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released a report which examines the safety effectiveness of the High Intensity Activated Crosswalk (HAWK) pedestrian beacon through the use of a before-after empirical (Bayesian) evaluation approach.

The report’s conclusions include:

• 29 percent reduction in total crashes, which is statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence level.
• 69 percent reduction in pedestrian crashes, which is statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence level.
• 15 percent reduction in severe crashes, which is not statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence level.

A summary Tech Brief on the report is available, as is the full report.

Part 7 (of 8) in the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) webinar series, “Designing for Pedestrian Safety,” will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, November 3 at 1:00 p.m. CDT.  The webinar is on “Road Diets” and will include a presentation by Peter Lagerway of Toole Design Group.  The webinar will provide participants with an up-to-date overview of design considerations for "road diets," as well as background information that can be used to justify lane reductions. Special attention will be given to research that has evaluated the effectiveness of road diets in decreasing crashes for both pedestrians and automobiles. Finally, participants will be presented with design tips for allocating space for all road users.

The webinar is free and online registration is available.  For more information, email webinars@hsrc.unc.edu.

TheLeague of American Bicyclists, in connection with the Alliance forBiking and Walking, has published a factsheet on “Bicycling and Rumble Strips” that outlines the dangers and negative impacts rumble strips can have for cyclists.  The factsheet summarizes national guidance on the design and installation of rumble strips by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHTO) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), as well as state policies and practices, highlighting some states that have rumbles strip policies, which accommodate bicycling well.

The relationship between transportation and livability has been a recent theme in academic research, policy discussions, and planning practice -- including CMAP’s GO TO 2040 comprehensive regional plan. The concept of livability comprises interrelated ideas such as sustainability, quality of life, the character of place, and the health of communities.

The two-day conference, “Transportation Systems for Livable Communities,” will take place October 18 to19, 2010, in Washington D.C. This conference -- sponsored by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) -- will bring together research on the connections and interaction between transportation and livability and provide an opportunity for transportation and other planning practitioners to share research results, explore practical challenges, and identify directions for future research. Information and registration is available online at the TRB website.
 

Part 5 (of 8) in the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) webinar series, “Designing for Pedestrian Safety,” will take place Monday, September 27 at 1:00 p.m. CDT. The webinar is entitled “Signalized Intersections” and will include presentations by Michael Moule, president of Livable Streets, Inc., and Fred Ranck, safety design engineer with the FHWA Resource Center. The webinar will explore pedestrian safety concerns related to signalized intersections and provide guidance for effectively accommodating pedestrians at these intersections. Participants will gain an understanding of pedestrian safety concerns at signalized intersections and will be able to address these concerns through appropriate treatments.

The webinar is free and online registration is available. For more information, email webinars@hsrc.unc.edu.
 

The City of Naperville and its partners hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of Segment 4 of the DuPage River Trail. The 2.5-mile extension of the regional trail begins near 87th Street and the West Branch DuPage River and continues south, along Ring and Knoch Knolls Roads, through Knoch Knolls Park, and ending at the DuPage River Sports Complex. The path includes two pedestrian bridges: one over a creek south of 87th Street and one over the West Branch DuPage River in Knoch Knolls Park (see the map below). Naperville received federal funding for this construction project through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ).

In addition, Section 2 of the trail (from Hobson Road to Bunting Lane) is now open. As part of the project, two new underpasses have been built to allow pedestrians and bicyclists to pass beneath both 75th Street and Washington Street. This project also received CMAQ funding. A ceremonial ribbon cutting for the project (75th and Washington intersection reconstruction) will take place on Monday, October 4, 2010.

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will be conducting two two-day workshops, “Designing Streets for Pedestrian Safety,” in the Chicago area during the last week of October.

These IDOT- and CMAP-sponsored workshops will address pedestrian safety issues through design and engineering solutions. Instructors cover the significance of land-use, sidewalk and walkway design, signs, signals, and crosswalks. Participants also take part in a field exercise at a nearby intersection. This course, funded by the FHWA, will be an opportunity for planners and engineers to learn about strategies for addressing pedestrian crashes and design-related barriers to pedestrian travel in our communities. Information about the workshops is posted at the CMAP Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety webpage.

The workshops are free. Space, however, is limited and registration is required. Up to 16.4 professional development hours (PDH) are available for the engineering community. The course dates, locations, and times are as follows:

October 26 to 27, 2010 (Tues. and Wed.)
Limited to IDOT and County staff and their consultants
Illinois Department of Transportation
District 1 Offices
201 West Center Court
Schaumburg, IL 60196-1096
Contact tmurtha@cmap.illinois.gov for more information about the IDOT workshop.

October 28 to 29, 2010 (Thursday, Friday)
For municipal, county, and IDOT staff and their consultants
Cook County Room
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning Willis Tower
233 S Wacker Dr Suite 800
Chicago IL 60606
Click here to register for the CMAP workshop.

Information from the developer of the course, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC), on course content, goals, and target audience is available here.
 

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) presents the webinar “Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach” on Wednesday, September 29, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. CDT. The webinar will include presentations by James Daisa, P.E. at Kimley Horn and Associates, Inc. and Joh Norquist, president and CEO, Congress for New Urbanism. The webinar will provide a detailed overview of the contents of the newly released manual, Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach, along with supplemental information and case studies to demonstrate real world implementation of the concepts included in this guide to recommended practice. The webinar costs $100 for ITE members; $175 for non-members; and $50 for ITE student chapter members.

On September 23, join experts from the Netherlands for the opening session of the ThinkBike Workshops: A Dutch Boost to Chicago’s Bike-ability.

Geoffrey Baer, of WTTW Channel 11, will emcee the session.  There will be a presentation by Hans Voerknecht, project manager of Fietsberaad International, on Dutch approaches to mainstreaming bicycling.  There will also be a presentation by Arjen Jaarsma -- an internationally-known expert in urban transport, traffic engineering, and sustainable mobility -- on the place of the bike in a sustainable transportation system.  Finally, Adolfo Hernandez, of the Active Transportation Alliance, will give his “Top Ten Ideas for Improving Cycling in Chicago.”

This event is free and open to the public.  It will take place on Thursday, September 23 from 8:30 to10:30 a.m. at the James Thompson Center located at 100 W. Randolph Street in Chicago. Prior registration is required at www.activetrans.org/dutchbikeplan.

The National Center for Bicycling and Walking (NCBW) released an updated edition of their publication, Increasing Physical Activity through Community Design -- A Guide for Public Health Practitioners and Livable Community Advocates (known as the IPA Guide, for short).  The IPA Guide explains the connections between community design and people’s levels of physical activity and health.  It offers advice on how communities can organize and take action to increase physical activity in their neighborhoods and reverse national trends toward increased obesity, physical inactivity, and related diseases and health problems.