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 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.

As part of its Safe Cycling in Chicago program, the City of Chicago Department of Transportation released a video entitled “Use a Headlamp When You Bike at Night.”  The 90-second video, demonstrates the need for cyclists to use a headlamp and a rear red reflector or lamp at night.  The video was funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Division of Traffic Safety.

The Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) released a report analyzing the results of a survey to determine the factors that would encourage more women to bicycle as a means of transportation.  The survey was conducted via an online questionnaire and was advertised through various bicycling websites – which, it should be noted, may have produced results that are biased due to self-selection. The survey included 37 questions pertaining to demographics, cycling behavior, safety/infrastructure concerns, and open-ended inquiries. The survey received responses from over 13,000 participants.

The Association of Bicycle and Pedestrian Professionals (APBP) will host a webinar on the connection between Smart Growth and bicycle/pedestrian plans on November 17, 2010, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. CDT.

Presenters will explore the ways in which communities are incorporating livable streets, aging in place, safe routes to school, and active transportation into local Smart Growth/comprehensive plans. Participants will learn how ideas like walkable urbanism and Trail Oriented Development (TrOD) underscore the economic value of proximity between home, services, and work.

 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 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.

 The Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH), in partnership with the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago, announced the availability of up to $4 million through the Model Communities grant program.  This is one initiative from the $16 million award that CCDPH received through the federal government’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) program (see our blog entry from March 25, 2010, for more information on the program).

The goal of the Model Communities funding opportunity is to increase the accessibility of healthy foods, make unhealthy foods less available, and to create safe places to be physically active.  Grants will be awarded to local governments, community organizations, and school districts/local education agencies who are interested in changing policy to make it easier for suburban Cook County residents and families to live healthy, active lives.

For more information and instructions on how to apply, visit the CCDPH website.  Important dates to keep in mind are:

• Early November Request for proposal (RFP) released on CCDPH website www.cookcountypublichealth.org
• November 16 and 18 RFP Information Session
• November 22 Letter of intent due
• December 10 Proposals due

NOTE: Model Communities Request for Proposal is now out and an RFP packet is available.  Visit the CCDPH website for more information and to download proposal forms.

On November 6, the Chicago Humanities Festival, in partnership with CMAP, will present a panel discussion on the cultural and political history of bicycling.  The discussion will consider the recent history of urban bicycling, and examine how it competes with, complements, and contrasts with other uses of our public spaces and infrastructure investment.  The panel will be moderated by John O’Neal, a planner at CMAP, and will include participants Harry Wray, professor at DePaul and author of Pedal Power: The Quiet Rise of the Bicycle in American Public Life; Randy Neufeld of SRAM Corporation and board chair of Active Transportation Alliance; Julie Hochstadter, co-founder of TheChainlink.org; and Greg Borzo, author of Where to Bike: Chicago.

The event will take place this Saturday, November 6, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington St., Chicago.  Tickets are $5.00 (teachers and students free) and can be purchased online or on the day of the event at the door.

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.

The State of Illinois, in partnership with the League of Illinois Bicyclists, now offers for purchase permanent, year-round “Share the Road” specialty license plates.  These plates deliver the “Share the Road – Same Rights, Same Rules” message, while supporting bicyclist and motorist education efforts by the League of Illinois Bicyclists. The incremental $22 annual license plate fee will go to a new state “Share the Road Fund.”  The plates will be produced when a total of1500 reservation forms have been received.  To learn more, see the plate design, and to download the license plate order form, visit LIB’s website.

Following the recent launch of Walk Friendly Communities (WFC), the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) has made available for download a webinar describing the WFC program.  The webinar provides an overview and details of the application process.  It also describes the WFC Community Assessment Tool, which was developed to provide an objective measurement method to recognize communities that have achieved high levels of walking and low rates of pedestrian crashes, while also acknowledging communities that are making progress in achieving these goals through policies, projects, and programs.

Earlier this month, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) announced its Park and Recreation Facility Construction Program (PARC).  For FY2011, a total of $25 million in grants are available through funding provided by the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program.  The maximum grant award for qualifying projects is $2.5 million. The application cycle runs from October 15 to November 29, 2010.

PARC was enacted in 2009 to provide grants to eligible local governments for park and recreation unit construction projects.  A qualifying park or recreation unit construction project could be the acquisition, development, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvements, architectural planning, and installation of capital facilities consisting, but not limited to, buildings, structures, and land for park and recreation purposes and open spaces and natural areas.

Eligibility requirements mirror the OSLAD grant program.  Units of local government that are authorized by Illinois law to expend public funds for the acquisition and development of land for public indoor/outdoor park, recreation or conservation purposes are eligible to apply.The PARC program will reimburse grant recipients up to 75 percent of approved project costs (up to 90 percent reimbursement will be available to local governments defined as disadvantaged).

For more information and to apply, visit the IDNR website.

A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health looks at the magnitude, direction, and statistical significance of the relationship between active travel and rates of physical activity, obesity, and diabetes.  The article, which examines aggregate, cross-sectional health and travel data for 14 countries, all 50 US states, and 47 of the 50 largest US cities, finds that at all three geographic levels statistically significant relationships exist between active travel and obesity, physical activity, and diabetes.

The study provides strong evidence of population-level health benefits of active travel, and concludes that “policies on transport, land-use, and urban development should be designed to encourage walking and cycling for daily travel.”

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center(PBIC), with support from U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and FedEx, officially launched Walk Friendly Communities(WFC), a national recognition program to encourage towns and cities across the U.S. to establish or recommit to a high priority for safe walking.  WFC willuse a comprehensive assessment tool to evaluate communities' commitment to improve conditions related to walking -- including safety, mobility, access, and comfort -- and will recognize communities that excel in fostering and accommodating walking.  Having concluded a pilot program in nine cities to test the online assessment tool, the program will begin accepting applications from communities around the country on November 1, 2010.

Secretary LaHood said of the program, “This initiative will [give] Americans more choices that foster active, livable communities … by improving pedestrian safety in areas across the country and providing a safe means of walking in and around their neighborhood."

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 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 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.
 

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.

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.