An at-grade crossing of the Prairie Path over the Canadian National Railroad (CN) in Elmhurst, near South Prospect Avenue, has been improved and made safer with the addition of crossing gates and realignment of the trail.  Visit the DuPage County Bikeways and Trails webpage for more information on this, as well as other, projects.

Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto have published a study in the journal Diabetes Care, examining the connection between neighborhood walkability and diabetes.

The study looked at data from more than one million residents to assess the impact of neighborhood walkability on diabetes incidence for long-term residents relative to recent immigrants, and found that neighborhood walkability was “a strong predictor of diabetes incidence independent of age and area income, particularly among recent immigrants.”

As part of Chicago Architecture Foundation’s weekly LunchTalks@CAF, Janet Attarian, project director at the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), will speak on “Urban Interventions for Placemaking: Making Walkable Streets for Healthy Neighborhoods.”

Make Way for People is a new program launched by CDOT, which promotes temporary or easily-removable strategies for quickly and inexpensively creating new public space in the public right of way. The program consists of four initiatives: People Spots, People Streets, People Plazas, and People Alleys.  Ms. Attarian will discuss how the program was developed, review the projects implemented thus far, and describe how CDOT is evaluating these initiatives and setting guidelines for further expansion.

Drivelesslivemore.com is a web-based program, developed by the Regional Transportation Authority and Active Transportation Alliance, designed to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality by shifting local travelers from drive-alone car trips to healthier, active, more sustainable travel modes: transit, cycling, walking, carpool, vanpool, water-taxi and telecommuting. 

The website aims to accomplish this goal by encouraging modeshift through prize drawings, competitive Employer Challenges, and direct employer engagement:

• Users sign up and create a profile.
• Users self-report their trips via an interactive Trip Tracking Calendar.
• Transit, cycling, walking, carpool, vanpool, car-sharing, and telecommuting trips are awarded a point score: each one-way trip using at least one of these travel modes receives a score of 0.5 points. 
• Points are used to enter drawings for prizes.
• Users can also create and join Employer Challenge teams to compete against other similar workplaces, by category, in several commuter challenges per year.  Winning teams in these commuter challenges will be publicly recognized.
• Employers (via an authorized user) can create a customized homepage within drivelesslivemore.com (yourcompanyname.drivelesslivemore.com) through which they can directly encourage employees to change travel habits and measure the results with Workplace Travel Planning.  Workplace Travel Planning may help lower costs and increase productivity, through happier and healthier employees.

Reconnecting America has released the report, “Are We There Yet? Creating Complete Communities for 21st Century America.”  The report tracks progress in regions across the country in implementing complete streets policies and programs.

The report identifies a series of metrics and ranking criteria to measure regions’ progress toward creating more "complete communities."

A new report by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP, Synthesis Report 436), “Local Policies and Practices That Support Safe Pedestrian Environments,” documents various tools and strategies used by municipalities to improve the safety, convenience, and accessibility of the pedestrian experience.

The research approach involved a review of literature and telephone as well as in-person interviews with key staff in local agencies that have implemented policies and practices to support pedestrian-friendly environments. The report includes an overview of recent and current practices undertaken throughout the country in various settings, along with four detailed case studies (New York City, New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Olympia, Washington).

The practices are categorized by:

1. Public right-of-way engineering and design guidelines.
2. Architectural and urban design guidelines.
3. Planning and land development regulations.
4. Financing mechanisms.
5. Operations, maintenance, and enforcement measures.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) and the Safe Routes to School National Partnership have collaborated to produce “Promoting Active Transportation: An Opportunity for Public Health.”  The guide is intended to give an overview of why and how health should be considered in transportation planning and decision-making and the role that active transportation can play in helping reduce rates of obesity and physical inactivity.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), has released its first planning tool, the Walkability Workbook, through its Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities program.   This free set of documents and slide presentations, developed by the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute, guides communities through the process of conducting a walkability audit to assess the pedestrian environment and form a vision for short- and long-term improvements to sidewalks and streets.  Additional tools, including one to help communities plan bikeshare programs, will be launched in 2013.

Several webinars on topics related to non-motorized transportation planning, design, and construction will take place over the next few weeks.

Title: AASHTO Bike Guide: Maintenance and Operations
Date: November 6, 2012, 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. CT
Presenters: Tom Huber & Peter Lagerwey (Toole Design Group)
Host: Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center & Toole Design Group
Cost: Fre
Details & registration

Title: Innovative Intersection Design
Date: November 13, 2012, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CT
Presenters: Keith Strickland (HNTB Corporation), Bastian J. Schroeder (ITRE), Jonathan D. Reid (Parson Brinckerhoff), & William M. Ruhsam, Jr. (Moreland Altobelli Associates, Inc.)
Host: Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)
Cost: $2
Details & registration

Title: Prescription Trails: How public health professionals are supporting trails and walking programs
Date: November 13, 2012, 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. CT
Presenters: Attila Bality (NPS RTC program), Linda Macdonald, MD (physician), Russell Hirschler (Upper Valley Trails Alliance), Judy Corwin (Corvallis Clinic)
Host: Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC)
Cost: Fre
Details & Registration

Title: Maps that Guide, Encourage, and Inform
Date: November 14, 2012, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. CT
Presenters: TBA
Host: Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP)
Cost: $50 APBP members / $75 non-APBP members
Contact: Debra Goeks at info@apbp.org
Details & Registration

Title: Road Diets and Pedestrian Safety
Date: November 20, 2012, 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. CT
Presenters: Libby Thomas (UNC Highway Safety Research Center), Mike Sallaberry (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency), Gina Coffman (Toole Design Group)
Host: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC)
Cost: Fre
Details & Registration

Title: Wayfinding Options for Cyclists
Date: December 19, 2012, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. CT
Presenters: TBA
Host: Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP)
Cost: $50 APBP members / $75 non-APBP members
Contact: Debra Goeks at info@apbp.org
Details & Registration

On November 10, 2012 from 8:45 a.m. to 12:00 noon, the Chicago Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities partnership is hosting a Regional Park Zones Summit on November 10, 2012 at the Nature Room of the Humboldt Park Boat House (1400 North Sacramento Avenue, Chicago).  Anyone in the region who’s interested in learning more about Park Zones and their implementation is welcome to attend.

This summit will highlight efforts in Chicago and suburban municipalities to make parks and trails more safe and accessible, especially through traffic-calming infrastructure improvements.  Public administrators, planners, and professionals in the Chicago metropolitan area will have an opportunity to share and learn from others’ experiences implementing park zones.

The event is free but attendees should RSVP to Andres Alvear (andres@activetrans.org or 312-427-3325 x 296).

The City of Chicago’s Department of Transportation (CDOT) will host a series of five public meetings to introduce plans for the City’s bike share program and to get input from Chicago residents and businesses.  In addition, CDOT has also launched an interactive website for Chicago residents to suggest locations for bike share stations.

The meeting schedule is as follows:

Monday, October 29

• Chicago Architecture Foundation
  224 S. Michigan Avenue
  11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
   
• Pop-up meeting at Union Station
  210 S. Canal Street
  3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
   
• Chicago Architecture Foundation
  224 S. Michigan Avenue
  6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Tuesday, October 30

• Lincoln Belmont Public Library
  1659 W. Melrose Street
  6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Wednesday, November 7

• Charles Hayes Center
  4859 S. Wabash Avenue
  6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

For general information about bike sharing, visit Active Transportation Alliance’s bike share page.  The bike share program is funded in part through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) program. 

The Village of Tinley Park demonstrated its commitment to a ‘Complete Streets’ approach to roadway planning and design through the incorporation of a new roadway striping scheme on 167th Street, which stretches across the entire Village, as part of its routine, scheduled resurfacing. The new striping scheme resulted in 3.6 miles of additional bikeway facilities, which supplements the existing network and extends an existing multi-use path to 2.5 miles. The scheme ends at the public library and the 80th Avenue Metra station.

Read more about the project in CMAP’s GO TO 2040 Case Studies Library.

America Walks, in collaboration with Sam Schwartz Engineering, has released a guide to creating walkable communities, “Steps to a Walkable Community: A Guide for Citizens, Planners, and Engineers.”  The guide is a compendium of innovative and multidisciplinary tools, ideas, and tactics that have been used to improve conditions for and to encourage more walking in communities around the country.  The guide is available as a PDF download for free, although providing contact information is required.

In August 2012, the National Complete Streets Coalition released the report “Complete Streets Policy Analysis 2011: Inclusive, Diverse, Accountable.”  The report offers a “year-in-review” for Complete Streets policies nationwide, documenting the rate at which policies were adopted at all levels of government, detailing specifics of certain policies and indicating the best policies and policy practices across the country. These policies are designed to ensure that future transportation infrastructure investments provide safe options for all roadway users.  The report rates the strength of extent written policies and highlights policies that do a particularly good job covering individual policy elements.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has released a comprehensive report entitled “Sharing the Road: Optimizing Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety and Vehicle Mobility,” which reviews roadway improvements designed to enhance bicyclist, pedestrian, and motorist safety and mobility.  The report includes an analysis of bicycle and pedestrian crashes in the state of Michigan; a review of national design guidelines on methods to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety; a case study analysis of recently completed improvements in the state of Michigan; an analysis of existing guides and manuals that influence the design of roadways in the Michigan and other states; and finally, a set of recommended best design practices for walking and bicycling  The report was prepared by T.Y. Lin International and Western Michigan University (WMU).

The report finds the following countermeasures were associated with the greatest reductions in crashes:

• Sidewalksreduce pedestrian crashes by 88%, while adding shoulders reduce pedestrian crashes by 70%
• Roundaboutsshow an overall decrease in all types of crashes by 35%, injury crashes by 76% and fatal crashes by 89%
• Road dietsreduce all crashes anywhere from 14% to 49%.
• Raised mediansreduce all crashes by 40%, and by as much as 69% at unsignalized intersections
• Pedestrian hybrid beaconswere shown to have a 69% reduction in all crashes and a compliance rate of motorists yielding to pedestrians between 94-99%
• Bike lanescan reduce bicycle crashes by 50%

America Walks, a national coalition of local advocacy groups dedicated to promoting walking and walkable communities, has launched a new program to work with communities around the country to increase walking and walkability.  The program allows America Walks to bring workshops, technical assistance, and other support services directly to local communities.  The program, called “Walking in America,”  is funded by the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Half-day and 1.5 day workshops are available.

The Illinois Center for Transportation at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has released a report that provides guidelines for the structural design of bicycle trail pavement and recommendations for bicycle trail pavement maintenance.  The report includesdetailed life-cycle cost analyses for different trail designs and different pavement materials for a design period of 20 years.

A new report issued by the National Center for Transit Research at the Univeristy of South Florida gives an overview of designs, policies, and operational characteristics of shared bicycle/bus lanes in municipalities in the United States and other countries. The study examines and presents as case studies shared bicycle/bus lanes from four U.S. cities: Ocean City, MD; Minneapolis, MN; Philadelphia, PA; and Washington DC. Through its investigation, the study identifies and discusses contextual factors, design variables, and tools for planning and implementing shared bicycle/bus lanes, and provides recommendations for further research.

The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has devoted the August edition of its Vitalsigns™ report and associated Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) to walking and the health benefits walking can provide.  The CDC Vitalsigns™ webpage calls attention to the lack of physical activity among many adults in the United States, the need for more, the role of walking in helping to meet this need, and finally the ways in which governments, organizations, and individuals may help increase walking.

The MMWR examines data gathered in National Health Interview Surveys from 2005 and 2010 in order to assess changes in the prevalence of walking among groups with different demographic, health, and geographic characteristics.  Overall, the report finds an increase in the prevalence of walking.  The report concludes that to sustain increases, communities should “implement evidence-based strategies such as creating or enhancing access to places for physical activity, or using design and land use policies and practices that emphasize mixed-use communities and pedestrian-friendly streets.”  The report argues that  walking for transportation and recreation can help improve the health of U.S. residents.

Along with Illinois and twelve other states, Maryland has recently enacted a traffic law requiring motor vehicles to pass bicyclists at a distance three feet or more.  A new study in the journal, Accident Analysis & Prevention, seeks to assess compliance with the law in Baltimore.  Through the use of video cameras mounted on cyclists, the study  measures the distance between motor vehicles and cyclists during passing maneuvres.  The authors find that significant numbers of drivers do not observe the three-foot passing law, especially on roadways without bikeway markings of any kind.  However, where bicycle lanes were present, no passes of three feet or less occurred on roadways.

The full text of the article is available for download for $41.95.