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ITD Presentation to MPRC 5-11-11Idaho Bicycle and Pedestrian Program City of Meridian Park and Recreation Commission 1 Talking Points walk|bike|idaho Program Overview Key Messages Bicycle Route Suitability, Coverage, and Continuity Study Purpose Survey Results Question and Answer Hi everyone. I’m Maureen Gresham the Idaho Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator and I work with the Idaho Transportation Department. Thank you for inviting me here this evening to talk about walk, bike, idaho including an overview of the program as well as a presentation of the key messages. I also want to thank you for recently participating in a survey regarding the availability of data and GIS resources. Your input along with other local communities on this survey will help guide the future course of this study and I’d like to take the opportunity to provide you with more detail regarding this study, it’s purpose and what I hope it will produce. 2 walk|bike|idaho Program Purpose Empower local communities to improve bicycle and pedestrian mobility Encourage best practices for policies, programs, and standards statewide Deliver key messages Bear Lake Site Visit, September 2010 Out of curiosity, how many people here knew that Idaho had a bicycle and pedestrian coordinator? Not many – that’ s not surprising and in all reality – who cares. The state of bicycle/pedestrian mobility in our state is much more important than if ITD has a coordinator. So what is it? walk, bike, idaho quite simply is accommodating and encouraging bicycle and pedestrian mobility. My role in accomplishing this has three main goals. My first goal is to empower local communities to address bicycle and pedestrian mobility at the local level. As you know decisions in Idaho are driven, developed and implemented at the local level. And, consider this … there are more than 38,000 roadway miles of which only 12% is actually on the state highway system. Specifically, I work with local communities – whether it is a city planning department, elected officials, local advocacy group, parks and recreation staff, etc. on their issues and opportunities by developing tools, technical resources and data that they can then use to affect bicycle and pedestrian mobility in their community. An example project is a recent trip to Salmon Idaho to help them understand the various criteria that need to be considered when determining how best to get bicyclists/pedestrians from point a to point b. I often see communities selecting a facility type without considering the context of the corridor, who might be using it and what potential safety hazards they are creating with that particular facility type. My second goal is to help encourage the use of best practices for our policies, programs and standards. This includes working with local communities as well our ITD staff. Policies can range from Complete Streets to development regulations that affect parking. Programs can include Bike to Work campaigns to educational programs on how to share the road. Standards may range from facility selection, to facility design, to facility maintenance. Specifically, I try to identify those best practices that can work in our communities and then get that information out to the people that can best use them. An recent project illustrating how I do this is a partnership with the Dept of Education. I developed an educational video filmed from the driver’s perspective demonstrating how drivers can safely share the road with cyclists and pedestrians. The Department of Education is now providing this to every driver’s ed instructor in our state – over 300. These instructor’s will then show them to every student they have over the next few years. Finally, I try at all times to deliver three key messages and I have found the best way to do this is to simply talk about them. 3 Bicycling and Walking are Viable Modes of Transportation with Numerous Benefits High Number of Idahoans Already Do or Can Bike and/or Walk It’s Getting Safer All the Time Benefits are Numerous and Varied The first key message is simply that walking and biking is a viable choice. 4 Bicycling and Walking are Viable Modes of Transportation with Numerous Benefits High Number of Idahoans Already Do or Can Bike and/or Walk Ranked 2nd nationally for the percent of commuters that cycling to work (2008 American Community Survey) Approximately 40% of all trips are 2 miles or less Idaho code supports sharing the roadway The first key message is simply that walking and biking is a viable choice. And, I can say that with confidence because there is already a high number of Idahoans who already do or can bicycle and/or walk especially when compared to other states. According to the 2008 American Community Survey – which is the latest data that is available, Idaho ranks 2nd when compared to other states for the number of commuters that cycle to work as their primary means of getting to work. Only Oregon has a higher share of commuters. Then, take into account that 40% of all trips are 2 miles or less starts to paint a picture that maybe walking or biking can be a viable option. 5 Bicycling and Walking are Viable Modes of Transportation with Numerous Benefits High Number of Idahoans Already Do or Can Bike and/or Walk It’s Getting Safer All the Time Ranked 7th among all states for low bicycle/pedestrian fatality rates Ranked 4th among all states for bicycle safety, 11th for pedestrian safety I’m not suggesting we have a perfect environment for walking or biking, much still needs to be done but at least we are starting with something. And, it is getting safer all the time. Although vehicular crashes with bicyclists and pedestrians has increased in the past few years Idaho has also seen a significant rise - 128.2% in its share of commutes that bike to work meaning the rate of crashes is declining pretty dramatically. And if you want to compare us with other states – we look pretty good. 6 Bicycling and Walking are Viable Modes of Transportation with Numerous Benefits High Number of Idahoans Already Do or Can Bike and/or Walk It’s Getting Safer All the Time Benefits are Numerous and Varied Bicycling/walking levels decreased by 67%, obesity levels increased by 241% Bicycling industry contributes an estimated $133 billion a year to the US Economy For every 1 miles pedaled rather than drive, about one lb of CO2 is saved Finally, the benefits are numerous. Not only does walking and biking improve ones health – reducing your risk of heart disease, breast cancer (woman who bike 30 minutes or more a day have a lower risk), and diabetes we also see benefits to our community and our environment. For our communities, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure raises property values, provides jobs, and saves you money. And of course, the more we use walking or biking 7 Bicycling and Walking are Viable Modes of Transportation with Numerous Benefits High Number of Idahoans Already Do or Can Bike and/or Walk Ranked 2nd nationally for the percent of commuters that cycling to work (2008 American Community Survey) Approximately 40% of all trips are 2 miles or less Idaho code supports sharing the roadway It’s Getting Safer All the Time Ranked 7th among all states for low bicycle/pedestrian fatality rates Ranked 4th among all states for bicycle safety, 11th for pedestrian safety Benefits are Numerous and Varied Bicycling/walking levels decreased by 67%, obesity levels increased by 241% Bicycling industry contributes an estimated $133 billion a year to the US Economy For every 1 miles pedaled rather than drive, about one lb of CO2 is saved The first key message is simply that walking and biking is a viable choice. And, I can say that with confidence because there is already a high number of Idahoans who already do or can bicycle and/or walk especially when compared to other states. According to the 2008 American Community Survey – which is the latest data that is available, Idaho ranks 2nd when compared to other states for the number of commuters that cycle to work as their primary means of getting to work. Only Oregon has a higher share of commuters. Then, take into account that 40% of all trips are 2 miles or less starts to paint a picture that maybe walking or biking can be a viable option. I’m not suggesting we have a perfect environment for walking or biking, much still needs to be done but at least we are starting with something. And, it is getting safer all the time. Although vehicular crashes with bicyclists and pedestrians has increased in the past few years Idaho has also seen a significant rise - 128.2% in its share of commutes that bike to work meaning the rate of crashes is declining pretty dramatically. And if you want to compare us with other states – we look pretty good. Finally, the benefits are numerous. Not only does walking and biking improve ones health – reducing your risk of heart disease, breast cancer (woman who bike 30 minutes or more a day have a lower risk), and diabetes we also see benefits to our community and our environment. For our communities, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure raises property values, provides jobs, and saves you money. And of course, the more we use walking or biking 8 Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility is More than Facilities Engineering - designing, building, maintaining the facilities Encouragement - increasing cycling and walking Enforcement - developing and implementing appropriate laws Education - increasing the knowledge of rules, rights and responsibilities Evaluation/Planning - identifying where you want to be and how you are going to get there If you build they will come, but will they know how to use it correctly? Facilitates often get most of the attention when creating or improving bicycle pedestrian mobility. And yes, there are critical. And yes, there are a variety of issues to be considered when wanting to build these facilities - how should they be designed, where should they go, how are you going to pay for them. However, there are other elements or considerations that are just as important in creating a safe and friendly bicycle pedestrian environment. For those of us that deal with bicycle pedestrian mobility on a daily basis we call this comprehensive approach applying the 5 E’s. These E’s include Engineering, which is providing the infrastructure. Encouragement, which is encouraging riding and walking whether that is for recreational, health or transportation purposes. Obviously my role with Encouragement is trying affect commuting and/or other transportation trips. And I do want to point out that are definite synergies with working with the recreation side Enforcement is developing and implementing the appropriate laws and policies so that people are encouraged to use the facilities appropriately. Education also gets a lot of attention and deservedly so. This includes increasing the knowledge of rules, rights and responsibilities so that when you have that facility they know how to use it. The educational video I mentioned earlier would definitely fall within this category. And finally, we have evaluation and planning. I’m a planner by trade and am most comfortable in this category and what I try to promote at most when talking with local communities. I think it is critical to identify where you, where you want to be, and how you are going to get there. 9 Partnerships are Critical Federal policies on funding and standards ITD policies on accommodating bicyclists and pedestrians MPO oversight on systems planning, project identification and investment programming Local communities identifying needs and committing resources The third message behind walk, bike, idaho is that partnerships are critical. Without this we would have a very disjointed, dysfunctional bicycle and pedestrian environment. Really the message behind the message here is that each of these various partners affecting their part of the picture. If the federal government didn’t have policies that allowed most of their funding to be spent on bicycle pedestrian elements ITD may not be able to include sidewalks on every federal aid project in an urban area. And most importantly it takes commitment from our local communities in identifying the problems and resources to deal with those. The partnership I mentioned earlier with the Dept of Education is a great example. I have the knowledge and resources to produce the video, but the Dept of Ed had the right resources and standing to get it in the hands that mattered the most. Could I have sent to the driver’s ed instructors, sure. But it is much more likely they will play it since it is coming form the dept of ed. 10 Bicycle Route Suitability, Coverage Continuity Project Description Research project between ITD and the University of Idaho Will result in tool to assess corridors for bicycle travel and prioritize investments Anticipated completion is February 2012 The Bicycle Route Suitability Coverage and Continuity project is a research effort to first, determine an Idaho specific methodology for ITD and local decision makers to assess the suitability of individual corridors for bicycle travel and 2nd to create a GIS tool that will allow users to look a the entire network and identify gaps and missing connections. Ultimately the purpose of both of these is to help develop processes at the local level to prioritize investments. Get the most bang for your buck while truly understanding the bicycle environment. The scope includes literature review, an assessment of local GIS capability survey – which you guys participated in -, development of GIS tools, and we plan to test it all on three communities in Idaho. At this time we are finalizing suitability assessment tool and developing GIS tool to perform network analyses. 11 Bicycle Route Suitability, Coverage Continuity Local Community Survey Results Data is available, but it isn’t in GIS Facility project decisions based primarily on public input and development regulations High capacity for GIS in Idaho This survey was designed to identify how a community may determine that a bicycle facility is needed and to assess GIS capabilities. The results from the survey are molding the tools we develop based on what communities are able to do, data they already have or can collect. Results indicated that GIS analysis is rarely used today to decide where/when to provide bike/pedestrian facilities. Public input and development regulations dictate this. Surprisingly results indicate that there is a large capacity for GIS out in Idaho. A high a percentage of respondents – more than 40% indicate their staff had above average GIS skill sets. I say surprisingly when you consider that 39 percent of the respondents were from jurisdictions with less than 5,000 people. There is also a great deal of date, but it is either not in GIS or not being used for this purpose. 12 Useful Resources FHWA Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety (http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/local_rural/pedcampaign/) Alliance for Walking and Biking (http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/) Idaho Bicycle and Pedestrian Program (www.itd.idaho.gov/bike_ped) Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (http://www.pedbikeinfo.org/) National Association for City Transportation Officials (http://www.nacto.org/r esources_cfc.html) 13 Questions, Comments, Suggestions ? 14 Thank You Maureen Gresham | Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Phone- 208.334.8272 Email - maureen.gresham@itd.idaho.gov or bikeped@itd.idaho.gov Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/ITD-Bicycle-and-Pe destrian-Program/150769524965598 Twitter - http://twitter.com/ITDBikePed 15