Author: editor

A number of state departments of transportation are pushing ahead with projects that support “active transportation” activity; a catch-all term that refers to infrastructure development that supports pedestrian, bicycling, and other “active” forms of mobility.

[Above photo by the Utah DOT]

The Utah Department of Transportation recently completed a $415 million I-15 Technology Corridor project that not only expanded highway capacity to support “explosive” population and business growth along the border of Salt Lake and Utah Counties but improved existing multi-use trail systems, bike lanes, and transit capacity as well.

Utah DOT said the incorporation of infrastructure “elements” supporting pedestrian and bicycling activity proved key to the overall success of the I-15 Technology Corridor project.

Prior to construction, active transportation in the area had been poor with at-grade sidewalk crossings and minimal connectivity to existing trails, the agency said. Through analysis and collaboration with multiple agencies, Utah DOT created an active transportation network with shared-use paths parallel to the frontage roads and other streets via the construction of pedestrian bridges and under-crossings.

“The Tech Corridor project was much more than just a transportation project for motor vehicles. Along with it, we now have a great looped bike and pedestrian path on each side of the freeway,” explained Kim Struthers, community development director for Lehi City, in a statement.

“This will allow easier commuting to our employment center by alternate modes of transportation. It will also serve recreational users, and allows bikers, walkers, and joggers to tie into the extensive surrounding network of trails including the Murdock Canal Trail, Jordan River Parkway Trail, and the Southern Rail Trail,” she explained. “A key component to the looped trail system is the grade-separated crossings at the I-15 at the S.R. 92 interchange, Triumph Blvd. and State Street that allow people to get across the freeway and major arterial roads in a much safer and comfortable way.” 

Meanwhile, the Oregon Department of Transportation is supporting an effort by the Portland Bureau of Transportation to install the next phase of the $13.7 million Congressman Earl Blumenauer Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge. During the weekend of October 8, that 450,000-pound and 400-foot-long bridge – spanning I-84 – crews will lift and roll the structure into place.

Following the initial bridge placement, crews will connect the bridge to the north landing as part of the final phase of construction. When complete, the Blumenauer Bridge will connect pedestrians and people biking on NE 7th Avenue between two of Portland’s fastest-growing neighborhoods –Lloyd and the Central Eastside – and beyond. In the future, it will also serve as an important link for Portland’s Green Loop, Oregon DOT said in a statement.

When it opens in summer 2022, the agency said the bridge would also be “seismically resilient” and serve as a backup route for emergency vehicles over I-84 in the event of an earthquake. In addition to the bridge, the project includes two new public plazas and landings on the north and south sides of the bridge.

ODOT supports this effort with the city of Portland as they work to maintain a safe and modern transportation system, part of ODOT’s Strategic Action Plan.

Finally, the Washington State Department of Transportation recently invited the public to comment on the next phase of the state’s active transportation plan. WSDOT – which published part one of its active transportation plan in May – said the deadline for comments on part two of the plan is October 29.

Part one of the plan provided an assessment of the needs for accessible pedestrian and bicyclist facilities, highlighted safety concerns, and detailed the first-ever examination of state right-of-way and its suitability for active transportation. The agency said part two provides an overview of the performance metrics strategy needed to support implementation of the recommendations identified in part one of the plan.

The new phase of the plan comes during a time when motor vehicle crashes resulting in the deaths of people walking or bicycling are occurring at a higher rate in Washington State than the averages for 2010 through 2019. Those fatal crashes made up 22 percent of all traffic deaths in the state in 2020. Early in the pandemic walking and bicycling soared, and WSDOT’s multimodal transportation dashboard continues to show higher use of active transportation than in 2019.

“We analyzed state highway routes in our needs assessment because they now serve as local streets as population centers have expanded. In the past we haven’t had the data to describe the critical characteristics of these highway segments,” noted Barb Chamberlain, director of WSDOT’s Active Transportation Division, in a statement. “We’re now laying out the strategies needed to address the effects of having that mix of uses interacting,” she noted. “We’re especially focused on safety because decreasing the chance of a serious or fatal crash benefits everyone using the system, not just those who are walking or rolling and are more exposed to the consequences.”

In late August, the New York State Department of Transportation completed work on two projects that enhance safety for pedestrians along the 90-mile corridor of State Route 25 and portions of three other roads in Nassau and Suffolk counties. 

[Above photo by NYSDOT]

Those two projects – costing $11.3 million and completed on time and under budget, NYSDOT stressed – added more than 250 new curb ramps, more than 1,800 feet of new or upgraded sidewalks, and dozens of new traffic signals and signs that will improve travel conditions for both pedestrians and motorists on some of Long Island’s busiest roadways.

“If we are serious about securing a greener future for all New Yorkers, making our streets safer and more walkable needs to be at the top of our agenda,” noted Governor Kathy Hochul (D) in a statement. “More and more people are taking to the roads again as our state continues coming back from the pandemic, and we must continue working to improve accessibility and make our streets and highways more accommodating to all modes of transportation.”

“Safety is [our] number one priority,” added Marie Therese Dominguez, NYSDOT commissioner. “Unfortunately, too often motorists are traveling at unsafe speeds or they are distracted, resulting in devastating motorist-pedestrian crashes. In addition to promoting safe driving and enforcement, these projects exemplify New York State DOT’s efforts to build safer corridors in communities across New York. A 21st Century transportation network demands that we go beyond just motor vehicles and accommodate all modes of transit so that communities continue to prosper and grow.”

The first of those projects – an $8.6 million initiative along State Route 25 that added approximately 300 new pedestrian safety enhancement measures, both large and small, along the entire stretch of the road from the New York City border to Orient Point – cost roughly $1 million less than the initial estimated costs. 

A second $2.7 million project – running some $600,000 less than expected – built 123 new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant curb ramps on State Route 24 in the Town of Hempstead, State Route 25A (Main Street) in the Town of Huntington, and State Route 27 in the Town of Southampton.  That also included the construction of nearly 800 feet of new sidewalks along with the modernization of over a dozen pedestrian crossing signals and the addition of new pedestrian crossing signs.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Office of Highway Safety has launched a new campaign to raise awareness about a new statewide pedestrian safety law that goes into effect on October 1.

[Above photo Of Asylum Street in Hartford, CT, via Wikimedia Commons]

Dubbed the Pedestrian Rules campaign, it seeks to educate residents about how that new pedestrian safety law expands the circumstances under which motorists must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians at marked and unmarked crosswalks not controlled by traffic signals or police officers.  

Currently, a driver must yield to a pedestrian, slowing or stopping as necessary, if the pedestrian has stepped off the curb or into the crosswalk. Under the new law, a driver must slow or stop as necessary if the pedestrian:

• Is within any portion of the crosswalk.
• Steps to the curb at a crosswalk’s entrance and indicates intent to cross by raising a hand or arm to oncoming traffic
• Indicates intent to cross by moving any body part or extension of a body part into the crosswalk entrance, including a wheelchair, cane, walking stick, crutch, bicycle, electric bicycle, stroller, carriage, cart, or leashed or harnessed dog.

As under existing law, motorists who fail to yield at a crosswalk when required are subject to a $500 fine, the Connecticut DOT said.

Meanwhile, the act of “dooring” will also become illegal in Connecticut on October 1. That new law prohibits a person from causing physical contact between a vehicle door and moving traffic by (1) opening the door, if the moving traffic is traveling at a reasonable speed with due regard for the safety of people and property, or (2) leaving it open longer than needed to load or unload passengers.

“Across the country, we are seeing increased pedestrian fatalities and injuries,” said Joseph Giulietti, commissioner of the Connecticut DOT, in a statement.

“Nationally, we saw an unprecedented 55 percent increase in pedestrian deaths between 2009 and 2018,” he added. “And although we are seeing a small recent decrease, pedestrian fatalities recorded in 2018 and 2019 have not been this high since 1990.”

According to preliminary estimates released in June by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, pedestrian fatalities in 2020 totaled 6,205 – the same as 2019, the agency noted. Yet agency data indicates that the 2019 number is 44 percent higher compared to pedestrian fatalities recorded in 2010.

“This new pedestrian safety law is an important step to keep everyone safe, and ultimately save lives,” added Giulietti.

Concurrently, various states across the country are achieving significant reductions in pedestrian fatalities.

For example, while a report issued by the Governors Highway Safety Association in March showed pedestrian fatalities trended up in the first half of 2020, the report also noted how several state-directed efforts are successfully improving pedestrian safety.

That report found that pedestrian fatalities during the first half of 2020 declined in 20 states and Washington D.C. compared with the same period in 2019. Meanwhile, nine states – Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina – witnessed double-digit percentage and numeric declines in pedestrian fatalities in the first six months of 2020 compared to the same six-month period in 2019.

Based on analysis of 2017-2020 data, Arizona has experienced two consecutive years of declining pedestrian fatalities, while Delaware and Kentucky have experienced three consecutive years of declining pedestrian deaths.

GHSA’s report noted that most pedestrian fatalities occur on local roads, in the dark, and away from intersections – suggesting the need for safer road crossings and increased efforts to make pedestrians more visible through improved lighting and other countermeasures.