Active Transportation

The California Department of Transportation plan to invest an extra $100 million into active transportation projects aims to build more non-motorized links between neighboring communities that, for years, have been connected mainly by freeway exit ramps.

[Above photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.]

Some of the funds will be used for stand-alone active transportation projects, while some will go toward introducing walking and biking infrastructure into existing highway projects. Caltrans noted it already has identified 22 projects that now will have additional walking and biking improvements.

The plans “represents a critical step in our effort to build and enhance a transportation system for all users and make our communities more livable and vibrant places,” explained Toks Omishakin, director of Caltrans, in a statement.

Dave Snyder, executive director of the California Bike Coalition (CBC), added that the story behind this “active transportation” investment effort by Caltrans is just as significant as the $100 million the agency is offering to facilitate more walking and biking activity.

Caltrans “already had their set of projects for the next two years approved, and they were ready to go with their package,” Snyder noted. “Then this new director comes in and says, ‘I think we can do better for bicycling and walking.’”

Chris Clark, Caltrans media relations manager, said Snyder’s account is “100 percent accurate. In truth, Toks wanted more than $100 million.”

Omishakin, who was appointed director of Caltrans in September 2019 and is widely recognized as an active transportation advocate, told his staff to “value engineer” $4.2 billion of transportation projects in order to get an extra $100 million for bicycling and walking.

“That’s a very significant step,” CBC’s Snyder said.

The exact project identification process will take place at the local level, with each of California’s 12 districts holding public engagement sessions to help develop the District Active Transportation Plans and guide which projects will be constructed.

“They have made a strong statement, and I am impressed,” Snyder added. “What I can’t say yet is that they’re significantly changing the culture in the mid-levels of the agency, where important decisions get made. They have to be willing to prioritize the convenience of walking and biking over the convenience of highways.”

Caltrans’ Clark said he understands Snyder’s reticence, but he stressed that Omishakin has made it very clear “that active transportation is a top priority for the department.”

Other state departments of transportation are also increasing their support for more bicycle and pedestrian options in a number of ways.

The North Dakota Department of Transportation, for one, issued more than $2 million worth of Transportation Alternatives or TA grants to help fund a variety of urban and rural active transportation improvement projects across the state in July.

And in July 2019, the Ohio Department of Transportation noted that ongoing trends in safety, demographics, and demand spurred it to develop its first-ever policy plan for walking and biking – a plan the agency hopes to craft with public input gleaned from a series of stakeholder meetings and online surveys.

A report issued by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in October 2019 highlighted that there is an overall monetary benefit from investing in projects that shifting short trips from driving to walking and biking via connected active-transportation infrastructure. The organization argued that funding such a “shift” could help generate a return on investment of $73 billion to $138 billion per year in the United States – if such active transportation infrastructure is connected to public transit systems.

However, the organization emphasized in a statement that shifting short car trips in both urban and rural areas to non-motorized ones “will take policy, behavior, and perception change, which can only occur if connected networks of safe and protected walking and bicycling facilities are built all across the nation.”

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Council on Active Transportation will host a free 90-minute long virtual peer exchange spotlighting state department of transportation efforts to support bicycling and pedestrian mobility needs.

[Above photo courtesy of Caltrans.]

To be held August 12 from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm EDT, the webinar’s state DOT speakers present for 12 to 15 minutes on a range of active transportation topics – including speed management, decision-making collaboration, decision-making, data collection, and safety – then participate in a question and answer session with attendees.

To register for this free webinar, click here.

Toks Omishakin – executive director of the California Department of Transportation and chair of AASHTO’s Council on Active Transportation – will provide opening remarks for this webinar. His agency recently adopted an updated bicycle and pedestrian action plan that aims to reduce dependence on driving, promote safety, and reconnect communities that have been divided by freeways and high-speed roads. Caltrans said it developed that updated action plan in consultation with the California Walk/Bike Technical Advisory Committee with the goal of increasing bicycling, walking and transit trips.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) recently issued a grant solicitation for new infrastructure projects to improve statewide access and safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.

The agency noted that in 2019, it awarded a total of $3.6 million for construction and planning projects throughout Vermont via its Bicycle and Pedestrian grant program.

“These projects make it possible for more people to walk and bike safely in Vermont communities,” noted Joe Flynn, Vermont’s transportation secretary, in a statement.

“Municipalities across Vermont understand that providing good facilities for walking and bicycling are key factors for livability that can stimulate economic development in our downtowns and improve public health,” he said. “In light of the current pandemic, providing safe ways for Vermonters to walk and bike is especially important. Supporting our downtowns is critical in helping jumpstart our economy.”

Flynn added that the goals for this VTrans grant program are to improve transportation options for commuters, visitors to the state, and recreational use. The agency also noted that Vermont ranks fourth in the nation for the percentage of commuters who bike or walk to work and fourth in per capita spending on bicycle/pedestrian projects, according to the 2018 benchmarking report on bicycling and walking in the United States issued by the League of American Bicyclists.

As the novel coronavirus shuts down most personal interactions across the country, state departments of transportation are witnessing a transportation shift – rush hour is gone, passenger vehicles are gathering dust, and people are walking and biking.

States from Colorado and Indiana to Maine are reporting highway traffic decreases of 40 percent to 50 percent. Walking and biking increases are harder to quantify, but the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy reported that active transportation trail usage was up nearly 200 percent for the week ending March 22 compared to the same time period in 2019.

Even after life gets back to “normal” and highway traffic resumes, active transportation likely will play a larger part in many state DOTs.

“It may inspire us all to think outside the box about transportation policy, planning and investments,” noted Matt Bruning, press secretary for the Ohio Department of Transportation.

It didn’t take a global pandemic for officials in Ohio to recognize that walking and biking aren’t just recreational activities. An Ohio DOT survey released in January showed 78 percent of respondents are interested in or already use a bike to commute or to run errands, while 79 percent said they are interested in or already are walking to school, work and other destinations.

The survey is part of Walk.Bike.Ohio; an in-progress plan to develop statewide active transportation policies. The plan, scheduled to be completed by year’s end, “will drive our priorities, our decisions and our investments,” Bruning said.

While Ohio is now building a walking and biking policy framework, the California Department of Transportation’s Active Transportation Program or ATP has been in place since 2013. Since then, Caltrans has funded more than 800 urban and rural biking and walking projects. In fact, in the upcoming biennial budget cycle, about $440 million has been allocated to the ATP.

While not all state DOTs have California’s fiscal muscle, starting an active transportation program isn’t necessarily about the money, according to Laura Crawford, who coordinates biking projects for DOTs at the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA).

“The big barriers we see to states’ developing a program are usually the political climate and staff resources,” Crawford said. “If this is something a DOT is interested in doing, but they don’t have the staff resources, ACA can fill that role by managing volunteers.”

Crawford’s focus is on the U.S. Bicycle Route System, a series of national corridors for bicycles. She works with AASHTO’s Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering, which provides consistency in route numbering similar to the interstate system. So far, more than 14,000 miles of routes have been established and signed in 27 states and Washington, D.C. The system’s growth is driven by state DOTs, each of which uses its own criteria to designate safe bicycle routes, Crawford said.

Kevin Mills, Rails-to-Trails’ vice president of policy, noted that the old attitudes of, “Well, we’ll build something for [active transportation] when we’ve got time to do it,” have changed.

“Really, that transformation is already underway and we’re seeing more state DOTs elevating active transportation as a real option,” Mills said. “When you think of the classic objectives DOTs have to meet the mobility needs of its citizens, this is a real bargain.”