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Pedestrian
& Bicycle Information Center finds home at HSRC:
New center to provide resources for people to create
more walkable and bikable communities
story contents: introduction | sharing
on the web | visionaries & technical
experts | creating better places to live
Introduction
"We
can no longer cross the street. Where do I start to change things?"
"What are the criteria for choosing between bicycle lanes and wide
curb lanes?"
"Are there pedestrian and bicycle safety programs available for
children?"
"In places where it snows, has anyone tried in-pavement crosswalk
lights that flash?" |
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Finding answers
to general and technical questions like these just got easier thanks
to the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, a new center based
at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center (HSRC). Funded by a five-year
grant awarded to HSRC this year by the Federal Highway Administration,
the information center's goal is to provide communities with the resources
they need to create safe places for walking and bicycling.
"We're going to create an information system with the goal of making
the knowledge on walking and bicycling that's out there available to
everyone. As part of the process of developing the system we'll be identifying
materials and tools that are needed and then developing them," Project
Outreach Coordinator Lauren Marchetti explained. "We're going to teach
courses to provide professionals the latest information and resources
in these areas. We're going to market the importance of making communities
open for walking and bicycling. And we're going to look for additional
funding to create a partnership in this effort so that this information
center can be sustained beyond federal government monies." Why all the
fuss over walkers and bicyclists?
"We've got a transportation system that in the past has really emphasized
the use of the private motor vehicle, but we have a public who's starting
to demand something different," said John Fegan, the FHWA's Bicycle/Pedestrian/Trails
Team Leader.
"Bicycling and walking are legitimate modes of transportation and we
have a responsibility to get information to people with regard to providing
facilities and programs for the safety and use of those modes of transportation,"
he said. "I've been told that in states such as Pennsylvania and Florida,
up to a third of the population does not have access to a private motor
vehicle."
Improving walking and bicycling conditions in communities does more
than encourage other modes of transportation, Project Manager Charlie
Zegeer pointed out.
"People are realizing that providing facilities for bicycling and walking
enhances property values, lowers crime rates, reduces the number of
motor vehicles on the road, and helps promote healthier lifestyles,"
he said. "For some time I think there has been increasing public demand
for safe walking and bicycling conditions in communities."
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Sharing on the Web
The pulse of the project is the information center's new web site found
at www.walkinginfo.org and www.bicyclinginfo.org . Launched this fall,
the interactive site is to be continually updated and dynamically tailored
to answer the questions of those who use it.
"It's a place where everybody from engineers and health professionals
to high school students writing papers can go for information on walking
and bicycling," Zegeer said.
Woven with animations and illustrations, the site contains a wealth
of information including data on the design and engineering of pedestrian
and bicycle facilities, information on how to promote bicycling and
walking, a section on "problems and solutions" to help communities working
toward change, a publications section with HTML versions of reports
that can be downloaded, and links to other useful sites.
"The same information may be available in lots of different ways to
different audiences, but the goal is to have a body of information there
that's so comprehensive that it will have all the facets necessary for
a community to work together to create a more walkable and bikable community,"
Zegeer said.
In monitoring the site, the center's web managers are working to identify
what communities care about and what they need to learn, Technical Coordinator
David Harkey said. Site managers are regularly looking at the questions
people e-mail in to see whether the site addresses the concerns of its
users.
"If one community is interested in something that we've not included
in the web site, chances are there'll be other communities that are
interested," Harkey said. "It's a good way to keep a pulse on what communities
are dealing with, what they care about, and what information we need
to make available."
One of the challenges in creating the site has been making it useful
to a broad audience — everyone from members of the general public to
engineers and planners.
"If someone comes to the site with a general question like ‘How can
I slow traffic in my neighborhood?', we want to be able to quickly lead
them to an answer. Similarly, if someone is looking for the answer to
a more technical question, we want to be able to help them too," Webmaster
Christian Valiulis said.
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Visionaries & technical
experts
Early next year, the information center will begin operating a 1-800
number to offer technical assistance to engineers, city planners and
other professionals in the design field.
One of the keys to the success of the project will rely in providing
"good responsive service to the people who call in," said Fegan, of
FHWA, the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative for the project.
"Long-term, we hope the information center will become recognized within
the bicycle/pedestrian technical community as the place to go when you
need technical information."
Technical assistants and web site managers will be working to connect
the people who e-mail or call the information center with "people in
other communities who have faced similar opportunities or problems and
who can give them an idea of what some real-life practical solutions
or pitfalls to their situation might be," said Andy Clarke of the Association
of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals who will be coordinating this
activity.
HSRC staff, consultants and subcontractors with expertise in safety,
access and health as it relates to walking and bicycling are the backbone
of the new information center. They include state pedestrian and bicycle
coordinators, traffic calming experts, trail designers, community advocates,
law enforcement, government leaders and exercise advocates.
"The array includes people who are visionaries and dreamers and also
people who can build the ideas," Marchetti said. "It's fine to have
someone envision great communities but if you don't have the engineers
and planners on board telling you how it can be done, then you've only
given half the message."
Providing input to the new center will be the FHWA, the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the
Federal Railroad Administration, the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle
Professionals, and a national review group made up of organizations
such as the Safe Kids Coalition, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Walking Magazine, Bicycling Magazine, and various local
and state-level groups.
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Creating better places
to live
"As the project evolves, one of the things that we will do is figure
out what training courses are needed and then where they should be presented,"
Harkey said. "An example would be a course on pedestrian facilities
design to give practitioners information on how certain types of pedestrian
facilities can be engineered and planned."
Other subjects might include traffic calming measures, urban sprawl
and development, and pedestrian facility design in relation to the Americans
with Disabilities Act.
The project will also be promoting already existing pedestrian and bicycle
courses such as the "livable communities" course developed and taught
by Project Consultant Dan Burden of Walkable Communities, Inc., in High
Springs, Fla.
"The courses, the web site, the 1-800 number, and the technical assistance
people, ideally will enhance movement on all levels," Marchetti said.
"The general public will be able to go to the web site and get information
that will help them know what they want to ask for. If people are upset
because the traffic's too fast on their street or they can't bicycle
in their neighborhood, ideally, they will come away with the information
they're seeking. Likewise, if a community gets a lot of requests from
citizens regarding walking and bicycling conditions, traffic engineers,
city planners and members of the city council in that community will
be able to go to the web site or contact the Center and get a better
idea of what they should be offering.
"I think there has been a lot of movement across the country to care
more about walking and bicycling and to understand that communities
that are open to walking and bicycling are better places to live, even
for people who never get out of their cars," she added. "The goal of
the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center is to encourage that movement
to flourish."
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