18 Awards Presented to Mayors for Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Projects
WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced 18 Mayors' Challenge Pedestrian and Bicycle Awards at the 2016 Safer People, Safer Streets Summit today in Washington, DC.
“Mayors from all across the country met the Challenge for Safer People and Safer Streets by engaging their communities to improve pedestrian and bike safety and show results,” said Secretary Foxx. “As a former mayor, I know local leadership matters to creating a safe, seamless transportation network, and with national road deaths increasing, leadership from cities like these is especially critical.”
New York City, Washington, DC, and South Bend, Indiana received top honors as winners of the Secretary’s Award for Overall Success. A full list of cities receiving awards is included below.
Secretary Foxx launched the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) “Mayors’ Challenge for Safer People and Safer Streets” in 2015 to encourage local governments across the country to pursue bicycle and pedestrian efforts that would benefit the health, safety, transportation, and quality of life of community members.
The mayors and cities winning awards have taken significant action to improve pedestrian and bicycle transportation safety in their communities. Award winners were selected by USDOT based on their efforts to improve walking and biking locally based on the seven Challenge Activities:
- Take a Complete Streets approach;
- Identify and address barriers to make streets safe and convenient for all road users, including people of all ages and abilities and those using assistive mobility devices;
- Gather and track biking and walking data;
- Use designs that are appropriate to the context of the street and its uses;
- Take advantage of opportunities to create and complete pededestrian-bike networks through maintenance;
- Improve walking and biking safety laws and regulations;
- Educate and enforce proper road use behavior by all.
The 2016 Summit and awards ceremony held on Friday at the Department of Transportation headquarters marked the culmination of the challenge and provided an opportunity for participating mayors to celebrate their success and share lessons learned.
Pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities have been on the rise in recent years and now represent nearly 17 percent of total roadway fatalities. Through efforts like the Mayors’ Challenge, the Department of Transportation has been working to counter this trend by promoting efforts at the federal, state, and local level to take action to increase safety for all users of our roadways.
The 2016 USDOT Mayors’ Challenge Award Winners are:
2016 Secretary’s Awards for Overall Success (in alphabetical order)
New York, NY
South Bend, IN
Washington, DC
2016 Mayors’ Challenge Award: Complete Streets
Large City Winner: Miami-Dade County, FL
Small City Winner: South Bend, IN
2016 Mayors’ Challenge Award: Fix Barriers
Winner: Myrtle Beach, SC
2016 Mayors’ Challenge Award: Gather Data
Large City Winner: Los Angeles, CA
Small City Winner: Bellevue, WA
2016 Mayors’ Challenge Award: Design Right
Large City Winner: New York, NY
Small City Winner: Henderson, NV
2016 Mayors’ Challenge Award: Create Networks
Large City Winner: Lexington, KY
Small City Winner: Norwalk, CT
2016 Mayors’ Challenge Award: Improve Laws
Large City Winner: Washington, DC
2016 Mayors’ Challenge Award: Educate & Enforce
Large City Winner: Louisville, KY
Small City Winner: Oro Valley, AZ
2016 Mayors’ Challenge Ladders of Opportunity Award
Large City Winner: Austin, TX
Small City Winner: Brownsville, TX
2016 Mayors’ Challenge Engagement Award
Winner: Myrtle Beach, SC
Fact sheets about each award winner and more information about the Mayors’ Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets are available at www.transportation.gov/mayors-challenge.
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