Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program
Program Information
- Pilot Websites
- Pilot Program Activity Highlights
Established in SAFETEA-LU Section 1807, the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program (NTPP) provided over $25 million each to four communities (Columbia, MO; Marin County, CA; Minneapolis Area, MN; Sheboygan County, WI) to demonstrate how walking and bicycling infrastructure and programs can increase rates of walking and bicycling. To respond to evaluation requirements in the legislation, FHWA created an interdisciplinary Working Group to develop a coordinated, robust, and sustained evaluation program over the course of seven years. More information about the NTPP can be found in these reports:
NTPP helped advance nonmotorized transportation evaluation tools, methods, and reporting techniques, particularly at the community-level. The 2014 Continued Progress Report contains information that may be helpful to other communities as they work to improve their pedestrian and bicycle transportation networks. Key approaches include:
- Community-wide count methodology and mode shift model which supports estimates of:
- Environment benefits from reduced greenhouse gas emissions and criteria air pollution
- Safety benefits based on exposure estimates, helping assess national and State-level data fatality and injury data in the context of overall trip making
- Public health benefits, using the World Health Organization's Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) model to estimate economic benefits of improved health outcomes.
- Access and mobility evaluation techniques that utilize Geographic Information Systems and U.S. Census data
- Project-level evaluation methods using count data, surveys, safety data, and modeling
Other NTPP Resources:
- Economic Benefits of Nonmotorized Transportation: Case Studies and Methods for the NTPP Communities
- Estimating the Impacts of the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program: Developing a New Community-Wide Assessment Method. 2013 Transportation Research Board Paper
- 2012 Progress Update, September 2012
- Fiscal Year 2011 Update, May 2011
- Midterm Update, April 2009
- University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies: NTPP Pilot Program Evaluation Studies, June 2007 and May 2011
- Rails-to-Trails Conservancy - Smart Mobility website
- Archived Material: Bicycle and Pedestrian Counts (Columbia, Minneapolis, Marin County, Sheboygan County), Investments and Project Types, Connections to Transit, Innovative Projects, Bicycle Boulevards, Glossary of Terms.
