Secretary Foxx at the 2014 Pro Walk, Pro Bike, Pro Place Conference
Mayors' Challenge Award Winners Announced!
Background
Interested cities can still join the more than 200 Challenge cities committed to improving walking and biking by emailing pedbikesafety@dot.gov.
The 2016 Safer People, Safer Streets Summit was held on September 16, 2016 at USDOT headquarters in Washington, DC. See Secretary Foxx's blog post here recapping this event!
Mayors' 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 ped-bike networks through maintenance
- Improve walking and biking safety laws and regulations
- Educate and enforce proper road use behavior by all
Take a Complete Streets approach
Complete streets make it safe and convenient for people of all ages and abilities to reach their destination whether by car, train, bike, or foot. A Complete Streets approach starts with a policy commitment to prioritize and integrate all road users into every transportation project.
Read more about 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
The ability for older adults, young children, and people with disabilities to travel safely is critical to freedom of mobility and quality of life. People may have challenges with eyesight, reaction times, cognitive ability and muscle dexterity that make travel difficult.
Read more about Identify and address barriers
Gather and track biking and walking data
The lack of systematic data collection related to walking and bicycling transportation, such as count data, travel survey data, and injury data, creates challenges for improving non-motorized transportation networks and safety. Communities that routinely collect walking and biking data are better positioned to track trends and prioritize investments.
Read more about data collection
Use designs appropriate to the context of the street and its uses
Transportation agencies are encouraged, when possible, to go beyond designing walking and bicycling facilities to the minimum standards. It is more effective to plan for increased usage than to retrofit an older facility. Planning projects for the long-term should anticipate likely future demand for bicycling and walking facilities and not preclude the provision of future improvements.
Read more about appropriate street design
Take advantage of opportunities to create and complete ped-bike networks through maintenance
Expanding and improving existing roads and facilities to build biking and walking networks as part of regular and routine resurfacing and other maintenance programs can be a low cost alternative to building new roads or widening existing roads.
Read more about create networks
Improve walking and biking safety laws and regulations
Traffic laws such as reduced speed, failure to yield, passing, and helmet laws can be effective in improving safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and others.
Read more about walking and biking safety laws and regulations
Educate and enforce proper road use behaviors by all
Highly-visible and well publicized targeted enforcement tied with educational campaigns has shown to be effective in reducing crashes.