Encouraging Active Transportation in Tucson By: Loran Shamis Mentor: Arlie Adkins, PhD. Sbe 498 Fall 2015 Table of Contents
Safety Case Study: Minneapolis, MN
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Safety Case Study: Minneapolis, MNMinneapolis also offers a few great examples of safety strategies. For one, Minneapolis partakes in road dieting, as well, whenever possible. Making alterations to a strictly auto centric road in order to provide infrastructure for all modes of transit has shown to be one of the more efficient strategies at calming traffic. Decreasing the area dedicated to just automobiles along with decreasing the posted speed limit has resulted in calmer streets and therefore, a more comfortable environment for pedestrian, bicyclists and motorists, alike. Minneapolis’ Steve Elkins, the Transportation Chair of the Minneapolis Council, recognizes that road dieting costs no more when implemented during the process of regular road repair projects (Walljasper, 2011). Therefore, coupling routine road repair projects along with road dieting is a feasible task that could add more active commuters to the road. Cities attempting to encourage active commuting strive to encourage walkers and cyclists of all demographics. Women and children cyclists and pedestrians are great indicators of a city’s level of safety. Thus, many cities try to appeal and encourage active commuting to women and children. One of the strategies that have contributed immensely to the rates of ridership among women cyclists is the implementation of separate bike lanes along arterial roads. The city adopted this strategy from Dutch planners who also saw a dramatic increase in women cyclists throughout the country. Since Minneapolis has implemented those separate bike lanes, the city has reported 37 percent of all riders to be women while the national rate of women riders remain to be about a quarter (Walljasper). Minneapolis is also encouraging of minority groups participating in active transportation. The Major Taylor Bicycle Club, which is named after an African American record-winning racer, supports and organizes rides and bike events that appeal to minority groups. Ensuring everyone in the community feels safe when riding or walking is a serious goal of Minneapolis. Safety Case Study: Austin, TXLike Portland, Austin is also striving to reduce deaths and injuries related to bicycling. Recording and benchmarking the perceptions of safety helps the city recognize where adjustments and improvements need to be made for all users of the roadways. The 2014 Austin Bicycle Master Plan stated that 15 percent of the cyclists in Austin will ride on painted, on-street bike lanes while 40 percent feel more comfortable riding within protected bike lanes (2014 Austin Bicycle Master Plan). Thus, the master plan recognizes that painted bike lanes are not as effective at protecting and encouraging cyclists, especially along high-volume and velocity roadways. With this information, the city participated in the Green Lane Project, which is a program executed by Bikes for People that helps to support U.S. cities install infrastructure, in the form of protected bike lanes, that makes every user feel comfortable and safe. During Austin’s two years of participation in the program, the number of buffered or protected bike lanes increased from 5 miles to 20 miles (2014 Austin Bicycle Master Plan). Austin utilizes many different buffer techniques that are inexpensive, easily installed and very effective. For instance, 4th Street is a protect bike lane just over half a mile and it is protected by commuter rail tracks, turtle bumps and furniture. The commuter rail tracks were already existent; thus, there was no need to install another type of buffer. Barton Springs Road is another example of an inexpensive yet effective buffering characteristic. The road now has 1-½ foot buffers with pylons within those buffers in order to create an actual physical barrier between the cyclists and the cars. The city is now experimenting with a new type of buffer- raised curbs (Figure 4, below). The raised curbs separate cyclists from motorized traffic and are accompanied by green painted lanes. Cities such as Chicago are looking at Austin as a successful example of implementing raised curbs as buffers. 
Figure 4: Raised Curbs in Austin, TX (from Buryinc.com) Austin recognizes that installing protected bicycle lanes is not always the most feasible strategy to already-in-place street infrastructure. Therefore, the city is continuously observing and assessing the safety of bicycle lanes and attempting to make them safer by widening or buffering lanes. The city also encourages use of its urban trails and quiet, local neighborhood streets for commuting throughout the city by bike. Directory: arizona -> bitstream -> 10150 10150 -> Amphitheater High School’s Outdoor Classroom: a study in the Application of Design 10150 -> Scientific and Scholarly Classifications are not “Naïve”: a comment to Begthol (2003) 10150 -> Scope and methodology issues arizona -> Date: February 11-12, 2017 Location: 7301 E. Brown Rd, Mesa, az 85207 School Director: Dr. Wendy Truvillion; 770-364-3643 or 602-764-6016 arizona -> 702 Reform Negative swsdi 2015 Solvency arizona -> From: Public Policy Polling® To: Interested Parties Subject Download 9.34 Mb. Share with your friends:
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