Is your community walkable? Can the people in your neighborhood safely get from their homes to the central business district without a car if they choose to? Can your children walk (and/or bike) safely to school? Does your community have the basic recreational facilities needed to offer healthy lifestyle alternatives for adults and children alike?

Many communities around the state are grappling with these issues and finding cost-effective ways to enhance their local multi-modal transportation for all of their citizens — including those who choose to walk or bike for short errands or for sheer exercise. The key word here is multimodal, which refers to the availability of multiple transportation options, especially within a system or corridor. A multimodal system offers safe transportation facilities for pedestrians and bikers as well as cars, trucks and mass transit.

Pedestrian facilities such as sidewalks, and shared-use facilities such as bike-ped. pathways, are an absolutely vital amenity in any community. In this connection, we were gratified to see our local newspaper devote space to the topic as a leading Op-Ed piece last night. Among other things, the Canandaigua Daily Messenger noted,

In many cases, some local government officials are stuck in a car mindset and too often encourage their use, even when it’s not necessary. Ideas that encourage walking and bicycling ought to be considered more often here, particularly as problems associated with obesity mount.
Children and their parents are heavier than they used to be, and the diseases that result — and their effect on the health care system — rank near the top of public health issues today.
Communities where it’s easier for folks to walk rather than hop in the car are not only greener, but healthier.

The good news is that there is no shortage of guidance available for local leaders who are ready to take the initiative to develop a more pedestrian-friendly, bicycle-friendly community. One recent publication from SUNY Albany’s “Initiative for Healthy Infrastructure” is pictured here — just click on the image to download.The SUNY/Albany IHI guidebook will be of immense value to Town and Village boards, as it provides well thought out model language for many of the policies and ordinances that must be adopted in order to foster more walkable, bikeable communities. What it comes down to is that provisions designed to encourage bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure need to be written into each of the three main cornerstones of local government policy: (1) the Comprehensive Plan, (2) Subdivision Regulations, and (3) Zoning Laws and Site Plan Review. Policy, once properly drafted and adopted, will be the key vehicle for change.

Sound policy-making helps set the stage, but then your community needs to plan for specific facilities, and get outside funding if possible in order to make the planned facilities more affordable to local residents.

Planning for bicycle-pedestrian facilities generally calls for a collective effort aimed at community visioning. There are many great resources on the Web to help you approach the visioning process, and in many cases it will be beneficial to have an experienced outside facilitator come in and lead you through a community visioning workshop or two. The outside facilitator can bring fresh insights and ideas to the table that will help stimulate thinking about alternative approaches to pedestrian/bicycle facility development. Here’s how one community I was recently involved with did it — and the ped/bike facility they settled on is now fully funded and approaching completion of final design.

In a future post we will take a look at some of the funding options that are available to help develop pedestrian and bicycle facilities. In the meantime, here are a few links that we have found extremely useful in the planning phase for pedestrian/bicycle facilities development:

Pedestrian & Bicycle Information Center: The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) is a national clearinghouse for information about health and safety, engineering, advocacy, education, enforcement, access, and mobility for pedestrians (including transit users) and bicyclists. The PBIC serves anyone interested in pedestrian and bicycle issues, including planners, engineers, private citizens, advocates, educators, police enforcement, and the health community.

Benefit-Cost Analysis of Bicycle Facilities: How much do bicycle facilities cost? Can we quantify their benefits? In what cases do estimates of benefits outweigh costs? If your community is considering building a new bicycle facility, you can use this tool to estimate costs, the demand in terms of new cyclists, and measured economic benefits (e.g., time savings, increased livability, decreased health costs, a more enjoyable ride).

The Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center — Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety: Sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), The Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Research Web site provides information on issues and research related to improving pedestrian and bicyclist (pedalcyclist) safety. The purpose of this Web site is to foster public awareness of pedestrian and bicycle safety matters, and to provide resources for use at the national, State and local levels.

1 Comment

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  By Travis, August 7, 2008 @ 10:47 pm

  Chris -
  Thank so much for your message. It looks like Upstate NY is booming around walkable, bikeable, and livable communities. What great work you and others are doing in Upstate NY and all over the state!

  It’s great to see comments and thoughts connecting public health and the built environment make it to local community newspapers.

  With regards to the bike/ped path you referred to, is it built yet? Any measure of use?

  I’ll make sure to check back with you periodically. -Travis

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