The following information was copied from an e-mail I received as a subscriber on November 22, 2022 from WSDOT Active Transportation. Excerpts only are provided here for your rainy-day reading entertainment to keep this posting within the 50 KB limit. If you want to subscribe to Active Transportation e-news update from WSDOT to get the complete update information e-mailed to your e-mail inbox every time - subscribe here.
ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION NEWS FROM WSDOT AND PARTNERS
Connectivity -- Safety -- Opportunity -- Participation -- Partnership
Active Transportation Plan receives multiple awards
If you were one of the voters who responded to our many reminders, thank you — it worked! Washington state's Active Transportation Plan has been named the winner of the People's Choice Award in the national 2022 America's Transportation Awards. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, AAA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sponsor the annual contest. This represents the first time ever in the competition's 15-year history that an active transportation plan has won the honor.
The ATP became eligible for the finalist round when the Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials named it a regional winner in June, which moved it on to the national competition. As the People's Choice Awards voting was under way, the Washington state chapter of the American Planning Association also recognized it with an award for transportation planning at their annual conference.
Read more on the WSDOT blog
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
Each year advocates for safer streets hold vigils, walks, and other events around the globe on the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. As organizers say, we don’t want more victims to remember—we want to spend our lives together with those we love.
On Monday, Nov. 21, a coalition of bike and pedestrian safety advocates, elected officials, and family members held three press conferences organized by Washington Bikes highlighting the need for state and local action to address the growing public health crisis of deaths on our roadways. Events in Seattle, Everett, and Tacoma highlighted the losses and the actions that will contribute to safer roads for all. Steve Roark, Regional Administrator for the Olympic Region that includes the Tacoma area, and Barb Chamberlain, Active Transportation Division Director, spoke at the Tacoma event.
People walking, rolling, and cycling represent a disproportionate share of these deaths, well above their share of miles traveled statewide. As noted in the state Active Transportation Plan, these deaths are more frequent in neighborhoods with higher rates of poverty and with higher rates of people who are Black, Indigenous, or otherwise categorized as racialized under the US Census.
The Active Transportation Annual Safety Report in WSDOT’s Gray Notebook calls out additional statewide figures, all of them representing individual losses.
- Combined pedestrian and bicyclist traffic fatalities increased by 26.0% from 123 deaths in 2020 to 155* deaths in 2021.
- The 155 deaths represent a 154.1% increase in pedestrian and bicyclist fatal crashes compared to the 10-year low of 61 pedestrian and bicyclist fatal crashes that occurred in 2013.
- This number of deaths is the highest in Washington state since at least the early 1990s.
- Even though only 2.5% of all traffic crashes in 2021 involved people who walk or bike, they represented approximately 26.2% (155) of all fatal traffic crashes (592) for the year.
- Serious injuries to people walking and bicycling increased 28.2% from 397 in 2020 to 509 in 2021.
*WSDOT updates the figures when additional information comes in concerning a serious injury or fatality. 2021 data were considered preliminary at the time WSDOT published the June 2022 Gray Notebook.
State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan open for public comment
The Recreation and Conservation Office has released the draft State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan . RCO encourages the public to review the draft plan, supporting documents, and provide comments for improvement. The site provides an online survey where people can type or upload public comments through December 18, 2022.
TRAININGS, CONFERENCES, WEBINARS
We add new trainings as we find them so the list changes with every issue. Some of these offer continuing education credits. All times are shown in Pacific time zone.
All webinars listed are FREE unless a price is noted. All items are webinars unless a location is noted.We add new trainings as we find them so the list changes with every issue. Some of these offer continuing education credits. All times are shown in Pacific time zone.
All webinars listed are FREE unless a price is noted. All items are webinars unless a location is noted.
December
- Dec. 1, 9-10am: Grant Writing Training - Tribal Transportation Program Safety Fund. FHWA
- Dec. 1, 11am-12:30pm: Pedestrian and Bicycle Data and Performance Measures. Cost varies with membership
- Dec. 6, 9-10am: Zoning That Supports Physical Activity. Congress for the New Urbanism.
- Dec. 6, noon-1pm: Accessible Virtual Public Involvement: State and MPO Tools and Practices. FHWA.
- Dec. 6, 3-4pm: Racially Disparate Impacts Guidance Webinar. Washington State Dept. of Commerce on draft guidance for local governments to address new requirements for assessing racially disparate impacts, exclusion, displacement and displacement risk in housing planning.
- Dec. 7, 9am-12:30pm: Washington Transportation Professionals Forum and Peer Exchange. WSDOT.
- Dec. 7, noon-1pm: Biking, Walking & Trail Funding: Best Practices for 2023 Legislative Sessions and Beyond. Rails to Trails Conservancy
- Dec. 7, noon-1pm: Countersteer: Community Design and Mobility Safety. National Safety Council.
- Dec. 7, noon-1pm: U.S. Federal Policy Quarterly Update. APBP
- Dec. 8, 1-4pm: Short course on local planning. WA State Dept. of Commerce.
- Dec. 13 and Dec. 14, Spokane, WA: FHWA Data-Driven Analytics Workshop (Traffic Analysis Toolbox, Vol. III).
- Dec. 13, 9-10am: Author's Forum: Place and Prosperity. Congress for the New Urbanism.
- Dec. 14, noon-1pm: School Streets: Testing Car-free Zones Around Schools. APBP; cost varies with membership
- Dec. 15, 9-11am: Fall 2022 Northwest Planner's Forum. WA State Dept. of Commerce.
- Dec. 15, 10-11am: Individual Wayfinding in the Context of Visual Impairment, Blindness, and Deafblindness. Transportation Research and Education Center at Portland State University.
- Dec. 15, 10-11am: U.S. Bicycle Route System: Success Stories from Across the Network. American Trails.
- Dec. 20, 11am-noon: Pedestrian Safety and Darkness. VHB and Highway Safety Research Center.
AWARDS, COMPETITIONS, AND KUDOS
PLANNING AND PROJECTS
SURVEYS AND DATA COLLECTION
Barb Chamberlain
Director - Active Transportation Division
WA State Dept. of Transportation
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