Washington State is #1 for Biking

Rick Proctor

 

When we go out for a bike ride it is easy to see where infrastructure improvements are needed.  In Washington state, we have lots of great route sections to ride bikes.  We also have too many route sections in need of improvement.  We should be happy for the great sections and glad there is a plan to do something about those other sections.

The fall 2021 issue of American Bicyclist magazine, published by the League of American Bicyclists, has a 4-page article by Ken McLeod titled “How Washington State Plans to Stay #1 for Biking”.  We’re number one!  According to McLeod “Since the League of American Bicyclists began its Bicycle Friendly State ranking in 2008, there has only been one state to earn the number one ranking: Washington State.”  Oregon is #2 and Minnesota is #3.  There are five Bicycle Friendly Actions for which a state is judged for bicycle friendliness, and a state-wide plan to improve bicycling conditions is where Washington State outshines all the others.

Key elements of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Active Transportation Plan include:

• A Safe Systems Approach – design to reduce the likelihood of high-speed crashes.
• Hierarchy of Controls – five distinct layers of methods to maximize safety in transportation systems from the most to least effective.  It is interesting to see personal protective equipment, like helmets, in the least effective category.
•  Positive Feedback Loop – a cyclic process to help improve conditions for everyone over time.

At the time of this writing, an electronic version of this issue of American Bicyclist was not available but is expected eventually at https://www.bikeleague.org/americanbicyclist.

The Washington Bike, Walk, Roll Summit 2021 was held virtually again this year from September 27 – October 1.  This event was sponsored by Amazon and WSDOT and hosted by Cascade Bicycle Club and Washington Bikes.  15 of the sessions were recorded. (available here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4xzquBfdsxS9PP-I7OaMDVImgnQy_SFj). 

A couple of the sessions focused on infrastructure:

• ·         Session 6 “Transportation Master Plans Around the State: Building Bike, Walk, and Transit Friendly Cities” (1 hour video). Speakers from Olympia, Bellingham and Spokane presented progress summaries for their cities.
• ·         Session 15 “Progress Towards the Safe System” (1 hour video).  Barb Chamberlain, WSDOT Director of Active Transportation Division, introduced the speaker John Milton, WSDOT Director of Transportation Safety and Systems Analysis and State Safety Engineer.  John presented background and development of the Safe Systems approach for transportation systems design from The Netherlands and Sweden, which was eventually adopted by Australia and New Zealand, and is what WSDOT is moving to now.  Numerous graphics were presented with data to help us understand the concepts.  Note: Much of this video echoes and reinforces what was presented in the American Bicyclist article above.

It is good to know WSDOT has a design philosophy for our active transportation network that will improve bicycling in Washington State.  It would be great to get our counties and cities on board too.  Of course, these grand plans all need adequate funding to bring the dreams to reality, and that’s a whole other story.