BY CHARLES Martin, Strong Towns
…
DEIGNING ROADS
Engineers are well-suited to constructing roads….
BUILDING STREETS
Engineers are not good at building streets nor, I would argue, can the typical engineer readily become good at it….
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/5/22/engineers-should-not-design-streets
Assistance in educating engineers on the flexibility in the Green Book
“AASHTO should provide guidance to state DOTs and other users of the Green Book regarding flexibility in design…This guidance should assist in educating engineers and designers on the flexibility inherent in the Green Book, as well as new and additional guidance on specific design issues… and This guidance should address designing in and for a multi-modal transportation system…”
—AASHTO Standing Committee on Highways May 25, 2016 Direction on Flexibility in Design Standards Resolution: https://bit.ly/1PikhNT
from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.
[B’ Spokes: IMHO our state is overly generous to cars and stingy to cyclists in designs they approve to get state/federal money for bike facilities. Take Roland Ave for example, per ASHTON the minimum width for cyclists is 5 feet and for cars it’s 10 feet. So what do we get? Cars get 10.5 feet and cyclists get 4 feet. I hope this new resolution will help us.]
SEATTLE, WA: GATES FOUNDATION CUTS DRIVE ALONE FROM 88% TO 30%
-> When the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation opened its new offices in Seattle, it simultaneously launched a coordinated transportation program to promote carpooling, transit, and biking, while disincentivizing driving alone. The program featured a commute-logging online system that rewards employees for not driving, and allows them to pay for parking on a more flexible basis, as to not commit to driving for a full month at a time. In just five years at the new office location, the Gates Foundation was able to more than halve its drive-alone mode share, from 88 percent to 30 percent of employees. https://bit.ly/22xtdkQ
from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.
MD DOT: $14 M FOR WALKING, BIKING & TRAIL ACCESS
MD DOT: $14 M FOR WALKING, BIKING & TRAIL ACCESS
-> This year Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and its State Highway Administration is making $14 million in reimbursable grant funding available for projects that enhance walking, biking, and recreational trail access statewide. MDOT is making state and federal funding available to support enhancements to Maryland’s bicycle and pedestrian network through its Maryland’s Bikeways, Safe Routes to School, Transportation Alternatives and Recreational Trails programs. https://bit.ly/1sKxGnH
MDOT also recently updated its Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (https://1.usa.gov/20StrS7), which establishes a 20-year vision to support cycling and walking as modes of transportation.
from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.
[B’ Spokes: It looks like we are finally getting federal money rather then just state money. (Was $3 million from state money.)]