{"id":155811966,"date":"2009-12-09T09:06:06","date_gmt":"2009-12-09T09:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=155811966"},"modified":"2009-12-09T09:06:06","modified_gmt":"2009-12-09T09:06:06","slug":"cities-for-cycling-could-have-huge-impact-on-bikeway-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=155811966","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cities for Cycling\u2019 could have huge impact on bikeway innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

An exciting new coalition of America\u2019s largest cities has joined together to push for more innovative bikeway design guidelines. Cities for Cycling, which will formally launch in Washington D.C. on December 8th, will look to break the shackles of rigid federal roadway design guidelines that have long had a stifling impact on bikeway innovation in the United States.
\nThe new coalition was the brainchild of two Portlanders \u2014 former city bike coordinator and now planning consultant Mia Birk and current City of Portland Traffic Engineer Rob Burchfield. The impetus comes from a realization that current federal design guidelines for bikeway development are outdated and incomplete.
\nThe goal of Cities for Cycling is to provide support for urban transportation planners looking for guidance in building the next generation of bikeway networks \u2014 guidance that the highway-oriented federal government is not willing to provide. The coalition will also create a new manual of bikeway designs that includes technical information and best practices gleaned from what has proven to work in the world\u2019s most bike friendly cities.
\n
\nCurrently in America, street design guidelines are the domain of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials\u2019 (AASHTO) Guide to the Development of Bicycle Facilities and the Federal Highway Administration\u2019s (FHWA) Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). These companion manuals are considered to be the bible for traffic engineers, offering persuasive guidance on what types of facilities and designs can and can\u2019t be installed.
\nUnfortunately, the AASHTO\/MUTCD guidelines are painfully slow to innovate and their lack of official recognition of new bikeway designs is a significant barrier to a more bike-friendly America.
\nThe problem boils down to this: If a bikeway design treatment \u2014 like bike boxes, bike-only signals, cycle tracks, bike boulevards, and so on \u2014 is not listed as an approved design in the MUTCD, many engineers are unlikely to use them. Engineers can still install these innovative facilities, but they must apply for a \u201cRequest to Experiment\u201d and be subject to FHWA oversight. But the majority of city traffic engineers don\u2019t take that step, either because bikeways aren\u2019t a high enough priority, or they don\u2019t have the time to go through the process, or they\u2019re simply intimidated by the FHWA and have concerns about legal liability for doing anything not wholly approved by the MUTCD.
\nThe result of not being able to develop state-of-the-art bikeway networks has made it difficult for America to make significant gains in bike use. Currently, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, only 0.55 percent of Americans use a bicycle as their primary means of getting to work.
\nPortland\u2019s City Traffic Engineer Rob Burchfield knows the perils of this problem all too well. After two people were killed by right-turning trucks within 11 days of each other in 2007, he worked with Mayor Sam Adams to install green-colored bike boxes throughout the city. Bike boxes were not approved by the MUTCD, but Burchfield had studied them at length and had seen them first-hand in world-class bike cities in Europe.
\nHowever, the bike boxes put Burchfield on the hot seat. A local critic of the bike boxes, Bob Shanteau, wrote a letter to the FHWA threatening to sue PBOT because the treatment had not yet been adopted into the MUTCD (more on that fiasco here). The Portland Tribune published a story a few days later detailing other criticisms including concern from a high-ranking official at the Oregon Department of Transportation. Burchfield \u2014 who had filed a request to experiment with the FHWA \u2014 was forced to defend the designs. The FHWA eventually stepped in and made PBOT test out the bike box design without the highly-visible green coloring.
\nIn a recent interview, Burchfield acknowledged the difficulty this issue poses for the FHWA. \u201cThe feds are in a tough position, they\u2019re almost in a regulatory role instead of being in a leadership role. They\u2019re saying, \u2018We have these rules. You have to do this\u2026 and if don\u2019t you we\u2019ll sanction you\u2019.\u201d
\nBurchfield realizes that it\u2019s not realistic for the FHWA or AASHTO to be leaders in setting bikeway design standards. \u201cTheir agenda is highways, but this is an urban issue, a city issue. We want them to get out of the way.\u201d
\nThe bike box fiasco, says Birk, who worked with Burchfield in the 1990s, was the last straw. \u201cThe criticism we got from the bike boxes made it clear to us that we felt there was a need for cities that wanted to push forward to band together.\u201d
\nBirk, who now develops bike plans for cities throughout the country, says she gets calls everyday from cities wanting to install innovative bike facilities. \u201cUnfortunately, there\u2019s not one place I can point them to with the information they need.\u201d In the meantime, she says, \u201cmany cities are proceeding in absence of that guidance.\u201d
\nSays Birk:
\n \u201cWe came up with this idea, recognizing there are a handful of cities really leading the charge\u2026 and that if we put our heads together we are going to be greater as a coalition than as individual cities working alone. We asked ourselves, how can we capitalize on Portland\u2019s leadership, band together, and move the agenda forward?\u201d
\nBack in October, Burchfield and Birk hosted bicycle transportation planners and traffic engineers from several major U.S. cities including San Francisco, Minneapolis, Seattle, Boston, Chicago, and New York. The group (which at that time was tentatively named the Progressive Bicycling Cities Coalition) heard from a panel of European experts. One of them, Hans Voerknecht from Dutch cycling organization Fietsberaad, singled out the AASHTO\/MUTCD guidelines for sharp criticism, saying they are \u201ccompletely counterproductive\u201d:
\n \u201cWere these guidelines a means or an end? I think your consider them an end to the conversation but they should be a means to get more people cycling. Saying, \u2018well those are the guidelines\u2019 is like a detective looking for a murder weapon and saying well, \u2018I can\u2019t look in the bedroom because the guidelines say I can\u2019t trespass on the privacy of the people.\u201d
\nWhen asked if she feels Cities for Cycling is headed for a power struggle with the committee behind the MUTCD, Birk said she hopes not, but that it\u2019s a \u201cpossibility\u201d. \u201cMaybe we influence them, maybe we converge into one big happy family.\u201d
\nIn the end, Birk says this effort is about making cities more bike friendly. To do that, she says, \u201cIt\u2019s negligent for us to not look at the best practices out there.\u201d
\nCities for Cycling has been adopted as an official project of the National Association of City Transportation Officials. On December 8th, NACTO and the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings will host an event and panel discussion in Washington D.C. to officially launch the project. U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer, New York City Department of Transportation Commission Janette Sadik-Khan, and artist\/musician David Byrne will hold a panel discussion moderated by Bruce Katz from Brookings.
\nA website for the new project is in the works.
\nhttps:\/\/bikeportland.org\/2009\/11\/24\/cities-for-cycling-could-have-huge-impact-bikeway-innovation\/<\/a>oldId.20091209090606855<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An exciting new coalition of America\u2019s largest cities has joined together to push for more innovative bikeway design guidelines. Cities for Cycling, which will formally launch in Washington D.C. on December 8th, will look to break the shackles of rigid federal roadway design guidelines that have long had a stifling impact on bikeway innovation in … <\/p>\n

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