{"id":210391398,"date":"2011-09-02T02:03:18","date_gmt":"2011-09-02T02:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=210391398"},"modified":"2011-09-02T02:03:18","modified_gmt":"2011-09-02T02:03:18","slug":"placemaking-how-to-engage-your-transportation-agency-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=210391398","title":{"rendered":"PLACEMAKING: HOW TO ENGAGE YOUR TRANSPORTATION AGENCY (Part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by Mark Plotz (highlights)<br \/>\n&#8230;<br \/>\nThe implied threat of being sued for building anything other than the same old incomplete street, is a tool deployed far &amp; wide by DOTs to shutdown discussion and give cover for eliminating crosswalks (might encourage pedestrians to cross a dangerous road); paved shoulders and sharrows\/bike lanes (might encourage bicyclists to use the public roadways); and sidewalks (might encourage pedestrians to walk in the auto recovery zones). When confronted with the &#8216;L&#8217; word, take a deep breath (and recognize that lawyers aren&#8217;t born with kung-fu grips, so they&#8217;re not so scary); stand your ground; then consider Gary&#8217;s translation of what is really happening:<br \/>\n&quot;I watched this happen many times during my career at NJDOT. What I began to learn, however, was that most of the transportation professionals who cited liability had never been sued or even consulted with an attorney.&quot;<br \/>\n&#8230;<br \/>\nLastly, when faced with the liability argument, it is entirely appropriate to ask: &quot;What&#8217;s the cost of maintaining the status quo?&quot; The purpose of starting the conversation about roadway design is to ensure the needs and safety of all anticipated users will not be overlooked and can be reasonably met. Removing a crosswalk or leaving a shoulder out of a design will not prevent pedestrians from crossing the road or a bicyclist from riding to work in a transit-deficient area. The story that follows explains the aftermath of what happens when transportation planners and engineers design roads for cars, then look the other way.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n.<br \/>\nSource: &quot;How to Engage Your Transportation Agency&quot; can be downloaded from the PPS website: (<a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/mUAttj\">https:\/\/bit.ly\/mUAttj<\/a>)<br \/>\nfrom CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling &amp; Walking.oldId.2011090202031822<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Mark Plotz (highlights) &#8230; The implied threat of being sued for building anything other than the same old incomplete street, is a tool deployed far &amp; wide by DOTs to shutdown discussion and give cover for eliminating crosswalks (might encourage pedestrians to cross a dangerous road); paved shoulders and sharrows\/bike lanes (might encourage bicyclists &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=210391398\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;PLACEMAKING: HOW TO ENGAGE YOUR TRANSPORTATION AGENCY (Part 3)&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210391398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biking-elsewhere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210391398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=210391398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210391398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=210391398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=210391398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=210391398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}