{"id":257518272,"date":"2013-02-28T12:51:12","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T12:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=257518272"},"modified":"2013-02-28T12:51:12","modified_gmt":"2013-02-28T12:51:12","slug":"u-s-dot-to-challenge-aashto-supremacy-on-bike-ped-safety-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=257518272","title":{"rendered":"U.S. DOT to Challenge AASHTO Supremacy on Bike\/Ped Safety Standards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by Tanya Snyder, Streets Blog<br \/>\nFor years, the federal government has adopted roadway guidelines that fall far short of what\u2019s needed \u2014 and what\u2019s possible \u2014 to protect cyclists and pedestrians. By \u201cplaying it safe\u201d and sticking with old-school engineering, U.S. DOT allowed streets to be unsafe for these vulnerable road users.<br \/>\nBut that could be changing. The bike-friendliest transportation secretary the country has ever seen told state transportation officials yesterday at AASHTO\u2019s annual Washington conference that U.S. DOT was getting into the business of issuing its own design standards, instead of simply accepting the AASHTO guidelines.<br \/>\nNormally, the Federal Highway Administration points people to AASHTO\u2019s Green Book, the organization\u2019s design guide for highways and streets \u2014 and indeed, the agency is still directing people to the 2001 edition of the Green Book. Cycling advocates have long criticized the AASHTO guide, and the FHWA\u2019s adherence to it, since even the most recent version doesn\u2019t incorporate the latest thinking in bicycle and pedestrian safety treatments.<br \/>\nIn FHWA\u2019s new round of rule-making, DOT will set its own bicycle and pedestrian safety standards for the first time. The agency will \u201chighlight bicycle and pedestrian safety as a priority,\u201d LaHood said. (You can watch his entire speech on AASHTO\u2019s online TV channel.)<br \/>\n&#8230;<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/dc.streetsblog.org\/2013\/02\/28\/u-s-dot-to-challenge-aashto-supremacy-on-bikeped-safety-standards\/\">https:\/\/dc.streetsblog.org\/2013\/02\/28\/u-s-dot-to-challenge-aashto-supremacy-on-bikeped-safety-standards\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Tanya Snyder, Streets Blog For years, the federal government has adopted roadway guidelines that fall far short of what\u2019s needed \u2014 and what\u2019s possible \u2014 to protect cyclists and pedestrians. By \u201cplaying it safe\u201d and sticking with old-school engineering, U.S. DOT allowed streets to be unsafe for these vulnerable road users. But that could &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=257518272\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;U.S. DOT to Challenge AASHTO Supremacy on Bike\/Ped Safety Standards&#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-257518272","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\/257518272","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=257518272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257518272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=257518272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=257518272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=257518272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}