Wheels & Heels

Email news from MoDOT Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator Caryn Giarratano

Greetings Windbenders,

MoDOT making Changes: The winds of change have been blowing through MoDOT's headquarters. Where I work in Jefferson City is now called Central Office. We have a marvelous interim director named Dave Snider who is bicycle and pedestrian friendly! The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission has directed him to look at employee morale, see how MoDOT can be streamlined, learn how to remove impediments to decision-making and visit with people outside the organization to let them know what MoDOT is doing. He stated the new director should be an employee's advocate. He or she should be approachable and meet regularly with the public, legislature and representatives of other states. MoDOT's mission should be to build, maintain and operate the transportation system in Missouri.

Since he began work March 1, he has renamed the Inspector General Office the Audits and Investigations Division, given authority to division heads and district engineers to make more decisions and renamed General Headquarters as Central Office and the functional units either divisions or offices. The designations are based on reporting relationships: offices report to the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, units report to the Director's Office and divisions report to a business unit leader. Then he eliminated the Director's and Executive teams and one senior management position. He is currently meeting with all 6,000 MoDOT employees to discover what we think. Whew!

Update on the state bicycle map: Missouri is a crossroads for three national bicycle trails: Mississippi River Trail, Lewis and Clark Trail and the TransAmerica Trail. On-road cross-state bicycle corridors have been identified (to see a draft, go to www.mobikefed.org under maps and cross-state routes). I have asked local government representatives to send me digitized data in a GIS format of local paved trails to be included in a MoDOT database. I hope to combine both the on-road and off-road trails on a single map.

Midwest Conference: Connecting Communities Through Better Design held in March in Overland Park was a roaring success. Nationally recognized BP experts presented a stunning program attended by professionals from a four-state area. Topics included on-road facility design, rail-trail, rail-banking, complying with ADA requirements, project development, assessment of a community for BP accommodations, retrofitting for BP, levee trails and identifying factors that create a walkable community.

BPAC News: At the March meeting of the MoDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), future pursuits and goals were identified. Major goals include 1) adopt the FHWA bicycle and pedestrian design guidelines, 2) change policy to create uniform standards and routine accommodations for BP transportation in all new construction and reconstruction, 3) inventory paved shoulders and provide this information to the public, 4) create a robust bicycle and pedestrian website, 5) create a state bicycle map that includes multi-use paths as well as on-road routes, 6) include a Governmental Affairs representative on BPAC, 7) ask the MoDOT director to speak to BPAC, 8) appoint BP-friendly commissioners, 9) partner with other agencies to provide driver's education in schools, 10) provide routine maintenance on bridges to allow safe BP travel, 11) collect BP transportation data and 12) partner with scenic byways and MPOs to plan and manage BP corridors.

Rumble Strips: MoDOT has reviewed and made changes to the rumble strip policy. We will no longer have rolled or formed rumble strips. MoDOT will now have continuous, milled, 5 x 16 x 7/16 inch rectangles with a 7-inch gap four inches outside the edge line on every shoulder that is two feet or wider. See standard plans 626.00 at http://www.modot.org/design/specbook/perffiles.htm.

Grates: The grate policy change to require bike-friendly grates on newly constructed roads and shoulders may go into effect as early as July 1, 2004. Policy revisions will be made in the Project Development Manual, Standard Plans and Pay Items.

Passenger Services Study: This group is tasked to provide an inventory of passenger services and a GIS-based passenger services map; a review of educational and medical transportation services; bicycle and pedestrian compatibility criteria for state highways, urban areas, rural routes and passenger transportation facilities; an evaluation of how pedestrian and bicycle facilities will meet compatibility criteria and serve traveler needs; an evaluation of mode connectivity; forecasts of passenger transportation demand and future needs evaluation; a revised statewide travel demand model that includes other passenger modes as well as passenger cars; a series of issue papers that look at safety and security risks for passenger transportation, transportation technology, impacts of aging population on mobility needs, mobility needs of persons with disabilities and state and federal regulations and funding; performance measures for Missouri's passenger transportation; and a plan for building passenger transportation into statewide transportation planning and project selection.

Bicycle Facilities Guide: I am a member of the AASHTO Task Force on Non-Motorized Transportation and have been asked to sit on a subcommittee to help choose the consulting firm to update the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities. The current guide was published in 1999 and needs to be updated. The National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) will cover the updating costs. Some topics that need updating include: bike lane design at intersections, facility selection criteria, accommodating bicyclists at roundabouts and liability. Also under consideration for inclusion in the new guide are issues related to planning, structural and material design and construction of bicycle facilities. The new guide should also address shared use by pedestrians, joggers and inline skaters. The guide will be published by NCHRP in paper form, and a computerized version will be available on the Internet. The project is scheduled for completion in August 2005.

Pedestrian Bridge: Construction could begin by June on a pedestrian bridge in Cape Girardeau to span busy Highway 74 just east of Ellis Street and reunite a divided south side Cape Girardeau neighborhood -- see story in the SEMissourian.

Mississippi River Trail: Pat Nunnally reports that a copy of the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU) is available at http://www.house.gov/transportation/ under "Hot Issues." HR 3550 contains a number of projects related to the MRT in the High Priority Project list (begins on page 236 of the bill). Missouri projects include the Chain of Rocks Bridge for $300,000 and Columbia Bottoms BP connections for $300,000.

OTHER NEWS

MBF Legislation: The Missouri Bicycle Federation's bike/ped safety legislation has been amended to the Missouri House's transportation bill and passed by the Senate as Amendment 7 to SB710 - see www.mobikefed.org.

Friendly Policies: The National Center for Bicycling and Walking has published "Taking Steps," which discusses the support given to bicycling and walking in large cities. The report identifies five characteristics of MPOs that appear most likely to yield policies and practices friendly to BP transportation: a clear vision and commitment to bicycling and walking; the will to create meaningful plans; an ability to obtain political support for goals; a keen understanding of how transportation money flows and how to influence this flow; and the determination to create practices that change routine -- see http://www.bikewalk.org/assets/Reports/steps_booklet.pdf or contact NCBW at info@bikewalk.org.

ADA Guidelines: The U.S. Access Board has approved new American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Architectural Barriers Act guidelines that overhaul the existing ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG), which were published in 1991 -- see http://www.access-board.gov/ada-aba/status.htm

Publications: To keep up on breaking bicycling or walking news, subscribe to CenterLines, National Center for Bicycling & Walking, http://www.bikewalk.org and BikeLeague News, League of American Bicyclists, http://www.bikeleague.org.

New TEA-21: America Bikes reports that the U. S. Senate passed S1072, the successor to TEA-21. Highlights include -- Safe Routes to School, $250 million annually for walking and biking to school, included in both the Senate's SAFETEA and the House TEA-LU bill, but Senate funding is only one-third of the House; Fair Share for Safety, states would spend safety money in proportion to BP deaths, in the Senate bill not House, would direct $130 million a year to bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements; Complete Streets, new road projects would include BP accommodation, no additional funding commitment, no sponsor; and Senate bill S1072 is final. Contact America Bikes at 202-641-1163, 202-833-8080 or http://www.americabikes.org/saferoutestoschool.asp.

Safe Routes Presentation: The Center for Disease Control has created a PowerPoint Walking and Bicycling to School Community Presentation that is available through the Kids Walk to School Website -- http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/kidswalk. It was developed for use at neighborhood, school or community meetings to increase knowledge and interest in participating in a walk and bicycle to school program.

Bike Facility Study: David Loutzenheiser is heading a NCHRP (National Cooperative Highway Research Project) project called Cost-Benefit Analysis of Investments in Bicycle Facilities to obtain actual costs of planning, design, construction and maintenance of all types of bicycle facilities and amenities such as lockers, racks and bus/rail accommodations for bicycles. Please help with this important study by providing a description of the project, when it was built and maintenance costs to date to David Loutzenheiser, senior transportation planner, Planners Collaborative, 273 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210, 617-338-0018x113, drl@thecollaborative.com, http://www.thecollaborative.com/. For more on the NCHRP project, go to:
http://www4.trb.org/trb/crp.nsf/ e7bcd526f5af4a2c8525672f006245fa/d6a5d75b296f208385256b990044a79c?OpenDocument.

VA Complete Streets: A Complete Streets program has been adopted by the Virginia's Commonwealth Transportation Board to commit the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to routinely accommodate bicycling and walking as fundamental travel modes and integral components...in the planning, funding, design, construction, operation and maintenance of Virginia's transportation network. The policy statement broadly defines "accommodation" as "any facility, design feature, operational change, or maintenance activity that improves the environment in which bicyclists and pedestrians travel" and explains that "bicycling and walking are successfully accommodated when travel by these modes is efficient, safe and comfortable for the public." http://vabike.org/vbfposition.htm
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bikeped/Design.htm
http://www.virginiadot.org/infoservice/bk-policyinfo.asp
http://virginiadot.org/infoservice/news/newsrelease.asp?ID=CO-0414
http://www.sotrans.state.va.us/VTrans/home.htm
http://virginiadot.org/infoservice/bk-default.asp

TX Bike Map: Williamson County, Texas, is offering an online GIS bicycle map -- http://www.wcbikemap.org

PSA Commercial: The League of American Bicyclists is offering tips on cycling and commuting by bike, listings of local events and ways to promote bicycling. See http://www.bikeleague.org/index.cfm and click on the sidebar "Ridden Your Bike Lately?" for more information about the television PSA to promote bike commuting. View the 30-second commercial on the League website. Contact your local TV stations to request the airing of this PSA. Email ryan@bikeleague.org to include your community's celebration on the list of activities.


CALENDAR:

Friday, April 2 is Walk to Work or Walk at Work Day.

May is National Bike Month; Bike to Work Week is May 17-21; and Bike to Work Day is May 21. Additional information is available at www.bikeleague.org or at the Missouri Bicycle Federation website, www.mobikefed.org.

May 1 the League of Illinois Bicyclists is hosting a celebration of the opening of the Mississippi River Trail. For more information see http://www.bikelib.org/mrt, call Chuck Oestreich at 309-788-1845 or email him at oestreich@qconline.com.

June 5 is National Trails Day. To receive a planning guide, go to www.AmericanHiking.org or contact Jane Thompson, National Trails Day Coordinator, 301-565-6704 x 208, 1422 Fenwick Lane, Silver Spring, MD 20910, NTD@AmericanHiking.org.

September 7-10 Pro Walk/Pro Bike 2004 will be held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, the National Center for Bicycling and Walking, http://www.bikewalk.org/PWPB2004/PWPB2004.htm.

October 7-9 the first Missouri Trail Summit conference will be held in Columbia, MO, for all types of trail users, planners and builders from single track in the woods to on-road paved roads.

The Missouri DOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) will meet quarterly in 2004 on May 3, Aug. 2 and Nov. 8.

Please forward this newsletter to anyone you feel may be interested. If you are not on the mailing list and would like to be added, please email me your address information.

Tailwinds, Caryn

caryn.giarratano@modot.mo.gov, 573-522-9297, POB 270, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0270

permanent link to article: "Wheels and Heels - March 2004"
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