Why should we plan for active travel?

Traveling by bike, bus, train, or on foot is a great way to be more physically active. When we use these forms of transportation to get to where we need to go, we are more likely to be happier and healthier.^1-3 Urban and regional planners can support a healthy community by making it easy to get around by these modes, which we call active transportation.¹ For example, planners can make sure that there are sidewalks for people to walk on. They can plan trails for bikers and walkers that connect residential areas to shopping areas. They can also make sure roads are designed so that cars don’t go too fast. That way, people feel safer walking and biking.⁴ Lastly, planners can ensure that there is efficient public transportation to take people where they need to go. By increasing the number of people who walk, bike, and use public transportation, communities can help fight obesity and other diseases.^2,5

-- Include a goal or objective to reduce car dependency or vehicle miles traveled

-- Include a goal or objective to increase the number of citizens who walk, bike, and/or use public transit to get to work and other daily activities

+ Establish a “Complete Streets” policy

• Recommend that road construction and reconstruction incorporates the needs of all road users in a context-sensitive manner. Consider using design elements like traffic calming, pedestrian-friendly streetscapes, sidewalks, bike routes, and well-marked crosswalks and signage.

+ Include or refer to a bicycle/pedestrian plan

• Include targeted and detailed plans for improving bicycle/pedestrian access in specific locations throughout your jurisdiction.

+ Include traffic calming goals and strategies

• Traffic calming features include roundabouts, center islands and raised medians, street narrowing, raised intersections, short block lengths, speed bumps or humps, rumble strips, chicanes, and road diets, among others.
• Communities may need to work with their state or county department of transportation and/or metropolitan planning organization to plan, design, and fund traffic calming measures.

+ Include strategies that improve pedestrian mobility and safety

• Pedestrian safety and mobility measures include complete sidewalk systems, widened sidewalks, buffers between sidewalks and roadways (like street trees, terraces, or street parking), accessible pedestrian signals at intersections, and frequent and safe crosswalks, among others.
• Communities may need to work with their state or county department of transportation and/or metropolitan planning organization to plan, design, and fund pedestrian features.

-- Require developers to provide bicycle, pedestrian, and wheelchair access in new communities, including sidewalks, bicycle/pedestrian trails, bicycle lanes, bicycle racks, pedestrian crosswalks, and curb cuts

+ Include specific goals or objectives for the development or extension of off-road greenways and trails for biking and walking

• Specify targets for lane-miles, location of facilities, timeline, or budget.

+ Recommend reduced parking requirements for developments located near transit stops and/or with bicycle, pedestrian, and wheelchair access

• Recommended a policy regarding parking standards, such as reduced parking requirements, on-street parking, and/or shared parking in developments that meet active transportation criteria.

+ Recognize access to health care and mobility as issues of special concern to aging populations

• Cite local statistics and create specific policy goals related to the mobility of aging populations and their access to health care.

+ Recognize access to health care and mobility as issues of special concern to disadvantaged populations

• Cite local statistics and create specific policy goals related to the mobility of disadvantaged populations and their access to health care.

+ Support “Safe Routes to School” for children or other mechanisms that support children walking or riding bikes to schools, including locating schools closer to residential areas

• Create policy goals that include working with school districts, public safety, transportation, or education agencies.
• Refer to a current “Safe Routes to School” plan, or if one does not exist, recommend that it is developed.

+ Support the co-location of community services in school buildings

• Proactively establish a goal of working with relevant agencies and local school districts to co-locate community services in existing or new school buildings.
• Examples of services that could be located in school buildings are senior centers, public libraries, wellness centers, and public meeting spaces.

-- Include a goal or objective to increase the number of citizens who walk, bike, or take public transit to get to work and other daily activities

+ Set goals and objectives to reduce pedestrian and bicycle traffic injuries

• Use crash data to identify areas of concern and set specific goals for decreasing injuries.

+ Include specific goals or objectives for the development or extension off-road greenways and trails for biking and walking.

• Trails should increase connectivity between residential areas and activity hubs and/or connect to regional trail systems.
• Refer to a standalone bicycle/pedestrian plan or outdoor recreation plan that contains specific goals for extending trails. If a bicycle/pedestrian plan does not exist, recommend that one is developed.

+ Establish a “Complete Streets” policy

• Recommend that road construction and reconstruction incorporates the needs of all road users in a context-sensitive manner.
• Note: Establishing a Complete Streets policy can help you retain some level of community control in the planning of state or county road projects.

+ Set a goal or objective to improve pedestrian and bicyclist mobility and comfort, especially between activity hubs and residential developments

• Identify key gaps in the pedestrian and bicycle networks and address these gaps through context-sensitive design solutions like:
  • Widened, paved shoulders on country roads
  • Paths that parallel country roads or provide more direct connections than country roads
  • Increased sidewalk coverage
  • Limited cul-de-sacs and dead-end roads, or bicyle/pedestrian connections between them and other roads
  • Lower speed limits
  • “Share the road” signs
  • Bicycle/pedestrian wayfinding signage

+ Set a goal or objective to establish or extend public transit services, especially those for the elderly, disabled, or otherwise disadvantaged

• Identify specific strategies to achieve this goal/objective.
• While a fixed route service might not be possible in rural areas, other solutions exist. Examples include:
  • Demand-response systems (like dial-a-ride)
  • Flexible fixed-route systems
  • Rideshare services or vanpools
  • Public taxi
  • Circulator systems
  • Sharing facilities, equipment, and/or services with regional, metro, or county transit services
• Partnerships help make rural transit work. Potential partners include:
  • Federal programs
  • Metro areas and counties
  • Regional planning commissions
  • State departments of trnasportation
  • Nonprofits
  • Health and human service agencies
  • Schools and universities
  • Local businesses and employers

+ Support “Safe Routes to School” for children or other mechanisms that support children walking or riding bikes to schools, including locating schools closer to residential areas

• Work with school districts, public safety, transportation, or education agencies to identify Safe Routes to School strategies and programs. Examples include:
  • Remote drop-off programs
  • Remote pick up programs
  • Policies that site schools near residential areas
  • Requirements for enhanced walk- and bike-ability near schools
• Refer to a current “Safe Routes to School” plan, or if one does not exist, recommend that it is developed.

+ Refer to the latest statewide, regional, and/or county bicycle and pedestrian plan

• Use data from the state, regional, or county plan to identify local needs for the improvement of bicycle and pedestrian mobility and safety.