[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: My experience at the Mayors' Challenge for Safer Streets

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Jones, Suzanne

Dear Colleagues--


Last month, I was asked to represent the City of Boulder in Washington, DC at the Dept of Transportation's Mayors' Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets summit on March 12th, along with David ("DK") Kemp from Boulder's transportation staff. 


It was a surprisingly interesting event, with a couple hundred attendees from municipalities of all sizes (and political persuasions) from around the country. You may know that Boulder is one of four cities in the country that has a platinum rating (the highest) by the League of American Bicyclists for being a Bike Friendly Community (the others are Davis, Ft. Collins and Portland, OR). So it was a real honor to represent our City and speak on a plenary panel about  "Improving Laws" to make streets safer (while DK did a breakout on data & metrics).


On the whole, I was quite impressed by how many cities from all regions see bike and pedestrian friendly programs and policies as a top priority in improving their quality of life and maintaining/improving their economic competitiveness. It is clear that if we don't keep making progress, Boulder will soon be eclipsed by others who are making huge strides. It was also impressive to see all of the government and non-profit resources/information/research that is available for us to draw upon (see some of the links below). One of the breakouts was with the  USDOT Deputy Secretary Victor Mendez, where we also talked about the administration's proposed legislation, "The GROW AMERICA Act", to fund long-term surface transportation (see fact sheet links below).


There are specific expectations of every city accepting the Mayors' Challenge for Safer People/Safer Streets (see below). Boulder is already doing many of the challenge activities or we are well on our way, but it was incredibly useful hear
other cities' challenges and to swap ideas for how best to address them. For example, almost everyone struggles with snow removal strategies for bike/ped facilities, and in many places use of red light radar to ticket those who run red lights is under attack as it is here in Colorado. 


This summer Boulder will be taking our next big step and exercising a leadership role when we undertake Phase Two of our Living Lab effort to "rightsize" four candidate corridors in order to provide buffered and protected bike lanes.  The public outreach process will begin in early May with the adoption of a declaration accepting the Mayors' Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets.  


Please don't hesitate to contact me (or the real experts, DK Kemp at dk at bouldercolorado.gov or Marni Retzel at
ratzelm at bouldercolorado.gov) if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Zan


Below is the list of expectation's of those who accept the Mayors' Challenge:

Call to Action

Issue a public statement about the importance of bicycle and pedestrian safetyForm a local action team to advance safety and accessibility goalsTake local action through the Challenge activities (listed below)
Mayors' Challenge Activities

Take a Complete Streets approachIdentify and address barriers to make streets safe and convenient for all road users, including people of all ages and abilities and those using assistive mobility devicesGather and track biking and walking dataUse designs that are appropriate to the context of the street and its uses
Take advantage of opportunities to create and complete ped-bike networks through maintenanceImprove walking and biking safety laws and regulations 
Educate and enforce proper road use behavior by all


Begin forwarded message:

From:
<barbara.mccann at dot.gov>


Subject: thank you and links


Date:
March 13, 2015 1:24:39 PM MDT

Dear Mayor Pro Tem Jones,

Thank you for participating in the Summit yesterday to begin our Mayors’ Challenge for Safer People, Safer Streets.  Everyone in the Department appreciated your participation and your insights, and we hope that you and your Team members found it to be a valuable experience.

I wanted to send you links to some resources discussed at the Elected Officials Roundtable session:

 Beyond Traffic is an invitation to look 30 years into our transportation future.  It starts with an initial framing document, and you are invited to join a series of web-based sessions are planned beginning next week: http://www.dot.gov/BeyondTraffic


The GROW AMERICA Act is the Department’s proposal for a long-term surface transportation funding bill; the site includes summary fact sheets in 12 critical areas: http://www.dot.gov/grow-america


The TIGER program webpage has information about past grantees and will include a link to the federal register notice when new funding is available:  http://www.dot.gov/tiger

 
The Mayors’ Challenge webpage will continue to be an important resource throughout the Challenge year:  www.dot.gov/mayors-challenge
 

We will continue to stay in touch with your Team Leads as we build toward a successful Challenge Year capstone event next March.  We deeply appreciate your commitment to working with us, and with people in your own community, to create safer streets and safer practices for people who walk and bicycle. 

Thank you,

Barbara McCann

Director, Office of Safety, Energy and Environment
Office of the Secretary, USDOT


Check out "Beyond Traffic" and share your ideas! 

http://www.dot.gov/BeyondTraffic