March 24, 2014
Hardcover Urban Bikeway Design Guide now available
The Urban Bikeway Design Guide, a toolkit for designing streets that are safe for bicyclists, is now available as a newly formatted hardcover book.
The Guide, which was formerly only available in a binder format, has emerged as a go-to template for planners and engineers in cities across the United States.
“Cities and states are using this toolkit as the leading resource for building safe, robust bike infrastructure networks,” said Ed Reiskin, NACTO President and Director of Transportation of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. “The success of NACTO’s Urban Bikeway Design Guide is proof that a strong, forward-thinking coalition of cities can act quickly to change the national paradigm for street design.”
The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide can be adopted by cities, counties and states as either a stand-alone document or as a supplement to other roadway guidance documents. It has been endorsed by the Federal Highway Administration, and by many states, cities and leading experts in transportation in the US and internationally.
Cities for Cycling Road Show coming to Oakland, CA in April
Following successful 2013 Road Shows in Austin, Memphis and Indianapolis, Cities for Cycling is headed to the city of Oakland, California on April 10-11, 2014.
Increasing opportunities for bicycling is critical to Oakland’s economic development and sustainability goals. Oakland’s climate, culture, topography, and urban setting all suggest an ideal city for bicycling. Yet, Oakland’s existing bicycle network has gaps and does not take advantage of many emerging design innovations. Moreover, at current funding and staffing it will take 10 years before Oakland will have the capacity to proactively tackle these issues given the resource requirements for already-programmed projects.
NACTO’s Cities for Cycling Road Show provides a unique opportunity to convene staff, advocates, and decision-makers to discuss opportunities and challenges to making a city more bicycle friendly. Over the course of two days, peer experts from Boston, New York, and Chicago will share their recipes for success with City of Oakland leaders, kickstarting Oakland’s transformation into the most bicycle-friendly city in the Bay Area. The Road Show will include an on-the-ground design charrette for high-priority projects, bikeway design training to Oakland city staff, and a series of one-on-one discussions with key elected officials.
Presenters include:
Nicole Freedman, Director of Boston Bikes, City of Boston
Ryan Russo, Assistant Commissioner for Traffic & Planning, New York City Department of Transportation
Mike Amsden, Assistant Director of Transportation Planning, Chicago Department of Transportation
Click here for more information on the Oakland Road Show.
Designing Cities 2014: San Francisco
On October 22-25, 2014, NACTO will host its third annual Designing Cities conference in San Francisco, California. The Designing Cities conference convenes transportation leaders and practitioners from across the country to discuss significant trends in urban street design and transportation policy. Themes for the San Francisco event include re-imagining rights-of-way, the economic benefits of sustainable streets, bike and car sharing, pedestrian and bicyclist safety, and strategies to create public space using low-cost, temporary materials.
This three-day conference will be composed of a series of breakout sessions, workshops, and interactive forums to both showcase successful projects that have been implemented in urban areas, and to foster collaborative discussions of innovative transportation trends. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency staff and local partners will host “walkshops” that take their peers on tours of local projects, including recently completed cycle tracks, public plazas, and parklets.
Registration for the conference will open closer to the event. The conference will take place at the Parc 55 Wyndham hotel; participants are encouraged to reserve hotel rooms early to receive the discounted rate.
Interested in sponsoring the Designing Cities conference? Contact Corinne Kisner at [email protected] or Candace Sue at [email protected].
Urban Street Design Guide endorsement campaign ends May 1, 2014
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) unveiled a new design manual for city streets in September, 2013. A blueprint for the 21st century streetscape, the Urban Street Design Guidedemonstrates how streets of every size can be re-imagined and re-oriented as safe, sustainable public spaces for people walking, driving, biking, and taking transit. The Guide emphasizes the core principles for making urban streets great public places with an instrumental role in building communities.
To date, 27 cities and Washington State haveendorsed the Urban Street Design Guide, including recent support from Boulder, CO, Davis, CA, Portsmouth, NH and Washington, DC.
Cities, states and counties interested in endorsing the Guide should contact David Vega-Barachowitz, Director of the Designing Cities initiative, at [email protected] or 646-628-3337.
NACTO convenes bike share industry leaders
On March 2-3, 2014, leaders drawn from across North America’s burgeoning bike share industry gathered at Mobility Lab in Arlington, VA for a two-day summit on the state and future of bike share. The meeting followed a 2013 roundtable of bike share system owners convened by the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) in Denver last September.
The two-day forum included several targeted dialogues, some consisting of only cities and system owners and others hosted by vendors to speak directly to their customers about their latest products, initiatives, and efforts to improve system operations and communications. Industry leaders discussed how to achieve common goals, such as increasing system usage and revenue, and improving the overall bike share user experience. This meeting marked a positive step towards accelerating innovation and facilitating communication among bike share stakeholders.
To engage with NACTO’s bike share work, contact Corinne Kisner ([email protected]) or David Vega-Barachowitz ([email protected]).
Upcoming events
NACTO has moved!
NACTO’s office has moved to 120 Park Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10017.
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About NACTO
NACTO is an association of 30 US cities formed to exchange transportation ideas, insights and practices and cooperatively approach national transportation issues. Members include Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Charlotte, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC. Affiliate members of NACTO include Arlington (VA), Austin, Burlington (VT), Cambridge, Hoboken, Indianapolis, Louisville, Memphis, Oakland, Salt Lake City, Somerville (MA), and Ventura (CA).
Follow @NACTO on twitter for city transportation news and events.