What Active Transportation can mean for our city
Active Transportation and Safe Mobility through "Safe System Approach"
An initiative announced by Council Member Ellen Birrell, July 21, 2022
In the past few years Cottonwood Heights has been trying to make mobility improvements without a unified vision, SMART goals or prioritized objectives. It is my intent, as a City Council representative, to commit our city to provide equal protection mobility rights so people of all ages and abilities are free to choose how they move about in our city – and beyond.
Because most Cottonwood Heights roads fail to meet the highest standards for safety, no person is truly safe. For that reason I intend for our city to adopt the US Department of Transportation’s "Safe System Approach" based on the "Vision Zero" program to begin the task to ensure that only the highest standards of safety are applied equally throughout our great city. (Salt Lake City adopted Vision Zero in 2022.)
Our city’s vision must encompass these universal truths:
that death and serious injuries are unacceptable
that humans make mistakes
that humans are vulnerable
that it is the government’s responsibility and obligation to ensure the safety of all users
that safety is proactive
that redundancy is crucial.
To accomplish our goal, our city must commit to:
Enact policies that take into account a person’s ability to survive a crash
and never – EVER – design a public facility that invites people to interact in an unsafe manner.
Build roads that mitigate human mistakes and account for injury tolerances, encourage safer behaviors, and facilitate safe travel by the most vulnerable users.
Plan for safe speeds through thoughtful context and appropriate roadway design.
Provide an expedient response for emergency medical care on every corner of our city.
Start immediately with Neighborhood Bypass Routes getting more of our
cyclists and pedestrians off of our, as yet, unsafe collectors and arterials.
We have the opportunity to transform our city through a mix of federal grants being made available to cities like ours. To make improvements that will benefit our communities today and cast a better life for future generations.
What is Active Transportation?
"Human-powered mobility" to get from one point to another point including all non-combustible engine mobility from walking to rolling, skating, cycling and E-biking
A walkable environment is a crucial factor for promoting active transportation.
Neighborhood walkability is part of active transportation for both commuting and non-commuting purposes (leisure and shopping)
The "Walkability Score" may be used as a measure of walkability, and a multilevel logistic regression model is employed to measure the odds of active transportation (i.e. walking and cycling; nonmotorized trips) at two levels: individual (level 1) and neighborhood (level 2). The Walkability Score was significantly correlated with higher odds of active transportation in shopping models. Based on the study, urban and transportation planners can recommend urban policies to promote active transportation in an urban setting.
While a person could utilize a trail or multi-use path that is also used for recreation (i.e. Big Cottonwood Trail, East Jordan Canal Trail, BST, etc), Active Transportation facilitates running errands to shops and services, restaurants, libraries, schools, church, Trax/Bus/Train stations therefore going beyond a recreational experience.
Active Transportation often involves a combination of travel modes including walking or rolling to a bus or light rail station, then riding transit, then walking again to reach one's destination
Neighborhood Bypass Routes (NBRs) are a part of Active Transportation. They run on local, quiet, low volume/low speed streets and allow users to avoid the more dangerous collectors and arterials. In order to avoid the danger, noise and fresh air pollution on collectors and arterials, NBRs can be mapped to connect individuals from disparate neighborhoods to grocery, cafe, library, school, church, etc. that is nearby or across town.
Successful use of NBRs requires users to cross collectors and arterials. These crossings must be made safe by road narrowing, chicanes, &/or bulb-outs that signal drivers to want to slow down. Additionally, Hawk signalling can be employed.
Local streets chosen for NBRs normally receive "sharrow" (double arrows) painted within each lane to warn drivers of the presence of cyclists and pedestrians.
Wayfinding signage as well as printed and digital maps promote & facilitate usage.
Successful Active Transportation requires O&M (Operating and Management) budgeting to keep the routes safe from debris, overgrown branches/plants and free of snow, and well signed.
One day, CH's NBRs and wayfinding signage can point users onto collectors and arterials that have been re-designed for safe mobility for all users.
Cottonwood Heights has plans for gradually and in an unconnected fashion building protected bike lanes and multi-use sidewalks along CH collectors and arterials. Since this is costly and slow going, it is imperative that NBRs be immediately prioritized, planned and executed for safer mobility for all users.
