The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDoT) has released a plan to chart new territory where active transportation connections are incomplete or nonexistent.
The Washington State Active Transportation Plan, 2020 and Beyond – Part 1 assesses the needs for accessible pedestrian and cyclist facilities and highlights safety concerns.
The WSDoT's multimodal transportation dashboard has revealed that more people than ever are walking and cycling as an alternative to transit use and to maintain physical and mental health during the coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, vulnerable road users (VRUs) now make up around 21% of all traffic deaths.
The plan is seeking to address these fatalities and identify driving speed and road crossing as top factors.
It also examines the effects of past infrastructure decisions on safety and mobility, provides a needs assessment of the state system for active transportation use and describes the concept of a statewide bikeways and trails network.
Secretary of transportation Roger Millar says: “In the engagement for this plan, we heard very clearly that state routes need to connect people, not separate them. With this plan, we have new understanding to help us work with our partners to create complete, safer and more accessible networks for each and every one of us, regardless of how we get around.”
WSDoT received more than 630 responses during the eight-week comment period for the first part of the plan. Those comments will help the department identify policy topics in the second phase, scheduled for release this year.
Part two will include relevant policy topics, performance measures associated with the plan’s goals and next steps in developing an implementation and action plan.
