Urban Health Solutions & Urban Health Partnerships

EmergeMiami: Pedestrian Safety Walk in Little Havana

EmergeMiami recently shared details about an upcoming Pedestrian Safety Walk in Little Havana on June 29th at 10:30am. As part of our walk they are asking that pedestrians who have been injured, and their families, to come out and join our walk to help put a personal face on this epidemic of injury and death.

For more information or to get involved please contact Elsa Roberts at eroberts@mtu.edu. To RSVP to the event go to Meetup or Facebook.

This event fits well with UHP’s Safe Routes to Age in Place Initiative which is being piloted in Little Havana.

To read the full article and learn more, click here: http://www.transitmiami.com/pedestrians/pedestrian-safety-walk-in-little-havana

To learn more about Safe Routes to Age in Place, click here: http://www.saferoutestoageinplace.org

Infographic: Requirements for a Bikeable City

GOOD recently shared an infographic on four requirements for a bikeable city. See below to learn more:

You can visit their website for more information at: http://awesome.good.is/infographics/infographic-four-requirements-for-a-bikeable-city/468

News Brief: How to Increase Bicycling for Daily Travel

How to Increase Bicycling for Daily Travel summarizes the available evidence about effectiveness of multi-strategy approaches for increasing bicycling levels, including on-street bike lanes, off-street bike paths, and other bicycling infrastructure, educational programs, and policies. Use this brief to advocate for increasing bicycling as a way to improve people’s health and reduce air pollution, carbon emissions, congestion, noise, traffic dangers, and other harmful effects of car use. And a useful companion is our recently released brief on counting bicycles, which can be used to assess the results of interventions.

Summary:

The Challenge: Only 1% of all daily trips in the United States are made by bicycle, including fewer than 1% of trips to school by children younger than age 16. However many more trips could be made by bicycle, as 40% of trips made in the United States are shorter than two miles.

Make an impact: Recognizing this potential, many government agencies and public health organizations are starting to advocate for increasing bicycling as a way to improve people’s health and reduce air pollution, carbon emissions, congestion, noise, traffic dangers, and other harmful effects of car use. Understanding the most effective strategies cities can use to increase bicycling is important.

What the findings are about: This brief summarizes the available evidence about strategies for increasing bicycling levels, including on-street bike lanes, off-street bike paths, and other bicycling infrastructure and educational programs, and offers related policy implications.

To access this full news brief and learn more, click here: http://www.activelivingresearch.org/dailybiketravel#.UZLQ5vhHB_g.twitter

Rent.com: Walkable Neighborhoods: How and Why You Should Keep on Walkin’

A recent article on Rent.com highlights how sustainability and urban planning initiatives have forcefully recognized a need for walkability in our neighborhoods, and Americans largely support the change of direction. From Millennials’ massive migrations to urban cores to baby boomers’ downsizing and moving to more walkable neighborhoods, recent relocation patterns have largely favored transit-friendly, pedestrian-oriented communities.

Walkability is important because it saves money and is also important from a sustainability standpoint. Americans who live in walkable communities significantly decrease their carbon footprints by walking to work every day. They also are more apt to take public transportation, which supports the local economy and allows more residents to give up their own cars.

The article says that more cities and regions all over the country are taking steps to create pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods in cities and suburbs alike. It offers Walkscore.com and Walkonomics as two great resources for finding a neighborhood’s “walkability score” but says the best way to scout out a walkable neighborhood is to, well, walk around!

To learn more and read the full article, click here: http://www.rent.com/blog/walkable-neighborhoods-how-and-why-you-should-keep-on-walkin/

NPR: Walking While Old: Seniors Face Greatest Death Risk

An NPR article recently highlighted new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which indicates that seniors face the highest risk of being killed by a car while walking. The CDC looked at pedestrian deaths from 2001 to 2010, to get a grasp of differences in sex, age and ethnicity. The death rates were lowest for children under age 15. The risk of pedestrian death increases slowly through life and peaks with people over age 75, who are more than twice as likely to be killed by a car than are people overall.

The article says that better safety overall will make walking safer for older people, she says, including better crosswalks, raised medians, enforcement of speed limits and pedestrian right-of-way, and car-free zones.

The CDC also looked at ethnicity, and found higher rates of pedestrian deaths among Native American, Alaska Native populations and Hispanics. Comparing gender, they found that men were found to be twice as likely as women to be killed as pedestrians.

To read the full article and learn more, click here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/04/18/177783314/walking-while-old-elderly-pedestrians-face-greatest-death-risk?sc=17&f=1001

Broward Complete Streets Highlighted in Complete Streets Coalition Newsletter

The Broward County Complete Streets Initiative Guidelines implementation was highlighted in the March National Complete Streets Coalition Newsletter:

Broward County, Florida will now use the Broward Complete Streets Guidelines in its work, following a unanimous vote from the County Commission, which also established an interdepartmental Complete Streets Team to review and recommend additional changes. The Guidelines, developed through a partnership that included public health and transportation agencies, are based on the national Model Design Manual for Living Streets. Read more >>

To view the newsletter and learn more, click here: http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2013/03/20/new-policies-in-florida-minnesota-nevada-and-ohio-complete-streets-news-march-2013/

Active Living Research: Counting Bicyclists and Pedestrians to Inform Transportation Planning

A new resource is available from Active Living Research entitled Counting Bicyclists and Pedestrians to Inform Transportation Planning.

This brief describes a number of technologies for counting bicycles and pedestrians and the benefits and challenges associated with different approaches. It also explains how counting data can be used to inform transportation planning, presents trends in levels of bicycle and pedestrian activity, and illustrates one goal of non-motorized traffic monitoring, namely, estimating bicycle and pedestrian traffic on streets in cities and towns.

To access this resource or learn more, click here: http://www.activelivingresearch.org/bikepedcounts

Sun Sentinel: New Las Olas signals favor pedestrians

A recent article in the Sun Sentinel highlights how signals on Las Olas Boulevard have been changed to favor pedestrians. The article states that signals at two intersections on Las Olas Boulevard have been tweaked for the next 30 days to allow an all-red cycle, when only pedestrians can move.

Bright yellow signs advise drivers that when the lights turn red, vehicles in all directions must stop. It’s the first such test in Broward County. If it succeeds, the all-red cycle will become permanent and used at other intersections with a high number of pedestrians. A1A and Las Olas on Fort Lauderdale beach is mentioned as a possibility. The signals will be monitored and changed as needed to meet the needs of drivers and pedestrians. If the new signals become permanent, the intersection may be modified so pedestrians can cross the intersection diagonally.

Changes like this are part of the Complete Streets Initiative which is was unanimously endorsed by the Broward County Commission on Tuesday March 12, 2013.

To learn more and read the full story, click here: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-las-olas-pedestrian-signal-20130313,0,5682212.story?dssReturn

Broward County Commission Unanimously Approves Complete Streets

Broward County Commission Unanimously Approves Complete Streets

Almost a year after the launch of the Broward County Complete Streets Initiative, the Broward County Commission voted unanimously in support of a Complete Streets measure. The measure calls for adopting the Broward Complete Streets Guidelines; establishing an interdepartmental Complete Streets Team; coordinating with municipalities, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and other departments on implementation; and to temporarily suspend fees for municipal Complete Streets project applications. Prior to the vote, County Mayor Kristin Jacobs, an early supporter of Complete Streets, said the motion was to create safer streets in Broward. For a copy of the motion, please visit the following link: http://205.166.161.204/docs/2013/CCCM/20130312_342/13428_Additional%20Material%20Item%2030%20031213.pdf

Urban Health Partnerships is proud to partner with the Broward Regional Health Planning Council, the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), the Health Foundation of South Florida, and the Smart Growth Partnership to realize the Broward Complete Streets Guidelines. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Community Transformation Grant for the Transforming Our Community’s Health (TOUCH) initiative helped facilitate the formation of the Broward MPO’s Complete Streets Technical Advisory Committee. This group was charged with developing the Broward Complete Streets Guidelines, which were unanimously endorsed by the Broward MPO Board in July, 2012.

Since the endorsement of the Guidelines by the MPO, Broward municipalities,FDOT and Broward County have been designing and building Complete Streets throughout the County. Furthermore, FDOT has developed a “Lane Elimination Process” to meet the demands of road diet requests and the County has hired a Complete Streets Coordinator to help review all resurfacing and capital improvement projects to balance all modes on its rights of way. Showing its commitment to Complete Streets, the County is slated to implement two “all walk” phases tomorrow at Las Olas and 8th and Las Olas and 9th in order to give pedestrians time to cross the street in any part of the intersection while cars are stopped in all directions. The photos here show County staff installing signs to educate drivers about the change in the traffic signal cycle. For more information about the Broward Complete Streets Initiative or to see the list of TAC members, please visit: www.BrowardCompleteStreet s.org or contact Program Manager Patrice Gillespie Smith at (786) 897 1386 or patrice@urbanhs.com

Become a Friend of the MPath

Should bicycling be this intimidating? Bike, Walk and Like the MPath, become a Friend of the M-Path.

To join the Friends of M-Path Mailing list, click here!

Visit our website here: http://urbanhs.com/initiatives/friendsofthempath/