FHWA Supports:
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Ensuring pedestrian and bicycle safety is an important goal across the U.S. Department of Transportation. In the fall of 2014, I announced the Safer People, Safer Streets initiative with the goal of improving pedestrian and bicycle safety across the country. This three-part initiative includes the Safer Streets Assessment, the Mayors' Challenge, and Safer Policies. The first element of the initiative was a call for the Department to convene a walk/bike safety assessment in every State. I asked our Operating Administrations to collaborate and create new partnerships across State, regional, and local agencies, as well as local pedestrian and bicyclist communities across America. Our field offices embraced this call, and by the end of June 2015, 52 assessments were completed across the country.
This report is an overview of the approaches taken and the outcomes of those assessments; it highlights successes and identifies common barriers, as well as potential solutions. In addition to producing valuable observations about individual corridors, these assessments helped achieve a larger goal of identifying ways for local, State, and Federal agencies and stakeholders to collaborate more effectively to reverse the recent rise in deaths and injuries among people who use our transportation system to bicycle or walk to work, school, transit, and other important destinations.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is committed to making safe walking and biking a reality for all Americans, regardless of racial or ethnic background, age, income, and ability. I strongly encourage you to use this assessment report to identify how you can get involved in your own community and at all levels of government to work together for improved pedestrian and bicyclist safety. We will succeed by collaborating and building relationships across jurisdictional boundaries and bringing together partners around these important goals. We look forward to continuing to work with new and existing partners to ensure our transportation networks are safe and accessible for all people.
Anthony R. Foxx
Secretary of Transportation
This report was produced by the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Action Team with assistance from the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. The Team is comprised of representatives from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and Office of the Secretary (OST). U.S. DOT would like to acknowledge the contributions of the modal field offices who planned and participated in the pedestrian and bicycling safety assessments and reported back to us on findings and insights from the event. A list of all offices participating can be found at the end of this report. Dozens of State, regional, and local agencies and stakeholders also made valuable contributions without which this project would not have been possible.
We also thank the U.S. field offices for contributing all photos used in this report.
