Connecticut Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board
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2014 ANNUAL REPORT Connecticut Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board SoNo Arts Celebration, Norwalk Connecticut Bicycle Table of Contents and Pedestrian Complete Streets and Connecticut ...... 3 Advisory Board The Need for Continued Reform.......... 5 ctbikepedboard.org 2015 Recommendations ....................... 7 Neil S. Pade, AICP, Chair Legislators ............................................... 8 Sandy Fry, PE, Vice Chair Department of Transportation ................. 9 Joseph Balskus, PE, PTOE, Secretary Debra Dauphinais Other State Agencies .............................. 12 Kelly Kennedy Municipalities ........................................ 13 Mike Norris Regions .................................................. 13 Rod Parlee 2014 in Review .................................... 15 Francis R. Pickering Ray Rauth Laws and Regulations ............................ 15 Al Sylvestre Facilities and Services ............................ 16 Designs and Technologies ...................... 17 Best Practices ......................................... 19 Appendix ............................................. 20 January 2015 2 Manchester Road Race, Manchester Complete Streets and transit riders. The state took a further step toward complete streets with the and Connecticut adoption of a Complete Streets Policy by the Department of Transportation in 2014. Streets are important places. They are a fundamental part of what allows us to be With these regulations, Connecticut has (or prohibits us from being) a mobile and signaled its support for a transportation social population. The design of streets system that meaningfully includes and enhances or stifles human interaction. treats all users as equal. Over time, the Board hopes this support will translate In recognition of this, the Connecticut into improved facilities and services for General Assembly enacted a Complete those who walk, bike, and take the bus or Streets Law in 2009 (CGS §13a-153f and train, to the benefit of all residents of the §13b-13a). The law ‘completes the streets’ state. This report gives an update on that by requiring nearly all highway, road, and progress in 2014. street programs and projects in Connecti- cut to accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, Complete Streets and Connecticut 3 The Connecticut Bicycle and Section 13a-153f(b) Pedestrian Advisory Board “Accommodations for all users shall be a routine part of the planning, design, con- CGS §13b-13a established a Connecticut struction and operating activities of all high- Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board (the ways, as defined in section 14-1, in this “Board”) in the Connecticut Department State.” of Transportation (CTDOT) for administra- Compliance tive purposes. Per subsection (h), the The State is advancing efforts to comply Board must submit annually a report to with this section. Notable recent progress the Governor, the Commissioner of includes adoption of a complete streets CTDOT, and the Transportation Commit- policy by CTDOT. (See Complete Streets tee of the Connecticut General Assembly Policies, p. 16.) on: Section 13a-153f(c) “(1) the progress made by State agencies in improving the environment for bicycling and “From funds received by CTDOT or any mu- walking in this State,” nicipality for the construction, restoration, re- habilitation or relocation of highways, roads “(2) recommendations for improvements to or streets, a reasonable amount shall be ex- State policies and procedures related to bicy- pended to provide facilities for all users, in- cling and walking, and” cluding, but not limited to, bikeways and sidewalks with appropriate curb cuts and “(3) specific actions taken by the Depart- ramps. On and after October 1, 2010, not ment of Transportation in the preceding year less than one per cent of the total amount of that affect the pedestrian and cyclist envi- any such funds received in any fiscal year ronment.” shall be so expended. CTDOT or municipality Subsection (e) requires the Board to exam- shall take future transit expansion plans into account where appropriate. Notwithstanding ine the need for pedestrian and cyclist the provisions of this subsection, such provi- transportation, to promote programs and sions shall not apply in the event of a State facilities for pedestrians and cyclists in the or municipal transportation emergency.” state, and to advise appropriate agencies of the State on policies, programs, and fa- Compliance cilities for pedestrians and cyclists. CTDOT has tracked improvements relating to pedestrians and cyclists. Expenditure on these has exceeded 1% of transportation Legal requirements of the funds received every year since 2009. Complete Streets Law Whether this section of the law has been The 2009 Complete Streets Law codified, effective in increasing total outlays for pe- among others, the following requirements destrians and cyclists, however, is unclear. into statute. (The law may have set the floor too low at 1%, with the state already spending more than that before it went into effect.) Complete Streets and Connecticut 4 Ghost bike memorial to cyclist killed by a collision with a vehicle in 2014, Bloomfield The Need for takes transit to a job. Fewer yet (3%) walk to work; only 0.5% bike. Such dependency Continued Reform on the car isolates large and growing parts of the population (the young, the old, the In recent years, Connecticut has worked to disabled, and the poor) and imposes a put walking, biking, and transit use on an huge burden on households. That our equal footing with driving. Yet necessary transportation system continues to put as these efforts are, they are not sufficient. families under financialstrain and to shut Decades of transportation planning and members of our society out from full par- projects that focused on the promotion of ticipation in the economy demonstrate the automobile use cannot be changed in a need for continued reform. year or two. More work remains to be done. These costs, however, pale in comparison to those caused by crashes. Crashes kill Most visibly, the state’s residents still rely hundreds of state residents every year and on the car for almost everything. For in- injure thousands more. Vulnerable users stance, only one in twenty employees The Need for Continued Reform 5 are disproportionately represented among How workers in Connecticut get to work3 the victims: one in seven road fatalities in 6% Connecticut is a pedestrian or a cyclist1. 5% Yet despite these high numbers, scant pro- 4% gress has been made over the last decade 3% in reducing pedestrian and cyclist deaths. 2% The continuing failure of our transporta- 1% tion system to provide for the safety of its 0% most vulnerable tragically illustrates the 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 need for continued reform. Walked Biked Transit These findingsshould not be interpreted 4 as indicating that recent reforms were in- Fatalities per year in Connecticut effective. Changes to something as large 300 and complex as the transportation system 250 take time; the full impact of past reforms 200 150 likely has yet to be felt. Despite this, the 100 need for action remains as real as ever. 50 While Connecticut is a better place to walk 0 and bike today than it was a decade ago, it has not yet become a leader in protecting Vehicle occupants Pedestrians and supporting pedestrians and cyclists. Cyclists Indeed, for all the progress the state has made, it runs the risk of falling behind if the reform process does not continue. (Connecticut’s slip over the last year from #18 to #21 in the League of American Bicy- clists’ state rankings2 lends substance to this concern.) For Connecticut maintain and improve its position, further changes are needed. The next part of this report lays out a course for continued reform in 2015 in Connecticut. 1 In 2013, the most recent year for which data was available, as well as for the decade 2004-2013. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). 2 State rankings and report cards can be found at the League’s website. 3 Data from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (1-year). Faint lines are 95% confidence intervals. 4 Data from FARS. The Need for Continued Reform 6 Reduction in motor vehicle speeds makes streets friendlier to pedestrians and cyclists 2015 To continue this progress, and help make Connecticut a better place to walk and a Recommendations better place to bike, the Board has devel- oped a set of recommended reforms. These The Board is gratified to see continuedre- follow over the next several pages and are form of policies and programs since enact- grouped by implementing agency or party. ment of the Complete Streets Law and is Many fall under the purview of CTDOT, particularly pleased with advances made but this report also includes reforms for in 2014. Most notably, CTDOT adopted a other agencies, state policymakers, regions Complete Streets Policy that includes most and municipalities, and the Board itself. of the elements proposed by the Board in its last annual report. The Department of A tabular list of the recommendations can Motor Vehicles also made revisions to its be found in the Appendix (p. 20). Driver’s Manual in line with Board sugges- tions. For a review of reforms made over the last year, see 2014 in Review (p. 15). 2015 Recommendations 7 Recommendations to Legislators Let Cars Cross the Yellow Line When Passing Bikes The law requires that drivers overtaking cyclists give them at least a 3-foot berth. While most drivers observe this, when lanes are narrow, drivers who refuse to cross the double yellow line may get Driver crossing yellow line to pass cyclist “stuck” behind a cyclist or, worse, try to “squeeze by” cyclists—even when there is bicycle or other slow-moving vehicle no oncoming traffic. This behavior greatly where it is safe to do so. Suggested lan- increases the risk of a collision and results guage follows: from an oversight in state law. “When passing a pedestrian, bicycle, tractor, CGS §14-234 enables the designation of or other slow-moving vehicle, the operator of no-passing zones and requires drivers to a vehicle may drive on the left side of the observe them.