Posted by Zoe Harris and Drew DeVitis
Local
Sound Transit is seeking input from the public for pictograms needed for new Link light rail stations.
Feet First hosted our first Walkable Washington Symposium, which highlighted innovative policies, strategies and programs across Washington that work to create walkable communities.
Seattle is conducting a national search to find the next Seattle Department of Transportation Director. There are many opportunities for public input, including a meeting next Tuesday, April 8, 2014 from 1:00-3:00pm in the Bertha Knight Landes Room at City Hall.
This Sunday join Rainier Valley Greenways for a community celebration of the Rainier Valley’s first pop-up greenway, a temporary installation of features including faux painted speed humps, way-finding signs, sharrows and intersection improvement suggestions that demonstrate what a greenway could look like.
National
In California rates of walking, bicycling, and transit use have doubled since 2000 while the driving rate decreased 11%, according to the California Household Travel Survey. Walking rates jumped from 8.8% to 16.6%!
Schools in select states can win thousands of dollars by participating in the Fire Up Your Feet Program. The challenge lasts all of April.
Matthew Algeo’s new book Pedestrianism chronicles a time when the sports craze in America was competitive walking. He explains that “watching people walk was America’s favorite spectator sport.”
International
Two smart phone trip planning apps, Ototo and Transit App, include walking time in their features.
A pedestrian bridge, inspired by a Möbius strip, is planned to span a river within the town of Meixi Lake in China.
If you come across any interesting pedestrian news or stories, please send a link to zoe@feetfirst.org.
Photos courtesy of NPR Books