Weekly Walk Around the News

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Feet First’s look at pedestrian news for the week of August 19, 2011.

Weekly Walk Around the News

Posted by Derrick Van Kirk August 19, 2011

 

 Local

Earlier this week, Seattle City Council voted 9-0 to put the much discussed $60 vehicle-license fee (VLF) to pay for transportation on the November ballot.  According to Publicola, if passed, the fee will raise a little more than $20 million per year to go toward the following: $5.97 million for street maintenance and repair, $4.43 million for pedestrian and bike improvements, and $10 million for transit-related improvements.

Volunteers are needed in 28 cities in Washington State for the annual count of bicyclists and pedestrians.  As part of the National Documentation Project, the count takes place on September 27, 28 and 29.  You can sign up by contacting WSDOT.

On August 6th, Safe Walks celebrated the new crosswalk 130th and Aurora Ave North.

 

National

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is set to sign a Complete Streets bill that will require city planners throughout the state to consider pedestrians and cyclists when building new roads or doing major road work on old ones.  According to Treehugger.com, neither the idea nor the term complete streets come from New York, but the state may be the first to apply the policy on such a large scale.

The City of Chicago released new study that found most pedestrians who have been hit by cars between 2005 and 2009 were in the crosswalk.  This article in the Chicago Tribune points out that 80 percent of all vehicle-pedestrian crashes during this time occurred at intersections and commonly involve people crossing the street with the walk signal, according to the new study.  

 

International

Benjamin Giles of the Victoria Times Colonist in Victoria, BC, explains why he believes building streets that are more pedestrian friendly are the best way to alleviate traffic congestion.

A new sidewalk in Vancouver, BC is the City’s first block-length stretch of rubber sidewalk.  In a bid to become the world’s greenest city by 2020, Vancouver plans on installing more sidewalks made of recycled rubber tires.  According to the city manager of streets design, the new sidewalks are better for the environment by using up old rubber tires in place making cement and they will last longer than concrete sidewalks.

 

If you come across any interesting pedestrian news or stories, please send a link to derrick@feetfirst.org

 Photo of shoes courtesy of Flickr user blond avenger under the Creative Commons license. 

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