Remarks by Deputy Secretary Downey to the TRB Committee on Pedestrians |
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Mortimer Downey, United States Deputy Secretary of Transportation
January 11, 1999
REMARKS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
CHANGING THE CULTURE: POLICY AND PRACTICE OF PEDESTRIANISM
DEPUTY SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION MORTIMER DOWNEY
TRB COMMITTEE ON PEDESTRIANS
WASHINGTON, DC
JANUARY 11, 1999
Thank you, Ann. I appreciate this opportunity to talk about the future of the oldest form of transportation --walking.
I want to congratulate you for the work you have done at Walk Boston, along with the many other similar organizations around the country that have been promoting walking as a transportation option. I also want to commend TRB for the focus that has been placed on walking and bicycling at this year’s conference.
As we all know, walking is the oldest means of transportation but it also competes as the cheapest, the most environmentally sound and the healthiest. Walking can and should be an available alternative for people to get around their own neighborhoods --to the stores, the schools and the parks.
But if walking is so great, why don’t more people do it? If it’s because driving is just easier, we have to work on changing public attitudes. But it’s also because there are too many neighborhoods in this country where public actions discourage walking by making it unsafe or simply by providing no facilities for pedestrians.
It was exactly 86 years ago today that the first sedan was unveiled at an auto show in New York and, since then, walking has been on the decline. For too many years, transportation policy in this country has been the sole province of those who believed that people wanted to ride everywhere in those sedans.
The automobile has been a valuable addition to the daily lives of many people but not enough thought was given to the consequences of the automobile-oriented society and little or nothing was done for the pedestrians.
Now, we have begun to change that policy. The commitment of the Clinton Administration and the attention of Congress to new and flexible means of transportation give us the tools to do so.
Our goal at DOT, as many of you know, is to double the percentage of trips made by foot and bicycle while, at the same time, reducing the absolute number of fatalities and injuries involving bicyclists and pedestrians by 10 percent.
Consider the math implicit in that statement --double the percentage of trips taken in a growing travel market coupled with an absolute reduction in the number of fatalities and injuries. That’s a substantial undertaking and it reflects our commitment to make walking a significant part of an integrated, intermodal transportation system.
Five years ago, DOT issued The National Bicycling and Walking Study in which we reported that more than one-fourth of all travel is one mile or less and 53 percent of all people live within two miles of a public transit route. These short trips hold tremendous potential for increasing the amount of walking.
The study listed 65 action items for DOT to accomplish and we have been working on them. On Earth Day, April 22, you will get our report card. We will release an update on the status of every one of those 65 action items and I don’t believe you will be disappointed.
We have made tremendous progress during the last few years. More American adults are riding bikes and walking.
ISTEA, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, advanced the cause of walking by requiring each state to set up a Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator. States and communities also were required, for the first time, to consider pedestrian needs in their long-range transportation plans.
Before ISTEA, we spent about $4 million of Federal money annually on bicycle and pedestrian projects. During the ISTEA years, an average of $160 million a year was invested in bicycle and pedestrian facilities.
But the interest in bicycle and pedestrian facilities increased as more people became aware of the potential that ISTEA offered for new transportation solutions. As a result, in the final year of ISTEA, $239 million was spent for pedestrian and bicycling projects.
We expect even more to be invested in pedestrian facilities during the TEA-21 era because there is even greater potential to obtain funding. State and transportation planning agencies are now aware of the demand for facilities that will allow people to walk and of the environmental, economic and congestion-relief benefits of walking.
The state and metropolitan planning processes are the forums where advocates of walking must make their voices heard. The TEA-21 provisions calling for continued public involvement --especially by consumers --in that planning process should help.
Under TEA-21, pedestrian projects are broadly eligible for funding from most of the major Federal-aid highway, transit, and safety programs. National Highway System, Surface Transportation Program, Transportation Enhancement, and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program funds may all be used to construct pedestrian facilities.
In addition, funds set-aside from STP for Hazard Elimination may be used to identify and correct locations that are a danger to pedestrians. Transit funds may also be used to increase pedestrian access to transit facilities.
Decisions to allocate these funds are now and will continue to be made at the state and metropolitan level but we intend through consultation to encourage strongly the funding of pedestrian facilities.
ISTEA and TEA-21 have written pedestrian walkways into the planning process, requiring state and metropolitan planners to accommodate pedestrians in their long-range plans and to consider projects and strategies to increase the safety and security of nonmotorized users. Again, this is a key place for pedestrian advocates to make an impact.
TEA-21 not only directs consideration for pedestrians in the planning process but it also requires consideration of walkways in conjunction with all new construction and reconstruction of transportation facilities, except where walking is explicitly not permitted. Hopefully, that prohibition will be applied to a dwindling number of places and only on a sound safety basis.
At our request, TEA-21 established the Transportation and Community and System Preservation Program --another potentially powerful tool to link transportation with community development and help create more livable communities across our nation.
State and local officials may apply for funds to plan or implement transportation strategies that will also reduce environmental impacts and the need for costly public infrastructure investments. We anticipate making the first round of selections early this year.
Secretary Slater has stressed that this program gives communities an opportunity to integrate transportation with environmental, social and economic priorities. It can help us build truly sustainable communities.
To further these goals, we will issue program guidance later this year directing planning officials to routinely consider pedestrian and bicyclist needs in project decisions unless there is some compelling reason not to.
We are working with AASHTO and officials in several states to develop a program to educate planners and designers about flexibility in road design. Planners and designers have too often chosen the highest level road possible with little thought to the impacts on the surrounding community or the needs of pedestrians.
This program will let the design engineers know there are other, more context-sensitive designs available. We are also working on design guidance to provide help in designing projects to accommodate pedestrians.
President Clinton’s top transportation priority is safety and that is as true for pedestrian transportation as it is for commercial aviation, highways or any other modes of travel.
We will be looking at the human factors that play a vital role in planning for improved safety that will be needed with an increase in walking. We are developing an easy-to-understand safety message for diverse audiences, such as our large and growing Hispanic population, senior citizens and children under 15.
We prepared an instructional manual to help communities identify high crash zones for older pedestrians and target safety programs to those areas.
TEA-21 also created a national bicycle and pedestrian safety clearinghouse which DOT will fund at almost $500,000 annually to develop informational and educational programs and strategies to improve safety.
The Secretarial Initiative for Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety promotes walking and bicycling as safe, efficient and healthy ways to travel. We hope to increase awareness of the pedestrian injury and fatality problem and develop resource materials for potential solutions.
The Initiative resulted in the creation of the Partnership for a Walkable America --a public private coalition with broad representation that will promote pedestrian safety, the need for safe and accessible places to walk, and the health benefits of walking.
I want to emphasize that it is unacceptable for our nation to have the high level of injuries and fatalities among pedestrians that we do. Pedestrian fatalities account for approximately 13 percent of all traffic fatalities and 85 percent of nonoccupant fatalities.
On average, a pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash every 99 minutes and injured every 7 minutes. These are people who are simply walking --many of whom lack access to cars. When cars collide with pedestrians on the roads, pedestrians lose. We must make sure that in the planning and design battles they win and that they are protected on the roads.
As the most technologically-advanced nation in history, we should be able to provide opportunities for people to walk safely in their communities. We expect the new planning and design tools that have been developed in recent years to reduce the rate of fatalities and injuries among walkers.
Our Intelligent Vehicle Initiative is developing new technology to help make drivers aware of pedestrians whom they might not see in today’s cars. Infrared detectors will give drivers greatly improved night vision while sensors will warn drivers of the presence of obstructions, including pedestrians, in the vehicle’s path or in blind spots.
We are, at DOT, committed to creating a role for the oldest form of transportation as we develop the transportation system for the 21st century. For example, the Federal Transit Administration’s Liveable Communities program includes a strong emphasis on improving pedestrian access to transit facilities.
By encouraging walking, we promote long-term sustainable development and vice versa.
The goal of sustainable communities, as defined by President's Council on Sustainable Development, is to "encourage people to work together to create healthy communities where natural and historic resources are preserved, jobs are available, sprawl is contained, neighborhoods are secure, education is lifelong, transportation and health care are accessible, and all citizens have opportunities to improve the quality of their lives."
That’s a recipe for pedestrian friendly development patterns.
As Secretary Slater says, transportation is about more than asphalt, steel, and concrete: it’s about people, and about giving them the opportunity to lead better, more fulfilling lives. Transportation alone doesn’t solve anything if it doesn’t take people where they want to go; economic development can’t achieve its promise if people can’t get there.
We need smart decisions targeted at sustainable prosperity and a sound quality of life, and we in the Clinton Administration want to give communities the tools they need to make them. Through the guidance and policies that DOT has issued, and through TEA-21, state and metropolitan planners can make the decision to invest in safe and accessible pedestrian facilities and to promote sustainability.
We strongly encourage you to work with them in the planning process to promote walkability because we believe walking -- as a means of transportation --is the first step towards the long-term sustainable communities we need. Thank you.
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Source: U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)