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AASHTO wants to weaken US DOT bicycle accommodation policy, bicyclists respond
On Friday, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) released a letter and supplemental document, which asked the US Department of Transportation to weaken their guidance on accommodating bicyclists and pedestrians. The supplemental document, submitted as part of a formal review of regulations, asks that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) withdraw their guidance on the meaning of “due consideration” of bicyclists and pedestrians to make it easier for states to ignore the needs of non-motorized travelers. AASHTO prefers the weaker “consider where appropriate” to allow states to avoid having to justify failure to accommodate bicycling and walking.
This request is misguided. At a time when cities are building entire bicycling networks for the cost of one mile of urban four-lane freeway, bike projects are putting people to work, and benefiting business, this is not the time to move backwards. When more and more states – 23 and counting – are embracing Complete Streets policies, AASHTO should be a leading voice in shaping holistic and comprehensive transportation systems, not resisting them. In fact, AASHTO’s own 12 year-old Bicycle Guide, due to be up dated this year, says that bicyclists and pedestrians can be expected on any roadway they are legally allowed to operate and therefore should be accommodated.
America Bikes, the coalition of national bicycling advocacy organizations, has sent this letter to the General Counsel of U.S. DOT to express our support for the current guidance and urge them to reject AASHTO’s request.
We need your voice as well:
AASHTO needs to hear from state DOTs that attacks on bicycling and walking do not reflect their wishes or interests. Use our Advocacy Center to Ask your state department of transportation head to contact AASHTO President Susan Martinovich, to let her know that your state disagrees with AASHTO’s recommendation. Find your state in the drop-down menu on the Advocacy Center page.
While AASHTO’s national leadership is trying to weaken federal guidance and retreating to narrow interpretations, many states are looking for leadership and planning and designing toolkits that would provide information and analysis for making really good technical decisions. The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) is beginning to step into this void. NACTO has released its Urban Bikeway Design Guide and is emerging as a counter-balance to AASHTO’s highway-centric approach. We hope that AASHTO will catch up with NACTO and provide the leadership that our communities are looking for.
In the meantime, do you have examples of state roads that do not accommodate cyclists and pedestrians? Share them in the comments.
UPDATE: AASTHO has withdrawn their request — thank you to everyone who sent alerts. We did it!
Darren Flusche
League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
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April 14th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Missoula, MT’s main street, Higgins, has bicycle accommodations on the entire street except for a 3-4 block section that is owned and maintained by Montana DOT – even though it was repaved just three years ago. Cyclists get hit on this hostile stretch of road (http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_97ea5338-d293-11df-84be-001cc4c002e0.html). In addition, the University of MT is a mere 5 blocks away and a high school, 1 block. This poor accommodation is a result of lack of DOT policy. Missoula has a Complete Streets policy; the state of Montana does not.
April 14th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
I hate over-regulation, but such mandates as we are talking about, i.e., making accommodation the rule rather than the exception, are often driven by foot dragging behavior that seems to leave few options.
Such a change as AASHTO suggests might be OK if state agencies were forward-looking, but would also allow foot-dragging agencies (such as the New Mexico Dept. of Transportation) to find excuses to not accommodate cyclists and pedestrians where by any logic they should be accommodated (examples include the US 84/285 corridor in Santa Fe). As it is, it is NM-DOT policy to lip pave shoulders, even on state bike routes. That resulted in a recent death of a doctor in Las Cruces, who was riding in the lane on US 70, a 65 mph “bike route” when hit from behind. Inexplicably, the shoulder was virtually impassible to a cyclist due to bad paving practices that save money by endangering cyclists.
http://labikes.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-mexico-state-police-to-cyclists-get.html
The following excerpt from a post made on Patrick O’Grady’s web site ( O’Grady writes for Velo News, Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, Adventure Cyclist) poignantly says it all:
http://maddogmedia.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/enslaved-to-the-pump/
Brian Smith Says:
April 14, 2011 at 1:31 pm | Reply
“… I lived in a small town and was just 1.5 miles from my job. There was no good way to ride to work. Too many log trucks on too small of roads. Kids couldn’t ride their bikes to school simply because of the traffic. Here, it’s 30 miles to work. The first 7 are hilly narrow 2 lane with no shoulder. the last are busy 4 lane divided highway with semi’s barreling at 70. I kinda want live long enough to see my daughter graduate.”
Decent accommodations for alternatives to the car, in an age of five buck a gallon gas, should not be negotiable.
April 14th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
Where else can you find a multi-lane expressway with bike lane striping? Right here in bicycle friendly Bend, OR! The only problem with this 45 MPH parkway / bypass is multiple at-grade crossings, marked and unmarked, most unsignalized, where bicyclists and peds keep getting mowed down. We’ve had 2 fatals in 2 years, and numerous injury accidents. Rapid flashing beacons are being installed as we speak, but we still need under or over-crossings to be safer and more ped-friendly. AASHTO guidelines for accomodation were followed by ODOT in the construction of this roadway — they really tried to accomodate all users. They just didn’t leave any safe place for bikes or peds to cross over it.
April 14th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
Basically you could paste the Oklahoma official state highway map here –>X
At least our cities are trying to accommodate bicyclists.
April 14th, 2011 at 6:56 pm
[...] AASHTO claims planning for people causes undue burden Posted by Steve in News on April 14th, 2011 – Be the first to comment On Friday, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) released a letter and supplemental document, which asked the US Department of Transportation to weaken their guidance on accommodating bicyclists and pedestrians. The supplemental document, submitted as part of a formal review of regulations, asks that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) withdraw their guidance on the meaning of “due consideration” of bicyclists and pedestrians to make it easier for states to ignore the needs of non-motorized travelers. AASHTO prefers the weaker “consider where appropriate” to allow states to avoid having to justify failure to accommodate bicycling and walking. (via League of American Bicyclists) [...]
April 22nd, 2011 at 2:48 pm
[...] “AASHTO wants to weaken US DOT bicycle accommodation policy, bicyclists respond,” League Of American Bicyclists [...]
April 25th, 2011 at 2:37 pm
[...] he added that the group would withdraw the request in light of opposition that emerged after the League of American Bicyclists, this blog and other bike advocates took up the [...]