Archive for the 'Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinators' Category

It’s a common frustration among cyclists: Elected officials and agency staff often give short shrift to cyclists and more priority to motorists when making decisions about transportation.

In many communities, funding choices are made without public input or scrutiny; streets are repaved without a thought of adding bicycle lanes; and school properties are purchased miles and miles away from the neighborhood children they serve.

What can we do to make cyclists and pedestrians an integral, normal part of the transportation conversation? A new report from Advocacy Advance — a partnership of the League and Alliance for Biking & Walking — highlights the benefits of establishing a Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) to make sure active transportation has a dedicated seat at the decision-making table.

Click here to download Making Bicycling and Walking a Norm in Transportation Agencies: Best Practices in Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committees.

Written by Matt Wempe, the League’s State and Local Advocacy Coordinator, the report includes:

• The definition and structure of a BPAC
• Benefits and challenges of a BPAC
• Making the case for a BPAC
• Establishing a BPAC
• Recommendations for an effective BPAC
• And more…

Just one example showcased in the report comes from Nashville, Tenn. In 2008, the city invited 23 individuals — including bike/ped advocates, public works staff, police, and private citizens — to assist the Metropolitan Planning Organization with a regional bike/ped study. That “working group” quickly evolved into a strong, standing BPAC and has gone on to boost bicycling across the region.

For instance, the BPAC helped develop scoring criteria that boosted the number of funded road projects that include bicycle and pedestrian elements by an impressive 70 percent. The BPAC also advocated for policies to establish a 15 percent set aside for bicycle and pedestrian projects in the MPO’s transportation improvement program. Talk about changing the conversation!

Learn more about establishing and improving your local BPAC; read the entire report at www.advocacyadvance.org/resources.

Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director

Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.

This week we bid farewell to Tom Huber, who is retiring from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation after more than 20 years with the agency, including a long stint as the Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator. Actually, more than just a long stint: Tom Huber pretty much defines the position of State Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator – he is one of the very few coordinators left in that role from the class of 1992, the year the position was mandated in every state for the first time by ISTEA. (Paul Douglas in Texas…are you there, Paul?)

There are a lot of really nice people involved in the bicycling world – Tom is at the top of that pile! For twenty years he’s plugged away at the Department, slowly changing hearts and minds in favor of better bicycling policies and projects through a critical blend of doggedness, reasonableness, optimism and creativity. He’s been able to work well with advocates, the local bike industry, engineers, planners, on-and off-road riders all with the same constructive, open and accessible manner – always with a little disarming humor thrown in there.

Tom has also been an immense help to the emerging bike/pedestrian profession through his service to the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals – Wisconsin hosted the first APBP Professional Development Seminar; Madison has also been home to the Pro Walk Pro Bike Conference, the League’s bike education conference and much more. The state’s own bike/ped conferences have always been good value. Tom has served on numerous critical Transportation Research Board project review teams; he is a mainstay for Federal Highway and NHTSA project advisory groups; he was instrumental in helping us get the Bicycle Friendly State program in good shape. There’s a good reason he’s tapped for all this: he is always thoughtful, not at all dogmatic, totally reliable, and just a pleasant guy to work with.

But, he’s not without faults. Honestly, by now he should have been running the Wisconsin Department of Transportation – and the agency and state would have been better off for him doing that. And, getting phone calls from Tom has always been a little irritating. He’ll call up and talk about an issue or problem he’s grappling with, then he’ll tell you the solution that he’s already figured out (while you are racking your brains on the other end of the phone line thinking “what am I going to suggest here”) and leave you with nothing helpful to recommend or say in response.

In a quiet, undemonstrative career as Wisconsin’s bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, Tom has had a profoundly beneficial influence on the bicycling movement and profession and it’s going to be hard to think of Wisconsin without thinking of Tom Huber. Don’t worry, though, he hasn’t died. In fact, he’s going to get a new lease of life working with the fabulous team at Toole Design starting at the end of the Summer. I hope you are going to take some time for yourself and your family, Tom, because your extended family is eagerly awaiting your return to work as a consultant.

Andy Clarke
League President

Andy Clarke was appointed to the position of Executive Director in April of 2004 after successfully leading efforts to create, interpret and implement the various transportation programs that are available to improve conditions for bicycling and walking as the League’s State and Local Advocacy Director. Before joining the League in February 2003, Clarke was on contract to provide technical assistance to the highly regarded Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center on site at the Federal Highway Administration. He is on the Board of Directors for America Bikes, and a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.