We are pleased to present our July 2009 newsletter on Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS). In this issue we discuss:
We are always looking for your help in making ContextSensitiveSolutions.org the most up-to-date and comprehensive tool for CSS professionals. We are pleased to say that we have received over 30 case studies from the CSS community in the past few months. Please continue contributing any CSS-related case studies, research papers, news items, editorials, presentations, and other content that you think the CSS community would find interesting. We are especially looking for content related to CSS and sustainability, CSS and Complete Streets, Livable Communities, and examples of CSS in rural and natural settings.
If you have any questions about contributing content, or anything else, please e-mail us at info@contextsensitivesolutions.org or call (212) 620-5660.
Enjoy!
The ContextSensitiveSolutions.org team
CSS & Complete
Streets
CSS
and Complete Streets was the topic of the most recent installment of the 2009 CSS Webinar Series. – The webinar attracted nearly 400 participants. A recording of the session can
be found at the CSS.org
webinar page, with slideshow presentations by
Barbara McCann, President of the National Complete Streets Coalition,
Gabe Rousseau, Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Manager for FHWA’s Office of
Natural and Human Environment, and Michael Ronkin, Designing Streets for Pedestrians and Bicyclists, LLC.
In conjunction with the Complete Streets webinar, CSS.org also recently
launched an online Complete
Streets resource center where users can download and view case studies,
reports, state profiles, links, and related content. The content on this
website includes AARP’s Planning
Complete Streets for an Aging America, Complete Streets:
We Can Get There from Here, and Retrofitting
Urban Arterials Into Complete Streets, to name a few.
To register for webinar announcements, please click here. You can also learn
more about Complete Streets at the website of the National Complete Streets Coalition.
International
Scan on Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety and Mobility
The
FHWA has recently concluded an international scan on pedestrian and bicycle
safety and mobility. The team included federal, state, and local officials, as
well as researchers and Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP)
representatives. The purpose of the scan was to identify best practices related
to walking and bicycling safety and mobility that could be implemented here in
the United States. The team met with transportation officials in Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
The key findings of the report are organized around
the 5E approach (an expanded version of the 3E approach commonly used in
traffic safety improvements):
- Engineering – designing and building infrastructure
that is safe, convenient, and comfortable to use
- Education – educating all transportation system
users on safe and appropriate behavior
- Enforcement – enforcing existing traffic laws
- Encouragement – encouraging and promoting the use
of sustainable travel modes
- Evaluation – monitoring the results to ensure that
goals are met
Click
here to view a summary report of the major items the team hopes to
implement in the US. This summer the scan team will reconvene in Washington, DC to finalize the full report, which will be published later this year.
CSS National Dialog Call for Submissions –
Deadline: July 31, 2009
As announced in the last CSS newsletter, FHWA and the Center for
Transportation and the Environment (CTE) at North Carolina State University, have partnered to initiate a National Dialog about CSS to serve as a catalyst for an
ongoing exchange of ideas and build momentum for wider implementation of CSS in
the transportation industry. As a key element to the success of the National
Dialog. we want to encourage the CSS community to submit case studies,
reports, and other materials that you think meet the goals of the Dialog,
which are to:
- Introduce CSS principles and
practices to a wide array of partner organizations;
- Identify CSS best practices and
present them to transportation professionals across the nation;
- Strengthen and broaden interest
in CSS;
- Discover new opportunities for
partnerships;
- Bring new perspectives to
planning, designing, building and maintaining transportation facilities;
- Foster a community of CSS
practice and promote the dissemination of CSS best practice examples.
The deadline for submissions has been extended
to July 31, 2009.
Once submissions have been received, the Dialog will feature a
series of one-day workshops -
tentatively planned for the Summer and Fall of 2009 in various
locations across the US. Each workshop will highlight a CSS best practice,
using a transportation project or program as a Workshop Spotlight to initiate
discussion and interaction.
The workshops will be fully documented on the CSS Clearinghouse website, but workshops are just the beginning
of the Dialog. The Dialog will continue on the CSS Clearinghouse - through
discussion forums, the CSS webinar series, and the publication of new case
studies, and much more! A special website has also been established for material
submission and workshop registration: www.cssnationaldialog.org.
CSS Videos
One
important aspect of CSS.org is the ability to convey comprehensive information
to the CSS community in a variety of formats. In order to
enhance that function, we have begun adding videos to the website.
Videos
range from presentations on the latest transportation design features, to
renderings and 3-D simulations of proposed transportation projects.
Transportation is not a static issue, so we feel it is important to deliver
information in a way that conveys the full impact of transportation projects,
and we think video brings us one step closer to doing that.
If
you know of any CSS-related videos you would like to share with the CSS
community, please forward them to us. In the future, registered users will have
the ability to post videos to topic pages of the CSS website, associate them
with state profiles and case studies, and search the CSS Clearinghouse for
videos on specific topics.
Below
is a video of the proposed Tuscon streetcar. Other videos can be found on the CSS website by clicking here.
Upcoming CSS Events
July 28-29, 2009, 2009 Transportation Planning, Land Use, and Air Quality
Conference, Denver, CO, http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/tpluaq/home.html
July 28, 2009, 1:00 – 3:00pm: EPA Webcast: Managing Wet Weather with Green
Infrastructure - Retrofits: Green Streets and Operation
& Maintenance, http://www.epa.gov/npdes/outreach_files/webcast_flyer_green_infrastructure.pdf
August 9-12, 2009: ITE 2009 Annual Meeting and Exhibit, San Antonio, TX, http://www.ite.org/AnnualMeeting/default.asp
September 13, 2009: The 2009 International Conference on Ecology &
Transportation, Duluth, MN, http://www.icoet.net/ICOET2009.asp
September 14-15, 2009: Integrated Corridor System Management Modeling Best
Practices Workshop, Irvine, CA, http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/community/calendar/cal-item-view?cal_item_id=480894
October 7-9, 2009, International Walk 21 Conference, New York, NY, http://www.walk21.com/conferences/newyork.asp
October 22-27, 2009: 2009 AASHTO Annual Meeting, Palm
Desert, CA http://www.transportation.org/meetings/181.aspx
October 30-November 1, 2009: Rail~Volution 2009, Boston, MA, http://www.railvolution.com/
November 5-6, 2009: Streets as Places Training Course, Project
for Public Spaces, New York, NY, http://www.pps.org/training/info/transportation_training_course
