Designing Streets for Pedestrians Safety

Watsonville (2-Day Course)

REGISTER

Dates: January 31 - February 1, 2008
Location:

Watsonville Civic Plaza
275 Main Street
Watsonville, CA 95076
Contact:

For inquires, please contact Debbie Bulger at (831) 457-1036
or at dfbulger@cruzio.com

Room: Community Room
Parking: Course participants should park in the Public Parking Garage (Municiple Lot 1) attached to the Civic Plaza Building. The garage entrance is on Rodriguez Street. Please park on the top floor of the garage. Your parking ticket will be validated at the workshop so there will be no charge for parking for the event. Enter the Civic Plaza directly from the top floor of the garage.
Training Time: January 31, 2008; 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
February 1, 2008; 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Description:

This course is intended to help state and local transportation professionals address pedestrian safety issues through design and engineering solutions. Training objectives include:

  • Participants will learn that pedestrians belong in all geometric design, operations, and safety considerations.
  • Participants will learn the significance of land-use, street connectivity, and site design in helping to make a safer pedestrian environment.
  • Participants will understand human behavior issues related to pedestrians and drivers interacting safely and common pedestrian crash types.
  • Participants will understand the role that planning and street design play in pedestrian safety.
  • Participants will learn effective solutions and best practices in design and operations for pedestrian safety. Specific design and operational issues covered include:
    • Sidewalk and walkway design
    • Intersection geometry
    • Signs, signals, and crosswalks
    • Interchange design and alternatives
    • Facilities at signalized intersections
    • Roundabouts
    • Connections to transit
    • Road diets and other traffic calming measures
  • Participants will take part in a field exercise as a critical element to the course. The class is broken into smaller groups to walk and study a nearby intersection or corridor for possible pedestrian safety improvements. The groups brainstorm and share engineering and policy solutions.

Funded by the Federal Highway Administration.

   
Agenda:

January 31, 2008

  1. Introductions, purpose of course
    • Attendees explain their background and what they hope to learn.
  2. Planing factors that impact pedestrian safety
    • o Land use; street connectivity; access management; site design; LOS
  3. Sidewalk design elements that impact pedestrian safety
    • Basic sidewalk design: width, clearances, accessibility, need for buffers
    • Driveways & alleys; maintaining sidewalk continuity
  4. Street crossings
    • Principals of human behavior; the need to provide safe, frequent and convenient crossings; midblock vs. intersection crossing safety
    • Crosswalks: justification, where they’re applicable; crosswalk markings & signing
    • Tools for improving the effectiveness of crosswalks: Illumination; flashing lights & beacons, signing; advance stop or yield lines; reducing multiple threat crashes
    • Medians & islands: breaking long crossing into 2 steps
    • Pedestrian signals: meeting warrants, providing a hot response; innovative techniques
    • Grade-separation: why it fails, where it’s applicable, how to make it succeed
  5. Intersection geometry
    • Geometric concerns: intersection size; choosing the right size radius; complex and skewed intersections
    • Curb extensions: reducing crossing distance
    • Crosswalk placement: how to place crosswalks where they’ll be used
    • Islands; right turn slip lane design
    • Interchanges: accommodating pedestrians at exit and entrance ramps
  6. Adjourn

February 1, 2008

  1. Intersection signalization
    • The purpose of signals; their effect on pedestrian safety; meeting warrants
    • Pedestrian signal placement
    • Countdown pedestrian signals
    • Push-button placement
    • Signal timing techniques: pedestrian signal timing; restricting turn movements; Leading Pedestrian Interval (LPI);all-ped scramble; ITS applications
  2. Roundabouts
  3. Transit
    • Bus stop design; location of bus stops & pedestrian crossing safety
  4. Road Diets
    • Reducing street width to enhance pedestrian safety without compromising capacity
  5. Prepare for field trip
  6. Field trip
  7. Lunch (on your own)
  8. Exercise: problem solving / brainstorming policy changes
  9. Exercise: Solutions and policy reports
  10. Exercise: Selecting high priority policy changes
  11. Wrap-up; next steps
  12. Adjourn