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Across the country, communities big and small are making pedestrian and bicyclist safety a top priority.
A new sidewalk project in Neah Bay, Washington, on the Makah Reservation, is benefiting all ages.
Rochelle Cooke: "I love the sidewalks. I use them every day to get my son off the bus.
Also, on the weekends, I walk up and down the hill for exercise, and it's way safer than it used to be before."
Several years ago, a teenage girl was struck by the mirror of a passing vehicle along this highway.
She survived, but many pedestrians are killed walking along roads.
Tamara Redmon: "Pedestrian fatalities have been steadily increasing for the last 8 years or so.
Currently there are around 6,000 fatalities per year, which is the highest number since 1990."
For many years there were two walking paths on each side of the Neah Bay business district,
but they were not connected.
Michelle Smith: "We most recently just installed a 3,300 lineal-foot curb and gutter sidewalk,
concrete sidewalk, to connect the path, all the way from the east end of town to the west end of town."
Less expensive options for improving pedestrian safety include wider shoulders.
Michelle Smith: "We are a huge walkability community, part of, just extending the shoulder
it allows easier for access for bikes and we have a lot of bicycle usage here on the reservation."
Sidewalks reduce crashes involving pedestrians walking along roadways by up to 89 percent.
Paved shoulders reduce these crashes by 71 percent.
Shared use paths also improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists.
A 25-percent reduction in vehicle-bicycle crashes has been reported for urban areas.
Other pedestrian safety countermeasures include enhancements at crosswalks.
Tamara Redmon: "Well, there's a lot of things that can be done to improve the safety of crosswalks.
Currently we have an initiative known as Safe Transportation for Every Pedestrian,
also known as STEP, that promotes the use of pedestrian hybrid beacon,
rectangular rapid flash beacon, medians, pedestrian refuge islands
and road diets and other crossing enhancements."
A classic road diet in the small town of Milton-Freewater, Oregon, has made a big difference.
Linda Hall: "We struggled for years on how to get traffic to slow down. They've been
on a highway and now they're in a city, in a downtown business district, where we were
hoping they would slow down to 25, but that often was not the case."
Oregon DOT recommended the city install a road diet for many reasons. Not only do they
provide more consistent traffic flow, they free up space for bike lanes and in some cases,
sidewalks.
Tamara Redmon: "So a road diet is when you take a four-lane road and turn it into a three-lane
road essentially with two through lanes and one center, 2-way left turn lane."
Slowing down traffic became an absolute necessity when local officials announced plans to build
a new elementary school near the busy road.
Linda Hall: "We knew we were going to have kids ages kindergarten to third grade that
were going to be crossing that really busy Highway 11/South Main Street to get to their school.
That really got us to working with ODOT even more than ever."
Aaron Duff: "When we started down the path of the restriping, I was maybe not a critic,
but I did not think that this was going to work out. It has definitely slowed people down."
Slower traffic is just one of many road diet benefits.
Daniel Fine: "The biggest one is when you have a four-lane section, two in each direction,
we call it the occluded pedestrian, where one vehicle can block the view of a pedestrian crossing
the highway, and we have seen some fatalities in Oregon where that's happened."
The project included upgraded, striped crosswalks; double-sided crosswalk signs in the school zone;
and in-street pedestrian signs.
Those who were skeptical about the road diet at first, are now sold.
Aaron Duff: "100%, I'm a buyer. I'd buy it every time. I'd say give it a shot.
By far probably one of the least expensive things that you can do."
Sidewalks, paved shoulders, bike lanes, shared-use paths, crosswalk enhancements, and road diets
all increase safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. Transportation agencies should work towards
incorporating these types of pedestrian facilities into roadway projects.
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