APBP / NACTO Urban Street Design Guide Webinar Now Available Online

By Karen Dredge, APBP

The Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) and The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) provided a free webinar on the Urban Street Design Guide on November 6th. Over 1000 interested viewers registered and watched it live. APBP now has made the archival recording available to any interested viewer. Go to the APBP home page http://www.apbp.org and click into the NACTO Screen to begin viewing.

During the webinar the leading experts in street design who contributed to the guide’s development addressed how this resource will change the face of our nation’s streets, the ways you can use it in your community, and how specific topics and elements in the document differ from conventional practice.

The NACTO Urban Street Design Guide charts the principles and practices of the nation’s foremost engineers, planners and designers working in cities today. The Guide offers a blueprint for designing 21st-century streets, and unveils the toolbox and the tactics cities use to make streets safer, more livable, and more economically vibrant.

In this archived webinar, viewers can achieve a better understanding of how and why city streets demand a unique set of design tools specific to their distinct needs and characteristics; how to implement different “interim” design strategies, including parklets, public plazas and temporary safety improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians; how to utilize the guide as a tool for local and state advocacy, including basic information on NACTO’s endorsement campaign for the guide.

The webinar presenters are all experts in street design and contributors to The Guide: Michael Flynn, Director of Capital Planning, NYC DOT; Michael King, Principal, Nelson\Nygaard Associates; Peter Koonce, Division Manager, Signals, Street Lighting & ITS, Portland Bureau of Transportation; David Vega-Barachowitz, Director, Designing Cities initiative, NACTO.

The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) represents large cities on transportation issues of local, regional and national significance. NACTO views the transportation departments of major cities as effective and necessary partners in regional and national transportation efforts, promoting their interests in federal decision-making. As a coalition of city transportation departments, NACTO is committed to raising the state of the practice for street design and transportation by building a common vision, sharing data, peer-to-peer exchange in workshops and conferences, and regular communication among member cities. For more information about the organization, visit www.nacto.org.

The Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) provides expertise for sustainable transportation and is the only professional membership organization for the discipline of pedestrian and bicycle transportation. APBP members are employees of all levels of government, consulting firms and non-profits who work in the engineering, planning, landscape architecture, police, safety, health and promotion fields and specialize in improving conditions for bicycling and walking. For more information about the organization, visit www.apbp.org.