Academy for Sustainable Communities Events

When planning for universal access design focus is often on technical guidelines, HOW to design more inclusive streets for people with disabilities. Perhaps less often discussed is understanding WHY investment in accessible public spaces is vital for their greater inclusion in daily life. Without this plans with good intentions can miss critical elements that may unintentionally hinder someone with mobility challenges.

Active transportation corridors play a crucial role in how the public interacts with their communities. Guidelines and standards for bikeways are continually evolving and improving based on research and evaluation of applied techniques. In practice, implemented projects can reveal issues and challenges associated with design, materials selection, or maintenance. By revisiting completed projects, we will investigate achievements as well as issues that can sometimes be overlooked, and we will discuss approaches to mitigate these concerns.

As agencies work to advance Vision Zero, they must determine both which improvements could improve safety within their communities as well as how to design, fund, and implement those improvements. This webinar will share two case studies of agencies seeking to answer these questions through a systemic safety lens. Montgomery County, MD, will present their data-driven safety study, the Predictive Safety Analysis, which allows the county to prioritize where and how to most effectively invest in safety improvements.

Community partnerships are key to meaningful engagement strategies that showcase temporary street redesigns. In this session, speakers from community-based organizations will discuss how they leveraged traffic safety funding and utilized resources from an MPO-hosted lending library to provide meaningful and creative visioning opportunities for impacted and frontline communities.