Improving the Pedestrian Experience Workshop

Sep 04, 2014

Trailnet brought speakers from across the Midwest to participate in Streets for Everyone: Improving the Pedestrian Experience. The workshop, funded by the Laclede Group Foundation, was attended by sixty-five local professionals, including transportation planners, elected officials, academics, and public works employees. Discussions focused on how to design and build walkable communities and attempt to integrate a pedestrian perspective to help create a more walkable St. Louis. There is heightened concern for pedestrian safety in St. Louis because of recent statistics reflecting risks to pedestrians in the City: between 2006-2010, the City of St. Louis reported 1,800 pedestrian‐related motor vehicle crashes. These numbers have put St. Louis on the Federal Highway Adminstration’s list of Focus Cities, which identifies cities with the highest rates of pedestrian fatalities and severe crashes. The City of St. Louis, the Federal Highway Administration, the Missouri Department of Transportation, and other partners have drafted a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan (PSAP) to help guide the region on how to reduce pedestrian related crashes in the City.

Where do we go from here?

Trailnet is excited to begin this dialogue around making the City attractive and safe for pedestrians and we hope that you will join us in this campaign. Working with local and regional partners, Trailnet will host a Walk Summit in 2015. The Walk Summit will serve as a call to action for community members, activists and organizers, elected officials, engineers, and transportation professionals to integrate the pedestrian perspective into their work and call for safe solutions to roadways that rank most dangerous for walkers. Adopting the PSAP will be an important first step in creating more pedestrian friendly roads in St. Louis.

How you can help

Be part of the effort to create a more walkable St. Louis by collecting data on pedestrian activity. Stand up and count as a volunteer at the 3^rd Annual Bicycle and Pedestrian Counts next week.