Quick Wins for SRTS: Quick Builds, Demonstrations, and Pop-Ups
By: Hannah Day-Kapell, Principal, Alta
How do you raise awareness for walking and biking as convenient and comfortable modes of transportation, especially for students and families getting to and from schools?
The answer in many communities is quick build projects.
Quick build projects can get bicycling and walking infrastructure built in months, rather than years, therefore reducing planning and engineering costs, and they have the unique ability to use inexpensive materials to create safe bicycle infrastructure networks.
This allows the community to benefit immediately, and builds enthusiasm and support for permanent active transportation infrastructure.
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs are a natural fit for quick build projects. They increase opportunities to enhance existing infrastructure to create safer, more vibrant, and healthy communities on a short-term, low-cost, temporary basis. Alta is working with communities across North America to plan, design, and implement these projects for SRTS programs, and communities are already experiencing the benefits. Read on for success stories in communities Alta is working with.
Quick Build and SRTS
ODOT Support Services
After helping the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) launch the Statewide SRTS Planning and Construction programs, Alta is leading the team to provide infrastructure and non-infrastructure technical assistance on ODOT’s comprehensive SRTS Program. Alta works with communities across the state to observe conditions, collect data, solicit feedback, and develop SRTS Plans. Each plan identifies community priorities and specific projects that seek to advance safe school travel. The photos above, taken in late August, show the installation of a quick build project in The Dalles, OR. The goal of this project was to make walking to and from school safer, just in time for classes to start.
This Quick Build project is part of ODOT’s new pilot program, established to help better understand how different project approaches can better support communities’ SRTS goals. The first project completed under the pilot program brings to life improvements identified in the City of The Dalles’ 2021 SRTS Plan. The project is located on the southeast corner of Colonel Wright Elementary School, where a significant portion of the school’s pick up and drop off activity occurs. Further, neighbors indicated speed concerns along the Trevitt St, the north-south corridor. By implementing curb extensions along all four corners, this project aims to shorten student crossing distances, improve visibility, and visually narrow the corridor.
The Alta team worked with city and school staff over several months to identify and design the project, select materials, and coordinate installation activities. City staff provided traffic control the day of the installation, and Alta staff installed the curb extensions and discussed the project with neighbors as they passed through the corridor. We are currently collecting feedback from the Colonel Wright Elementary School community to hear how this project is improving the trip to school.
Demonstration Projects and SRTS
While quick build projects use more durable materials in conjunction with rapid implementation, demonstration projects instead are intended to be in place for only a short period of time. Demonstration projects are low-cost, temporary projects and are used to pilot potential long-term design solutions to improve walking and bicycling, vehicle travel, and public spaces. They allow public agencies, community partners, and people walking, biking, taking transit, and driving to evaluate potential improvements before investing in permanent changes. The following examples illustrate their success in helping to create safer, more active communities.
MnDOT Demonstration Projects SRTS
Alta is working with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to plan, design, and implement demonstration projects in communities across Minnesota and raise awareness for walking and biking as convenient and comfortable modes of transportation. Alta has developed an implementation guide to assist other communities and agencies in continuing this work by implementing short-term, low-cost, temporary roadway projects on their own. The demonstration projects support and coincide with existing SRTS plans, as well as other opportunities to enhance existing infrastructure to create safer, more vibrant, and healthy communities.
For example, a recent quick build project in La Crescent, Minnesota is aiming to improve safety for students walking and biking to and from La Crescent-Hokah Elementary School at two nearby intersections, which were identified as high-priority locations for improvements in the Alta-led La Crescent SRTS Plan. The project features curb extensions and school crossing signs to enhance existing high-visibility crosswalk markings. In addition, the project included green bicycle pavement markings through intersections to draw attention to potential conflict areas where the existing bike lanes cross the intersections. The project included informational signs for the public to learn more about the project and a survey to provide input about their experiences interacting with the project.
The county and city engineers are now working together to support permanent crossing enhancements, including RRFBs and concrete curb extensions. The final, permanent project will help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety, and is a direct result of having completed a collaborative demonstration project.
San Mateo County Office of Education Demonstration Projects
As part of a larger contract with the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), Alta is working with multiple municipalities to implement demonstration projects near schools. Alta’s Oakland and Los Angeles teams joined together to implement a project in Daly City (above) that improved two intersections near an elementary school, and it will implement demonstration projects in East Palo Alto and San Mateo this fall. These demonstration projects build momentum for and often lead to more permanent projects, and can be used as a more inclusive tool for engaging with communities compared to traditional public meetings.
Stepping Up for Safe Routes in Mountain View, CA
Two years of sporadically shuttered schools and events due to the pandemic had affected the workflow for many of our outreach partners. In the City of Mountain View, a list of high-priority SRTS events were scheduled and the City needed help hosting them. Two years of sporadically shuttered schools and events due to the pandemic had affected the workflow for many of our outreach partners. Alta decided to step up to teach students bicycle and pedestrian safety. At each school and sponsored event, children learn the ABCs of bicycle repair, the 2–2–2s of helmet fitting, the SAFELY method for crosswalks, and to use Recommended Routes maps to discover how to get to/from school when walking or rolling. In just the last few weeks, the team held events at nine elementary schools, two middle schools, and a mobile home park.
Learn more about Alta’s SRTS practice, and watch our Quick Build webinar here. If you want to start a conversation about quick build projects as part of your SRTS strategy, reach out to Alta Principal and SRTS expert Hannah Day-Kapell.
