As a sub-consultant, B&N assisted in developing the State of Walking and Biking Report, the existing conditions section of the Heights Regional Active Transportation Plan for Cleveland Heights, University Heights and South Euclid, Ohio. This included an equity analysis utilizing Walk.Bike.Ohio’s Active Transportation Demand and Need index, a crash analysis, a demographics report and determining network utilization hot spots through a collection of pedestrian and bicyclist traffic volumes.
Between 2018 and 2022, 179 crashes involving pedestrians or bicyclists occurred in the three cities. Many locations in the study area do not provide adequate protection from traffic for pedestrians and bicyclists. Moreover, there is dysconnectivity within the active transportation system where there are sidewalk gaps, unsafe crossings or no connections to existing bicycle infrastructure or key points of interest.
B&N developed a webpage where survey participants could interact with a map that included current active transportation facilities, leave comments on existing facilities or draw points or lines at a specific location in the study area to provide comments. Similarly, a webpage was created to educate members of the public about proposed projects, describing what different facility types are and allowing participants to leave comments on the proposed network.
The surveys allowed residents to share their input into where they walk and bike and what destinations they would like to be able to reach. This will increase safety and connectivity for those who walk and bike and improve transportation access to an underserved community.