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1  Practices for Adding Bicycle and Pedestrian Access on Existing Vehicle Bridges Bridges serve as the key connection between communities and essential services. How- ever, many bridges are built without accommodations for active transportation users. These existing bridges serving only motorized traffic are becoming inadequate given the increasing demand for active transportation. The pedestrians and bicyclists who rely on these bridges are exposed to safety-related concerns associated with the lack of said accommodations. This lack of accommodations also hinders the usersâ access to equal employment opportu- nities and essential services, thus creating transportation equity concerns. Bridge retrofit projects have the potential to address these issues holistically by renewing the functionality of vital transportation connections and integrating them into the multimodal transporta- tion system. In Policy Statement on Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodation Regulations and Recom- mendations (2010), the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) addressed the accommodations of active transportation users on bridges as stated in the following bullets: ⢠U.S. DOT encourages states, local governments, and other government agencies to adopt means and initiatives to integrate bicycle and pedestrian accommodations on new, reha- bilitated, and limited-access bridges (p. 2). ⢠Approval of bridge projects involving bridge deck replacement or rehabilitation with federal financial participation could be withheld if pedestrians and bicyclists are negatively impacted and the secretary determines that safe accommodations can be provided at a reasonable cost (pp. 4â5). Bicycle and pedestrian accommodations have direct benefits and indirect benefits. Direct benefits include connectivity and safety performance, while indirect benefits encompass access, the health of the community, environmental sustainability, cost savings, and social equity. State departments of transportation (DOTs) have different practices and policies regarding access to pedestrians and bicyclists in bridge retrofit projects. The objective of NCHRP Project 20-05/Topic 53-12 was to identify and document state DOT practices of providing or improving access to existing vehicle bridges for active transportation users. The focus was on existing bridges and not on new construction. To accomplish this objective, the project included the following key efforts: 1. Literature review to document practices, policies, and guidelines for accommodating active transportation users. 2. Survey of state DOTs to get their feedback on bridge retrofit projects. 3. Case examples to better understand practices, benefits, challenges, and lessons learned. S U M M A R Y
2 Practices for Adding Bicycle and Pedestrian Access on Existing Vehicle Bridges More than 30 state DOTs participated in the survey, which asked respondents to provide summary statistics about bridge retrofit projects and details about the most recent bridge retrofit project. Several state DOTs had not completed a bridge retrofit project in which access for active transportation users was provided. Three state DOTs participated as case examples. In these case example interviews, state DOT staff provided details about prac- tices, challenges, and lessons learned overall and from specific bridge retrofit projects.
