Challenge
Maricopa County, AZ, includes a highly urbanized core (the Phoenix metro area), scattered suburban development, and rural areas. The County has established a goal of creating a complete and accessible active transportation network that connects people of all ages and abilities to destinations across the county while providing fun, healthy, and convenient transportation options. Achieving this goal requires improving connectivity across jurisdictions and boundaries, and implementing safe and lower stress bicycle and pedestrian facilities within a limited funding environment.
Solution
Kittelson applied a three-tiered evaluation approach to identify needs and opportunities in which investment in bicycle and pedestrian improvements would result in non-auto transportation use for shorter trips.
The Outcome
Prioritizing Projects for a Bikeable Phoenix
The project team identified potential improvements for eight active transportation focus areas. These improvements included designating bicycle routes, adding or enhancing bicycle lanes and multi-use trails, and constructing bridges over canals. In addition to providing a prioritized list of improvements, we also developed policies for accelerating implementation.
