Press Releases

For Immediate Release

New MTC Study Promotes Pedestrian-Friendly Environments

CONTACT:
Nancy Okasaki, 510.817.5759, nokasaki@mtc.ca.gov

OAKLAND, Calif., April 13, 2006 . . .Around the Bay Area, local governments are working to improve streets and public spaces for safe and vibrant pedestrian usage. Now, a new groundbreaking study by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) — The Bay Area Pedestrian Districts Study — takes these efforts to the next level by showcasing the most promising techniques for making cities pedestrian friendly.

The report provides planners with case studies of existing Bay Area pedestrian-friendly areas as models. “From pedestrian flag-waving and illuminated crosswalks in Berkeley to scramble signals in Oakland, the region is rich with examples of innovative pedestrian planning efforts,” noted Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) transportation planner Nancy Okasaki, project manager for the study. A small number of cities — including Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco — have prepared pedestrian master plans for their communities. “This type of planning is a growing trend in the California,” according to Okasaki.

A “pedestrian district” is defined as a place where walking is prioritized as a mode of travel. A district can be an entire neighborhood – like Downtown Berkeley – or a node within a neighborhood – such as 14 th/Broadway in Downtown Oakland. Pedestrian districts can also be linear — such as College Avenue in Oakland. The goal of the study is to explore via case studies the characteristics of existing pedestrian areas, and then to use that wealth of information to create better pedestrian environments in other parts of the Bay Area.

The report identifies 10 models (or typologies) of pedestrian districts — urban residential, pedestrian-oriented suburban residential, major mixed-use district, transit village, large neighborhood corridor, major city downtown, medium-sized city downtown, small downtown or local commercial district, urban institutional and suburban employment center. The ten case studies (one for each model) offer examples of key pedestrian facilities that exist in each study site, and summarize the planning history and regulatory framework that helped shape each area.

Case Study Site	County	Corresponding Typology
1. Adam’s Point, Oakland	Alameda	Urban Residential
2. Waterfront District, Hercules	Contra Costa	Pedestrian-Oriented Suburban Residential
3. Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley	Alameda	Major Mixed-Use District
4. Fruitvale BART Station Transit Village, Oakland	Alameda	Transit Village
5. San Pablo Avenue, West Berkeley	Alameda	Large Neighborhood Corridor
6. Downtown San Jose	Santa Clara	Major City Downtown
7. Downtown Santa Rosa	Sonoma	Medium-Sized City Downtown
8. Downtown Suisun City	Solano	Small Downtown or Local Commercial District
9. University of California at San Francisco, Medical Center	San Francisco	Urban Institutional
10. Hacienda Business Park, Pleasanton	Alameda	Suburban Employment Center

“This study will assist everyone from regional planners to local traffic engineers,” notes Okasaki. City and county planners as well as regional agency planners can use the Pedestrian Districts Study to identify which improvements are most appropriate for their communities, to ensure appropriate land use policies are in place to create pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods, and to prepare conceptual budgets for improvements. Traffic engineers and public works staff can use it to help identify appropriate streetscape capital projects. Pedestrian advocates can use the study’s cost estimates to help lobby for funding from local and regional planning agencies.

The complete Pedestrian Districts Study can be downloaded from MTC’s Web site at http://www.mtc.ca.gov/planning/bicyclespedestrians/Ped_Districts/. A limited number of hard copies are also available by emailing nokasaki@mtc.ca.gov.

Also available online is MTC’s new Bicycle/Pedestrian Safety Toolbox, a detailed online resource for pedestrian and bicycle planning and engineering which complements the Pedestrian Districts Study . The Toolbox covers the technical components of conducting collision analyses, developing countermeasures, and other aspects of pedestrian and bicycle planning and engineering, as well as the public input process. The framework section of the Toolbox is ideal for elected officials, public works directors, police chiefs and school district officials. The problem identification section is most useful for traffic engineers, transportation planners and public health managers. The Toolbox’s countermeasures are useful for the traffic engineers and police officers responsible for implementation.

MTC is the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.

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