CITY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM

Department:	Planning and Development Services		Commission Meeting Date:  December 5, 2017
Staff Contact:	Ashley Myers, Transportation Planner
Recommendations/Options/Action Requested:
Receive the 2017 annual Bicycle & Pedestrian counts.
Executive Summary:		Bicycle & Pedestrian Counts have been conducted in Lawrence annually since 2009. In September 2017, the MPO staff coordinated counts at 28 locations throughout our community. The locations were counted by 42 volunteers who manually observed bicyclists and pedestrians. The National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project (NBPDP) provides a nationally recognized methodology for documenting bicycle and pedestrian activity. Count locations included bicycle and pedestrian activity areas or corridors (downtown, near schools, parks, etc.) and locations near proposed major bicycle or pedestrian improvements or recently built improvements. The count would not have been possible without the help of volunteers from our community and we thank them for their time! In 2017, the MPO partnered with the Flint Hills and Topeka MPO to purchase a set of automated bike and pedestrian counters. The counters will be rotated for use among the regions. The automated bike and pedestrian counters will allow for us to expand our counting program starting in 2018. Transportation planners and engineers use the data collected on bicycling and walking to assist City and Regional Leaders with estimating usage and demand for bicycle and pedestrian facilities. The counts are also used to track the region’s progress on increasing the use of non-motorized transportation, strengthen grant applications to leverage additional federal funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects, evaluate existing projects (before and after counts), and help determine the location of future investments.
Strategic Plan Critical Success Factor		Innovative Infrastructure and Asset Management
Fiscal Impact (Amount/Source):		The fiscal impact to the City is $0.00.
Attachments:		The bicycle & pedestrian count summary report is available at https://lawrenceks.org/mpo/bikepedcount.

Reviewed By: (for CMO use only)

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