Posted January 10, 2024 in Weblog

A brand new roundup of Walkability Wins. This week we’re showcasing the motion by highlighting extra locations throughout the nation advancing pedestrian-friendly agendas.

Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Minneapolis Metropolis Council accepted a $595,000 price range for sidewalk snow removing in high-traffic areas and non-shoveling residents. Accessibility advocates and one in all our companions, José Antonio Zayas Cabán of Our Streets Minneapolis, welcomed this initiative as a progressive step for mobility-impaired people, companies, and environmental sustainability. This price range is seen as a major transfer in direction of inclusivity and addressing transit dependency, particularly for the aged and disabled. This system, selling fairness and decreasing carbon emissions, is ready to begin in fall 2024.

Richmond, Virginia

Virginia is ready to reinforce rail connectivity with a $1.7 billion federal grant, specializing in enhancing and rushing up prepare companies between Washington D.C., Richmond, and Raleigh. This initiative, aiming for practically hourly companies by 2030, additionally contains plans to increase connections to Charlottesville and different key areas.

Seattle, Washington

The Seattle Metropolis Council has handed a legislation requiring the combination of sidewalk development and restore into metropolis paving tasks, addressing a major infrastructure concern in a metropolis the place 1000’s of blocks lack sidewalks and practically half of the present ones want repairs. The invoice, sponsored by Councilmember Tammy Morales, doesn’t allocate particular funding however mandates the Seattle Division of Transportation to incorporate sidewalk work in street paving budgets. 

Chicago, Illinois

The Illinois Supreme Court docket dominated that cyclists and pedestrians hit by uninsured or hit-and-run drivers are eligible for uninsured motorist protection beneath their insurance coverage. This determination overturns a coverage that required people to be in an insured automobile to say protection. This follows a case by a young person injured whereas biking. The ruling aligns with the Illinois Insurance coverage Code and broadens safety for non-vehicular street customers, setting a major precedent for insurance coverage protection within the state.

New York Metropolis, NY

In response to a letter from thirty advocacy teams calling for motion after the deaths of two younger youngsters, Mayor Eric Adams unveiled a plan to guard pedestrians from drivers. The plan will take away parking spots in 1,000 NYC intersections to enhance visibility, a way often called “daylighting.” As well as, the plan contains monitoring site visitors deaths in NYPD’s CompStat knowledge and increasing the pilot program clever velocity help in about 1,500 metropolis autos to cease drivers from exceeding the velocity restrict.

To make amends for earlier installments of Walkability Wins, go to our weblog. Have a win? Ship it to us: social@americawalks.org.