Last month, Austroads, the association of Australasian road transport and traffic agencies, released a Pedestrian Facility Selection Tool. According to their website, "the Pedestrian Facility Selection Tool is designed to help Australian and New Zealand practitioners select the most appropriate type of pedestrian crossing based on walkability, safety and economic outcomes." They have produced a User…
Choosing a Running Shoe Infographic
If you implement a running program at your company as part of your wellness program, you might want to also offer guidance and resources about running to those employees who begin taking up the sport in earnest. Because shoes are one of the main items of gear needed for running, some advice on picking out…
Infographic of the Month – February 2015 – Running Gear
If you start a running program for your employees, one of the typical questions that eventually comes up is "what do I wear when running?" While we could find many articles written about this topic, we couldn't find a good, comprehensive yet simple graphic that seemed to put it all together. So we created one…
Using Stationary Bikes to Design Bike Trails
As I ride my bike through some of the grades, curves, and alignments along the bike paths in my area, I often wonder if the person who designed them rides a bike. Because I can't imagine anyone who rides regularly making some of the design choices I encounter. This got me wondering if the designer…
Improving Bicycle Path Design
Over the last year or so we've logged significant mileage on our bikes. While one outcome has been the expected increase in personal fitness, another has been better awareness and insight into design of bicycle facilities. Most of the paths along which we ride have been in place for many years so were probably designed under older…
Happy New Year 2015!
We are starting out the new year of 2015 still a little overwhelmed by everything that happened in 2014. This was due to several factors including an increased yet exciting work load at our primary jobs and some major changes we were making in our personal lives leaving little time to hop online and share…
Can a Non-Engineer Public Works Director Make Engineering Decisions?
Over the last few days I’ve been once again attending the Illinois Public Service Institute, a three-year training program for public works professionals in Illinois. Last year, I wrote a post about the incredible experience I had in my second year, and over the next few days or month, I am hoping to write a…
Using Augmented Reality to Visualize Engineering Designs
This week I experimented with using an augmented reality app at a public meeting to display this simple visualization of one of our projects. My experience was that it did seem to help with explaining or showing people not only an overall snapshot of how the roadway will look when finished, but it also helped…
A Bike Sharing Experience in Chicago and Denver
Because I am involved in cycling as both a user and as a designer, I try to make an effort to check out bicycle facilities whenever I can. Over the last month, I had the opportunity to try out the bike share program in both Denver and in Chicago. This allowed me to tour some of the bike facilities in…
Federal-aid Essentials Update – ADA Requirements for Resurfacing Projects
See below for a recent Federal-aid Essentials Update from the FHWA. This information will be particularly helpful to local agencies: Are you aware that Federal law requires the installation of curb ramps or other modifications when a highway project alters a roadway? To learn more visit the new information module and watch the short video…