Washington DOT Officially Endorses NACTO Street Design Guide

NACTO-street
Transit lanes, protected bikeways, sidewalk seating and pedestrian islands are among the design treatments now officially recognized by Washington state DOT. Image: NACTO

One state down, 49 to go.

The NACTO Urban Street Design Guide instructs engineers how to design pedestrian plazas, like this one in Los Angeles. Image: ##http://inhabitat.com/sunset-triangle-plaza-las-first-pedestrian-plaza-conversion-is-now-open/## Inhabitat##
The NACTO Urban Street Design Guide instructs engineers how to design pedestrian plazas, like this one in Los Angeles. Image: ##http://inhabitat.com/sunset-triangle-plaza-las-first-pedestrian-plaza-conversion-is-now-open/##Inhabitat##

The Washington state Department of Transportation is the first state DOT to endorse the Urban Street Design Guide put out by the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ (NACTO). The manual provides instruction on creating treatments like protected bike lanes, transit-priority streets, and parklets, which aren’t included in the predominant American engineering guides.

“We believe the low-cost innovations, interim solutions, and improvements outlined in the Guide can bring many significant benefits to communities across Washington in a short period of time,” wrote WDOT Secretary Lynn Peterson in a letter outlining the policy.

While a growing number of cities are implementing features like pedestrian plazas and raised intersections, these treatments aren’t recognized by the AASHTO Green Book, a leading engineering manual. Lack of official recognition by state DOTs can make it difficult for cities to install these designs, especially on streets that happen to be classified as state highways.

Now, cities and towns in Washington will have greater freedom to adopt the type of designs in the NACTO guide.

Washington DOT has an engineering staff of about 2,000. Nancy Boyd, an engineer with WSDOT, said the NACTO guide will help the state design streets that are not just thoroughfares for motor vehicles. “We’re actually using it as a reference to update our design manual,” said Boyd. “Most of the [existing] guidance was developed really for freeways and limited access facilities.” The NACTO guide, she said, provides “supplementary information that helps us be much more aware of different contexts.”

NACTO’s David Vega-Barachowitz said he is hopeful Washington’s decision will encourage other states to endorse the guide. The states of Tennessee, Delaware and Massachusetts are currently reviewing it, he said. Two other states — Georgia and Massachusetts — have endorsed NACTO’s Urban Bikeway Design Guide.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

AASHTO Adds Designs to Bikeway Guide, But Not Protected Bike Lanes

By Tanya Snyder |
Last week, AASHTO, the national association of state DOTs, published the first update to its bicycle facility design guide in 13 years (available online for $144). Since many transportation engineers take their cues from AASHTO, there was an urgent need to update the 1999 guide, which failed to include many effective design treatments and promoted […]

U.S. DOT to Challenge AASHTO Supremacy on Bike/Ped Safety Standards

By Tanya Snyder |
For years, the federal government has adopted roadway guidelines that fall far short of what’s needed — and what’s possible — to protect cyclists and pedestrians. By “playing it safe” and sticking with old-school engineering, U.S. DOT allowed streets to be unsafe for these vulnerable road users. But that could be changing. The bike-friendliest transportation […]

NACTO Urban Street Design Guide Sets Out to Change the DNA of Our Cities

By Tanya Snyder |
In a direct challenge to the long-standing authority of state DOTs to determine how transportation infrastructure gets designed, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) yesterday launched its Urban Street Design Guide. NACTO’s Urban Bikeway Design Guide has already empowered cities around the country to embrace protected bike lanes and other innovative designs that […]

FHWA to Transportation Engineers: Use the NACTO Bikeway Design Guide

By Angie Schmitt |
In a significant step forward for American bike infrastructure, the Federal Highway Administration issued a memorandum late last month essentially endorsing street designs like protected bike lanes. In the memorandum, FHWA urges transportation engineers to use the guidelines issued by the National Association of City Transportation Officials, which contains templates for bikeway designs widely deployed […]

U.S. DOT to Publish Its Own Manual on Protected Bike Lanes

By Tanya Snyder |
Before the end of this year, the Federal Highway Administration will release its own guidance on designing protected bike lanes. The agency’s positions on bicycling infrastructure has matured in recent years. Until recently, U.S. DOT’s policy was simple adherence to outdated and stodgy manuals like AASHTO’s Green Book and FHWA’s own Manual on Uniform Traffic […]