Active Transportation Vision for Orange County

Transcription

1 Active Transportation Vision for Orange County In order to improve the health of Orange County, healthy and safe transportation systems with multimodal options are needed for families, children, student and visitors of Orange County. The starting point for this document was the Orange County Transportation Agency s (OCTA) vision to create an integrated and balanced transportation system that supports the diverse travel needs and 1 reflect the character of Orange County. OCTA is the primary transportation agency that oversees Metrolink rail service, bus service, express lane toll facilities, street and road improvements, vanpool services, rideshare options, transportation funding and transportation planning for countywide projects. This document outlines the current state of active transportation in Orange County and identifies opportunities to expand active transportation infrastructure and options. Research and recommendations are intended to complement the work of Orange County by cities, community based organizations, elected officials, businesses, county agencies and community members. OPPORTUNITIES: The Orange County Active Transportation Vision received feedback from stakeholders, leaders and city staff about opportunities for policy change and partnership, including the 2013 Orange County Active Transportation Forum. From discussions with partners in the county, Alliance for Healthy Orange County (AHOC) active transportation subcommittee and stakeholders created the following platform for active transportation policies and programming in Orange County: Goals and Outcomes: Improved Roadway Safety for Bicycle and Pedestrians Multimodal Transportation Planning and Complete Streets Economic Development for Local Economies Sustainable Communities - Transportation, Environment and Housing Improved Regional Connections Improved Connections Between Public Health and Planning Expanded Stakeholder Engagement Expanded Awareness of Safe Bicycling and Walking Policies and Programs: Develop a Countywide Safe Routes to School Strategic Plan which could include a Student and Youth Mobility Policy. The Countywide Safe Routes to School Plan would develop strategies for expanding Safe Routes to School efforts countywide and ensure that regional projects incorporated considerations for school trips within the planning process. 1 Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), Orange County - At a Glance:

2 Develop Education and Encouragement Programs designed to improve safety for pedestrian and bicyclists, which could include school and community based classes and open street events. Increase Funding for Multimodal Planning to encourage all cities in Orange County to adopt Active Transportation Plans. These plans will position Orange County cities to compete well for state and federal funding through California s Active Transportation Program. Adopt Complete Streets Policies and Plans at OCTA and all Orange County cities to ensure compliance with AB 1358 and cost effective implementation of bicycle and pedestrian accommodations into all projects. Plans should prioritize projects at varied funding levels. Identify resources to assist cities in applying for Active Transportation grants as well as other funding opportunities. Expedite and increase Active Transportation Funding from existing sources and ensure that all future funding streams such as sales tax measures incorporate funding for complete streets and active transportation. Incorporate Performance Measures and Data Collection into all future calls for projects to ensure cost effective and equitable projects are developed that address the areas with the highest collision and obesity rates and the greatest potential for new active transportation trips. BENEFITS OF WALKING AND BICYCLING: Expanding opportunities for residents to walk, bicycle and take public transit regularly will make Orange County a healthier and more vibrant place to live, work and play. Below are benefits that accompany making investments in walking and bicycling infrastructure and programs. DEVELOPS THE LOCAL ECONOMY: Walkable places perform better for the local economy. 2 Residents who use cars less have more disposable income to spend locally. People arriving on foot and by bicycle have been shown to visit more often and spend more money per month than 3 those arriving by car. A two- person household can save, on the average, more than $9,700 a year 4 by downsizing to one car. Additionally, more local job opportunities are created through building 5 walking infrastructure than building highway projects. ENVIRONMENT/AIR QUALITY: Increasing active transportation mode share can play an important role in reducing vehicle miles traveled and improving air quality, which can have appreciable impacts on heart disease, asthma 6 hospitalizations, cancer risk, and premature mortality. In Orange County, air quality is typically better than in the statewide and in peer counties. However, state estimates of the average number of unhealthy days due to ozone varied in the County from 0 in Costa Mesa to 11 in Yorba 7 Linda. IMPROVES PUBLIC HEALTH AND PREVENTS CHRONIC DISEASES: Increasing the number of safe and accessible transportation options can bring better individual health outcomes and decrease 2 Litman, T.,Economic Benefits of Walkability: 3 Clean Air Partnership, Bike lanes, On- Street Parking and Business: lanes- parking.pdf 4 American Public Transportation Association s Transit Saving Report: 5 Alliance for Biking & Walking, 2012 Benchmarking Report: 6 Woodcock et al., 2009 Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse- gas emissions: urban land transport. The Lancet; 374: CDPH, 2013:

3 chronic diseases in Orange County. When people walk and bicycle as part of their daily lives, physical activity rates substantially increase, while chronic disease outcomes. The California Health Interview Survey shows that approximately 51 8 percent of teens and adults in Orange County are overweight or obese. Those who regularly engage in leisure time physical activity tend to live longer than 9 those who are sedentary by as much as 4.5 years. Physically active adults are less likely to suffer from heart disease, have a stroke, get colon and breast cancers, suffer from type 2 diabetes, and suffer from certain mental 10 illnesses compared to those who are sedentary. Physically active children have greater cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, better bone health, better body composition and may have better mental health than those 11 who are not active. In Orange County, substantial differences exist in the physical fitness of youth. For example, only 58% of fifth graders from Santa Ana Unified School District have healthy aerobic functioning compared to 89% of those from Laguna 12 Beach Unified School District. INCREASES PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN CHILDREN AND ADULTS: Street- scale improvements increase community levels of physical activity by an average of 35%, such as improving street lighting, improving street crossings, traffic calming, and enhanced aesthetics within the space of a few 13 blocks. Community scale environmental improvements, such as improving connectivity of streets, sidewalks, and bicycle lanes, may increase community levels of walking and biking by 61%. 14 Children, who walk or bike to school, are more likely to get adequate levels of physical activity compared to those who do not. In a study of 5 th graders, those who walked to school every weekday engaged in 24 additional minutes of moderate to vigorous 15 physical activity compared to those who walked irregularly or were driven to school. Increased students physical activity help improve academic performance, including academic achievement (e.g., grades, standardized test scores); academic behavior (e.g., on- task behavior, attendance); and factors that can positively influence academic achievement (e.g. concentration, attention, improved classroom behavior). 16 IMPROVES TRANSIT ACCESS: Americans with convenient access to public transit tend to be more physically active than those who do not and overall gain an additional 19 minutes of daily walking 17 to and from transit. For 29% of public transit users, daily physical activity to and from transit is 18 greater than 30 minutes. Approximately 31% of Orange County residents live within close proximity to a major 8 UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, California Health Interview Survey, : 9 Moore, et. al, 2012: 10 USDHHS, 2008: 11 USDHHS, 2008: 12 CDE, : ttp://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/ 13 Heath et. al., 2006: 14 Heath et. al., 2006: 15 Sirard et. al, 2005: 16 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Association between School- based Physical Activity, Including Physical Education, and Academic Performance, 2010: pe_paper.pdf 17 Besser and Dannenberg, 2005: 18 Besser and Dannenberg, 2005;

4 transit stop, which is substantially lower than that observed in Los Angeles County (53%), but better than transit access in San Bernardino (5%) or Riverside (5%) Counties. Such access varies significantly depending on where an Orange County resident lives. For example, less than 1 in 10 residents in the cities of Laguna Hills (9%) and Placentia (4%) live within close proximity to public transit, while more than 7 in residents in the cities of Stanton (91%), Los Alamitos (76%), and La Palma (71%) do. OCTA funded a comprehensive bicycle and pedestrian access study of Metrolink stations focusing on first and last mile for bicyclist (3 mile radius) and pedestrians (.5 mile radius), which is often a barrier for potential riders. The study recommended improvements to facilitate, support and enhance pedestrian and bicyclist access for 20 eleven Metrolink stations in order to encourage more transit use. RELIEVES TRAFFIC CONGESTION: A national study showed private car travel to and from schools 21 accounted for as much as 14% of all morning traffic. For example at San Clemente's Marblehead Elementary School's participation in International Walk/Bike to School Day 18% of their student body walked to school which significantly reduced gridlock on Ave. Vista Hermosa decreasing aggressive 22 competition by motorists at intersections near the school. CURRENT CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES: While the majority of trips in Orange County are completed by automobile, a large percentage of trips are already accomplished by walking and bicycling. The 2009 National Household Travel Survey shows that approximately 16% of all trips in Orange County are completed by walking and bicycling. The number of trips taken by these modes could be increased if a number of challenges are addressed and improved infrastructure is provided. Safety: Real and perceived safety issues can substantially affect a community s propensity for walking and biking. Countywide and local policies to prioritize pedestrians and bicyclists safety can encourage OC residents to choose active transportation for shorter trips, especially for children en route to school. Targeting infrastructure improvements and educational programs on safety can make walking and bicycling viable options for shorter trips. Tragically, in Orange County 37% of all traffic fatalities and 11% of all traffic injuries in were bicyclists or pedestrians. According to the Office of Traffic Safety, in 2011, pedestrians and 1,326 bicyclists were injured or killed in Orange County. Risk of motor vehicle related pedestrian and bicyclist injury can vary dramatically between Orange County cities. For example, from 2008 to 2010 the rate of motor vehicle related pedestrian injury (all severities) was 5.9 per 100,000 in Yorba Linda and 52.7 in Costa Mesa. Pedestrians in lower income communities suffer disproportionately high collision rates. For example, school children walking and bicycling to school in lower- income areas are four times 26 more likely to be injured or killed by a car CDPH, 2013: 20 OCTA, Nonmotorized Metrolink Accessibility Study: Final Report June 28, 2013: 21 McDonald et. al., 2011: US School Travel, 2009, An Assessment of Trends. Am J Prev Med;41(2): ) 22 Marblehead Elementary School Principal & Staff, Oct 2012: Personal communication 23 California Highway Patrol, Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), 2014: 24 Office of Traffic Safety: (Rankings can be viewed by county or city). 25 Orange County Health Care Agency, Orange County Health Profile, University of California Irvine, Traffic Injury Prevention, September 2010

5 Funding for Active Transportation Infrastructure and Programming: The total funding for active transportation infrastructure and programming in Orange County is complicated based on the variety funding sources such as grants and local funding. OCTA s 2010 Long Range Transportation Plan projected that 1.8% of the total budget ($704.6 million of $39.4 billion) for the period between 2011 and 2035 will be dedicated to active transportation projects. The total includes funding for the following walking and bicycling projects listed below. Expanding available resources for complete streets and active transportation, OCTA can provide resources and incentives to local cities. Bicycle Corridor Improvement (BCI) Program using CMAQ funds in the amount of $9.4 million dollars over two years. The first competitive call for projects to the local jurisdictions to allocate these funds was FY13 to FY14. OCTA awarded all 23 project proposals from 12 agencies that applied this call for projects. Together Transportation Enhancements (TE) and BCI programs provide roughly $8.6 million per year as of The number will change since the TE program has been changed in the new federal legislation MAP- 21 and has now been incorporated into the state s Active Transportation Program. OCTA is currently creating a regional bikeways plan for each of its districts with elected officials and community groups to identify gaps and priority corridors. Cities in Orange County have received over $30 million in Safe Routes to School state and federal funding sources since Thank you for research efforts for this document by the Orange County Health Care Agency, St. Jude Medical Center / St. Joseph Health, Alliance for Healthy Orange County, PEDal, and Safe Routes to School National Partnership. Michele Martinez at michele@ochealthalliance.org for inquires.