Active Towns

In this episode, I connect with Sarah Abel, an architect, and planner who has become a subject matter expert in complete streets design and promotion and has focussed in recent years on bringing the Safe Systems Approach into sharp focus for cities here in North America.

Traveling to meaningful destinations should not be a dangerous activity where you risk serious injury or worse, however, increasingly, our streets are becoming less safe, especially for anyone not in a large motor vehicle, and it doesn't have to be this way. Sarah shares some information about the Safe Systems Approach being adopted by the United States.

This episode is available in video format and has many visuals worth seeing.

When it comes to creating safer, more inviting streets for All Ages & Abilities across all mobility types, the Dutch (which implement a strategy they call Sustainable Safety), the Swedes, and the Norwegians have been leading the way through the implementation of an integrated safer systems approach.

Recently the United States has started to embrace this concept as part of the Vision Zero movement, which strives to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries.

She was previously with ITE
And recently made the move to Toole Design Group

Additional Helpful Links:

This is the landing page for this episode

FHWA - Safe Systems Approach

Dutch Sustainable Safety post by BicycleDutch

Vision Zero Network

Safety Towns

Traffic Gardens

Active Towns Podcast Episode w/ Donald Shoup

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I return (virtually) to Delft in The Netherlands to connect with Natalia Barbour, Assistant Professor in transport and energy at TU Delft, and we have a wide-ranging discussion about her background and work, what it was like to make the move from Florida to The Netherlands, and how she and the family are adjusting to basically a car-free lifestyle after previously being car-dependent. Available in video format!

Click here for the video version of this episode on our YouTube Channel
 
Originally from Wągrowiec a town of roughly 25,000 residents in west-central Poland, she moved to the U.S. to attend graduate school first in Alabama and then in Florida before doing her postdoc work at MIT in Cambridge, MA.

She and her young family recently made the massive move from Florida to Delft in The Netherlands during a global pandemic and she reflects on the powerful role that the simple Dutch bike and having a safe and inviting "All Ages & Abilities" cycle network have played a supporting role in facilitating their transition to a car-free lifestyle while also providing ample content for her field of study in sustainable mobility options and behavior change.

I first connected with Natalia on Twitter where she frequently posts about her new life in Delft.

Additional Helpful Links:

Active Towns Landing Page for this episode

For more information on her research and publications visit her website

Info on the Wągrowiec Bifurcation (the rare two rivers crossing)

Access the Women on the Move webinar here  Passcode: !0?6d5!M Natalia is introduced at about 16:50

MOOC: Towards Decarbonization of the Building and Transport Sectors | TU Delft Online

Melissa & Chris Bruntlett, Authors of Curbing Traffic on Active Towns Podcast

Jason Slaughter on Active Towns Podcast

Not Just Bikes Channel

NJB Trash Video

Cara Seiderman/Cambridge on Active Towns Podcast

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this, our 100th episode, I am delighted to welcome a very special guest, Clarence Eckerson, Director of Streetfilms, for a discussion about reaching the milestone of 1,000 plus videos promoting more walkable, bicycle-oriented, and transit-friendly communities from around the world.

For obvious reasons, you may prefer to watch the video version of this episode, here's that link.

Our landing page for this episode

The Streetfilms video profiling Dutch cycling and Dutch cycle network design in Utrecht in The Netherlands is hands down Clarence Eckerson, Jr.'s most popular film of all time with over one million total views across multiple platforms.

Can you guess what his favorite might be?

What is your favorite Streetfilm?

Perhaps it's Ciclovia the early, powerful Open Streets installment out of Bogota, Columbia that really kicked things off for Streetfilms, maybe it's one of the many bike share system profiles, or the one from Groningen, or is it one of the more recent Open Streets videos like Miracle on 34th Avenue?

Whatever is your favorite, this roll down memory lane is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and even make you laugh.

Additional Helpful Links:

Streetfilms YouTube Channel
Streetfilms Website
The Sample Reel Clarence put together for this interview
The Streets Have Changed: A NYC Bicycle Journey During the Coronavirus
The Innovative Way Ghent, Belgium Removed Cars From The City
Groningen: The World's Cycling City
Kate McKinnon as Veronica Moss A.U.T.O. Lobbyist
Kate McKinnon as Veronica Moss in Times Square
Laura Bliss article in Bloomberg
JSK Visits 34th Avenue
Oslo: The Journey to Car-free
Mike Lydon - Little Prince Plaza Video

Ryan Van Duzer's YouTube Channel
Ryan's Video with the Spider:
Active Towns Episode with Ryan Van Duzer

BicycleDutch Mark Wagenbuur YouTube Channel

Not Just Bikes YouTube Channel

Ethan Kent - now at PlacemakingX
Project for Public Spaces
Streetsblog

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I reconnect with Arleigh Greenwald, Product Market Manager for Tern Bicycles and also known as Bike Shop Girl, for a conversation about how e-bikes and cargo bikes can provide pragmatic solutions to real problems and how to provide empathic support to those who are curious but are unsure what their next steps should be.

Empowering Daily Life by Bike is Arleigh's mission for her content creation persona of Bike Shop Girl and is consistent with her role as Product Marketing Manager for Tern Bicycles, while Move for Tomorrow is her personal mantra as she strives to achieve a sense of life balance and wellness as a busy mom of two, spouse, active living advocate, and marketing professional.

Landing Page for the episode for photos, embedded videos, and enhanced links.

This episode is available as a video and features many visuals - catch it on our YouTube Channel here:  Episode 99

I encourage you all to follow her work on YouTube

In addition to being a content creator inspiring active living and well-being, she's a mom, a spouse, and now she's the Product Market Manager for Tern Bicycles - one of the coolest e-bike and cargo bike brands out there. And not surprisingly, she's producing high-quality video content for Tern on their YouTube Channel while providing meaningful support to the Tern Bicycles dealer network.

Additional Helpful Links:

Follow Arleigh as Bike Shop Girl on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook

Phil Gaimon - Cookie Eating Phil and a recent e-bike video he produced

Arleigh mentions The War On Cars

Tern profile videos on YouTube - Beth Nobles

Arleigh's Tern GSD Accessories video

Arleigh's Bike to Run video

John mentions Ryan Van Duzer YouTube adventure content creator

Arleigh's Thankful for the Group Ride video

Sand Creek Greenway

Arleigh mentions a Ryan Van Duzer’s This App Saves Lives video

Arleigh references NASCAR drivers serving as the face of cycling in North Carolina

Arleigh's recent Tweet featuring Denver’s Amy Kenreich

Arleigh mentions her partnership work w/ PeopleForBikes

Denver Bicycle Lobby mention

Bike Here Podcast

eCamm Live - Our video recording and live streaming platform

Arleigh mentions Ginger Runner

A reminder: Next week is our special 100th episode a video conversation featuring Clarence Eckerson, Jr. with Streetfilms

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I reconnect with Sarah Frey, Development and Marketing Director with the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick, for an in-depth conversation about the Trail and the impact it has had on the health and vitality of the city and its residents.

Landing page on the Active Towns website for access to videos and photos of the trail

In June 2021, I had the honor of attending the Walk Bike Places conference in Indianapolis, Indiana and one of the things I was most looking forward to was re-visiting the Indy Cultural Trail, one of the most extraordinary and impactful activity assets I have ever experienced and documented. The Trail did not disappoint, in fact, it had gotten even more impressive in the three years since my previous visit.

In addition to using the Trail every day during my nearly week-long stay to get to and from the convention center and various conference-related activities, I was able to participate in a fabulous workshop tour led by Sarah Frey, Director of Development and Marketing, for the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick.

As part of that workshop, I produced this video and I planted the seed with Sarah to eventually get her on the podcast because this is a powerful story that needs to be told and many communities around the world can benefit from it.

I hope you enjoy it.

Cheers!
John

 
Additional Helpful Links:

Walk Bike Places Conference produced by PPS-Project for Public Spaces and presented by PeopleForBikes

Trail expansion article

Trail Art Installations

Indy Canal and Open Spaces

White River Trail

Monon Trail

City of Indianapolis Bikeways and Map

Indy Trails and Greenways

Our Carmel, IN video

Arleigh Greenwald - Bike Shop Girl

Streetfilms

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I reconnect with Mike Lydon for an 18-month update from our last episode in the early days of the pandemic. We discuss some of the amazing street transformations underway around the globe, including in NYC with projects such as the Little Prince Plaza.

And here's our landing page for this episode - for access to the videos and photos

Pop-up protected bike lanes, separated cycle tracks, open streets, and even plazas are some of the pilot projects that we have seen over the past ten years but even more so in the past 18 months as cities around the world strive to redefine public space to be more accommodating for people versus the easy movement of motor vehicles.

Mike Lydon is co-founder of Street Plans and co-author of the book on Tactical Urbanism and he has been at the forefront of not only moving these concepts forward but hands-on in their implementation.

We also discuss some of the encouraging trends he's seeing around the world and he shares some observations from his recent trip to France, including a first hand look at the cycling revolution taking place right now on the streets of Paris. Clearly the enthusiasm is there, at this moment in time and the City is trying to build out a comprehensive cycle network similar to those seen in The Netherlands. Some of the videos we've seen in fact remind us of typical Dutch cycling scenes.

And we talk about some of the exciting work his firm is doing here in the states, including plazas in NYC, an active transportation plan for New Haven, and a corridor project in Culver City, CA in the LA area.

Opening video sequence used with permission from Streetfilms.

Congress for the New Urbanism

Our episode with Victor Dover was mentioned

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I welcome back Victor Dover of South Miami's Dover, Kohl & Partners Town Planning for an in-depth discussion about why starting with the green parts, the parks, greenways, open spaces, wilderness, and even street trees when planning our communities is critical. We also talk about the importance of getting our streets designed right and how that can help more people feel more comfortable while walking and riding a bike.

This episode has been produced as a video with some rich visuals, so to get to the full experience, click on this link

Landing page for this episode

This episode has been produced as a video with some rich visuals, so to get to the full experience, click on this link

Victor Dover made the move from Alexandria, VA to Miami to co-launch the firm Dover, Kohl & Partners Town Planning with his business partner Joe Kohl some 34 years ago. Victor is a charter member of the Congress for the New Urbanism and has worked for many public agencies, developers, and citizen groups to create appropriate methods of land development regulations.

The two main inter-related themes Victor presents in this episode are when planning a community, start first with the “green parts”, the parks, greenways, and parkways and then shape the rest of the city around these accordingly and second, street design is the thing we can least afford to get wrong. It becomes obvious how these two themes are intimately related when we consider that our streets should be traffic-calmed people-oriented places, featuring beautiful tree canopies, frequently referred to as the lungs of the city.

And speaking of street design, that happens to be the title of the fabulous book Victor co-wrote along with John Massengale seven years ago and the truly big, breaking news is that Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns will be coming out as new, completely refreshed second edition in 2022. Here’s the first edition link if you can’t wait and want to get the original, which is highly recommended.

We also discuss the need to make our streets safe and inviting for “All Ages & Abilities” across all mobility modes drawing inspiration from Dutch cycling network design and from public spaces in Copenhagen and other beloved cities in Europe as well as historic places right here in the United States such as Alexandria, VA, Charleston, SC, and even Buffalo, NY.

We talk about normalizing the act of riding a bike to carry our everyday activities by creating environments that are comfortable for everyone through the implementation of protected and separated infrastructure paired with ultra-low speed shared spaces.

Additional Helpful Links:

Dover Kohl YouTube Channel – for an entire series of brilliant guidance

Barnes Dance or Pedestrian Scramble

Cities Aren't Loud, Cars Are Loud - NJB video

Designing Cities by Starting with the Green Parts - Frederick Law Olmsted

The Underline Trail

Ludlam Trail

East Coast Greenway

Miami Dade Parks Foundation - #LiveAParkLife

National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA)

Missoula Montana Downtown Master Plan and the Dover Kohl Update

Benton MacKaye - helped pioneer the idea of land preservation for recreation and conservation purposes

Gabe Klein - a good on article about Gabe

Incremental Development Alliance

Ross Chapin: Pocket Neighborhoods - Our Episode featuring Ross and our award winning video on Pocket Neighborhoods

Climate Planner book by Jason King

Steve Wright - a writer advising on issues of accessibility

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of A...

In this episode, I speak with Michael Williams about Edge Lane Roads, also commonly referred to by some people as Bicycle Advisory Lanes - a name you'll soon learn Michael doesn't particularly prefer. The type of bicycle infrastructure is quite common in The Netherlands and in Denmark and, when done well in the proper context, can serve as a critical part of an "All Ages & Abilities" network.

Our YouTube video version of this episode for the full visual experience

Landing Page for this episode
 

When we think of the safe and inviting cycle networks in The Netherlands and in Copenhagen, what likely comes to mind are the protected and separated cycle tracks and bike lanes. But these typically only account for 30-40% of the typical city cycling network, the rest, the majority of the networks are comprised of different forms of shared space including Woonerfs (ultra-slow speed streets), Feitsstraats (or bicycle priority streets), and even Edge Lane Roads also commonly known in some locations as Advisory Bike Lanes.

Michael Williams has taken upon himself during his self-proclaimed third career to be the pied piper of Edge Lane Roads here in North America. I wanted to talk with him about ELR's and how he became fascinated with them because I too have been intrigued by these often forgotten and misunderstood cycle network infrastructure treatments.

The design of these facilities is almost too simple and they work. The safety profile of the Dutch, Danish and even North American installations is extremely encouraging. Given what I've seen, I believe we will see many more cities decide to adopt these facilities in the future.

For more information on all things Edge Lane Roads please visit Michael's website here: https://www.advisorybikelanes.com/

The Ottawa video: https://youtu.be/0zdDIvKXMxY

The New Hampshire video: https://vimeo.com/198050122

Vail Advisory Bike Lane featured in this recent ITE report: https://www.ite.org/technical-resources/topics/transportation-safety/pedestriian-safety-month/

A report Michael helped contribute to: https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/1925-Pande-Safety-Edge-Lane-Roads.pdf

The Active Towns video on Vail's Gore Valley Trail (mentioned by John in the episode): https://vimeo.com/177494585

Comments provided by Michael about the safety data he mentioned in the episode: "The study on US ELR safety looked at crash data on 11 ELRs all over the country that had been installed for at least 3 years. Crash data for the 5 years previous to the installation was used in an Empirical Bayes analysis (the gold standard for this type of analysis according to the Highway Safety Manual). The complete report is available at https://transweb.sjsu.edu/research/1925-Safety-Edge-Lane-Roads. Aggregated results over these 11 facilities showed a 44% crash rate reduction in motor vehicle crashes. Data was not available to evaluate safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. Reduced vehicular speeds, lower crash rates, horizontal separation of VRUs and cars all point to a safer, more comfortable environment for vulnerable road users."

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I had the honor of speaking with Ken Rose, Chief of the Physical Activity and Health Branch, within the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the Active People, Healthy Nation Initiative which was launched in early 2020. We also discuss some of the underlying challenges and barriers making physical activity difficult for far too many people, such as lack of access to activity assets like parks and trails and limited safe and inviting active mobility choices.

Active Towns landing page for this episode - for access to photos, videos, and additional content

Active People, Healthy Nation℠ is a national initiative led by CDC to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027. Increased physical activity can improve health, quality of life, and reduce healthcare costs. These improvements can help reduce the risk of at least 20 chronic diseases and conditions and provide effective treatment for many of these conditions. Other potential benefits include better school performance and improved military readiness. Building active and walkable communities can help support local economies, result in less air pollution, and create more cohesive communities.

Additional Helpful Links:

Strategies to Increase Physical Activity

Everyone Can Be Involved – What’s Your Role?

Data, Trends and Maps

Physical Activity Fact Sheets and Infographics

Physical Activity Basics

Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition

State and Community Health Media Center

#activepeople hashtag for social media

Proclamation template

email: [email protected]

Safe Routes to Schools Report Card

Activity-Friendly Routes to Everyday Destinations - Complete Streets

Tide to Town

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.

In this episode, I reconnect with Cara Seiderman, Transportation Program Manager with the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, to get an update on the newly revised bike plan and discuss some of the exciting developments currently underway to create safe and inviting active mobility environments for all ages, abilities, and identities.

Active Towns Landing Page for this Episode to access photos and videos

In June 2021, the City of Cambridge published Cambridge Bicycle Plan 2020, an update to the 2015 Cambridge Bicycle Plan: Toward a Bikeable Future. The Bicycle Plan lays out a vision for where they as a City want to be, with the guiding principle to enable people of all ages, abilities, and identities to bike safely and comfortably throughout Cambridge. It provides the framework for developing a network of bicycle-friendly streets and supporting programs and policies that will help meet this goal.

We also discuss some of the history and context behind the efforts to make walking and biking easier, safer, and more comfortable in the city. Cara also provides an update on the newly rewritten bike plan and she highlights some of the new infrastructure and programming being initiated. 

Ultimately Cambridge is a fabulous example for other cities to look towards for inspiration and learnings. They have some amazing high comfort infrastructure on the ground with more coming and many impressive programming efforts to make walking, biking, and taking transit more enjoyable for everyday trips.

Additional Helpful Links:

Jan Gehl founder of the firm Gehl People

Preston Tyree co-host of the Growing Older Podcast

Bike Plan Update Video

Active Towns Video from 2019 visit

Mama Agata video  - Amsterdam program to help migrant women learn to cycle

League of American Bicyclists

Peter Furth 

Blue Bikes

Cycling Safety Ordinance

Aeronaut Brew Pub

New Harvard Bikeways - 2020 

Winkelerf - A  Shared Commercial Street

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

Credits:

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

Resources used during the production of this episode:

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Background:

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2021

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.