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ITD seeking communities to participate in bike/pedestrian count project

As Tom Cruise (Jerry Maguire) famously said to Cuba Gooding Jr. (Rod Tidwell) in the movie Jerry Maguire: "help me help you!"

Several Idaho communities are being invited to help provide data on bicycle and pedestrian use for the development of a tool that will be used to improve bicycle and pedestrian facilities. It also will help create a system of safe and efficient transportation corridors.

ITD and Idaho Smart Growth are seeking three to five Idaho communities to pilot the effort. The survey is for communities that have not previously collected data on biking and walking. All local or tribal governments, highway districts and metropolitan planning organizations in Idaho are eligible to apply to participate in the bike/pedestrian count project. The application deadline is April 1.

At least three communities will be selected to participate, including one small community (population up to 3,000), one medium community (population 3,001 – 20,000) and one larger community (population over 20,000).

Selected communities will learn how to conduct bicycle and pedestrian counts and collect useful data for transportation planning and project development.

ITD and Idaho Smart Growth will help communities throughout Idaho learn how to collect data by counting how many people walk or travel by bicycle. The goal is to establish consistent, statewide standards for documenting bike and pedestrian use and develop a database to collect and store this data.

“Improving bicycle and pedestrian facilities in our transportation system requires gathering information about how many people walk and bike, and where they are coming from and going to,” said Mark Bathrick, ITD’s project manager. “Collecting accurate data in a reliable manner helps us make changes to the infrastructure that will encourage more walking and biking.”