Category: Safe Streets for Biking and Walking

CSG in the News: Virginia Reduces Speed Limit On Stretch Of Route 1 In Fairfax County

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

May 22, 2023 | DCist | Jenny Gathright

Sonya Breehey, the northern Virginia advocacy manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, says the speed limit reduction is a “win for a safer Richmond highway and the communities along the corridor.”

“The Richmond Highway corridor is just dangerous, and routinely sees higher than average crashes and fatalities,” Breehey tells DCist/WAMU. “So this is certainly a step in the right direction that will help make the roads safer for everybody no matter how you travel — but most especially for our vulnerable road users: those who are walking and biking.”

Breehey added that additional improvements are still needed.

“Dropping the speed limit along won’t be enough,” she says. “It’s one tool in the toolbox.”

Read the full story!

Opinion: The answer to a more vibrant downtown D.C.? Not more cars.

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Ultimately, this is about quality of life and attractive, competitive communities for residents of D.C. and the region, enhanced by having alternatives to hours spent driving and sitting in traffic and reducing the air pollution harming us — life and work enhanced by a green, sustainable and people-oriented downtown.

Bike bike baby: How Greater Washington can boost the e-bike revolution

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

Shifting trips to walking and biking through active transportation investments and land use planning is perhaps the most cost effective way to reduce transportation emissions. Plus, e-bikes use a tiny fraction of the limited and often environmentally costly battery minerals that go into e-cars. Many residents can’t afford an electric car (or any new car) – and already shell out a lot on cars, reducing our region’s affordability – but can afford an e-bike.

TESTIMONY: Montgomery County’s Pedestrian Master Plan

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

We strongly support the  Pedestrian Master Plan draft and commend the plan’s holistic approach to achieving pedestrian safety and comfort across the county. In particular, we appreciate that the plan acknowledges pedestrian planning as a critical tool to meet our goals around health, equity, accessibility, climate, and land use, and that we need to think about these policies as interconnected.

PRESENTATION: Creating Community Blvds & Avenues

Posted on by Ayesha Amsa

We have the design and engineering tools to re-create arterials into dynamic streets that are safer and serve community uses like local businesses. We know that arterials make up a large share of serious crashes and deaths. But these conversions are rare. Why are they so rare? A new idea about how to change that.