Improving Livability and Recreation Access along America's Byways

Contributed by Rachel Beyerle

Coordination, livable communities, sustainability…these are terms often associated with transportation projects in bustling metropolitan areas, but small towns and cities across the country are finding opportunities to enhance overall community accessibility and livability.  Participants in the National Association of Development Organizations’ Rural Transportation Conference had the chance to explore how states and towns in New England, and specifically Vermont, are completing projects to better connect residents and visitors to community amenities. 

Photo 1. Vergennes, Vt. Main Street Byway Project

Held in Burlington, Vt., the conference included several mobile workshops featuring transportation facilities and operations tied to Vermont’s economic development, tourism, and commercial infrastructure.  Easter Seals Project ACTION staff presented in a conference session titled Meaningful Engagement and Collaboration: Develop a Participation Plan, focusing on tools for involving people with disabilities and older adults in the planning process, and staff also participated in a mobile workshop on Vermont’s Scenic Byways Program.  The Lake Champlain Byway, which runs north-south in western Vermont, features several new projects that improve visitor experience, site interpretation and accessibility.  Specific projects include the Vergennes Main Street Byway Recreational Access improvements, Shelburne Bay Park interpretive signs, and an accessible wayside facility on the Roosevelt Highway approach to the Lake Champlain islands.

Photo 2. Shelburne Bay Park, Vt. Interpretive Signs

The largest of these projects, the Vergennes Recreational Access improvements, includes new stair access and lookout points with benches next to a dam in Otter Creek which is used by locals and visitors for fishing, boating and picnicking. While the stairway is not accessible for people using mobility devices, the structure offers secure steps, handrails and lighting.  A road on the opposite side of the creek provides surface level access to the creek. The stairway is one phase of a multi-phase project to improve walking and trail access between downtown Vergennes and the creek.  The Shelburne Bay Park improvements include interpretive park signage—at an accessible height—located at the park entrance adjacent to a parking area.  The final project viewed by workshop participants is a wayside parking area with an accessible restroom near South Hero on the southernmost Lake Champlain Island.  This area is popular with recreation enthusiasts and boaters, and until the wayside was improved, this section of the Roosevelt Highway (U.S. Route 2) offered minimal facilities for travelers.

If you live in a large, urbanized area with an extensive transportation system, trails, and parks and recreation access, it can be difficult at first to imagine the significance that smaller projects such as those along the Lake Champlain Scenic Byway have to a community in a predominantly rural state.  Significant they are, though, in expanding the opportunity for many more people of all ages to access and enjoy outdoor recreation. 

Taking Advantage of State, Regional, and Local Mobility Management Forums

Contributed by Judy Shanley

Easter Seals Project ACTION (ESPA) was fortunate to be invited to conduct presentations at recent state and regional meetings around coordinated transportation planning including the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) Brownbag and the Work Without Limits Bi-Annual Transportation Meeting, a Massachusetts project supported in part by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health & Human Services (EOHHS), Human Service Transportation Office. A range of human services and transit professionals listened as ESPA shared resources related to: engaging a broad range of human services and transit professionals in coordinated planning and mobility management, describing lessons learned from the Mobility Management Independent Living Coaches Program, facilitating connections across education and transit, and building travel training statewide systems.

Attendees discussed topics and provided examples of their work related to leveraging resources, developing strategic and new partnerships, and measuring performance all along the way. As Tanja Ryden of the Human Service Transportation Office in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services observed, “State, regional, and local forums offer a rich environment to identify new partners in mobility management and share information to maximize the use of resources across communities.” If you are interested in finding coordination efforts underway in your state, check out the National Resource Center’s state by state listing.

U.S. DOT, Office of the Secretary Invites ESPA to Support Transportation YOU Program

Contributed by Whitney E. Gray

 

ESPA was pleased to provide resources and tools for Transportation YOU’s 2012 DC Youth Summit, an annual conference held by U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) and Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS). Transportation YOU is a mentoring program that offers girls ages 13-18 an introduction to a variety of careers in transportation. This year’s conference provided an opportunity for Transportation YOU’s participants to go on exclusive tours, meet with White House administrators, and participate in various challenges.

The resources that ESPA provided for the conference helped participants learn about making transportation accessible for people with disabilities. For the event, Bryna Helfer, director of public engagement at the Office of the Secretary, U.S. DOT invited ESPA to support the accessibility challenge at the summit by modifying a selection of current ESPA publications, including an accessibility checklist, which students could use in conducting their accessibility challenge review across cognitive, sensory, and physical domains. ESPA staff also assisted U.S. DOT officials map Washington, D.C. routes that students followed to complete the challenge; along the routes, students checked for signage, signals and environmental barriers, such as curb cuts and obstructions of pedestrian pathways (e.g. news stands, poles).

In his blog article about the conference, U.S. DOT Secretary Ray LaHood shared photos from his meeting with conference participants and spoke about career opportunities in transportation. “The field of transportation,” Sec. LaHood stated, “is a diverse world offering these young women a host of opportunities and challenges that are as engaging as they are rewarding.”

ESPA provides many resources for professionals in accessible transportation, including publications and trainings for newer professionals. For instance, Introduction to Travel Training, an intensive three-day course, is a free training initiative designed to help increase the skills, knowledge and abilities of travel training professionals especially those new to the field. For young adults or others interested in advocacy, ESPA hosted a webinar on advocating for transportation at the local level. In addition, the Including People with Disabilities:Communication & Meeting Etiquette Pocket Guide offers basic information on speaking and working with people with disabilities. VisitESPA’s website to learn more about accessible transportation and ways to get involved in making communities more livable for everyone.

Strengthening Transportation Choices So We Can Serve Those Who Have Served Their Country

Contributed by Mary Leary

Many thanks to everyone who took the time help us support participation in the National Online Dialogue on Veterans' Transportation as we’ve had excellent success in meeting the goal for the event – to learn how to address barriers and increase access to transportation from both the veterans and provider community.

As of last Wednesday, over 1,400 people visited the site. Over 340 participants shared more than 165 comments, 348 votes, and 51 ideas. We launched the event at the APTA Bus and Paratransit Conference and promoted it heavily again at this week’s CTAA EXPO. U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) leadership have all publicized this event heavily in their blogs, with videos and in recent speeches - during FTA Administrator Rogoff’s keynote to Expo attendees this week he noted the dialogue. The White House cross-posted Secy. LaHood’s blog on the dialogue. The level of participation in terms of ideas is almost twice that of any of our previous dialogues – over 6 ideas per registrant. This participation rate shows the strong level of interest people have in suggesting specific actions that they themselves see of benefit to serve veterans.

Participants have primary interest across various stakeholder groups: public transportation (28%), veterans’ services (22%), human services transportation (11%), medical transportation (6%), disability services (4%), employment/workforce (3%), and planning (3%). Please help us with one last major push to get more ideas, to get folks to vote on the ideas that are there or comment upon the ideas. In our final report, we hope to clearly lay out the top ideas with the most votes to assist FTA, the VA and our other Federal Partners with discrete actions that can be the next step in our movement to: “Strengthen Transportation Choices So We Can Serve Those Who Have Served Their Country.” The messages in the dialogue make it very clear that we have a lot of work to do, but there are some solutions. 

It is truly an honor to be a part of this important effort. As we head into a holiday weekend where we all remember those who gave their lives for our country, it reminds me of our obligation to do our part for those we still have with us. To add your voice, visit the dialogue. 

Accessible Paths of Travel Highlighted at 3rd Annual Walk and Roll

On May 8, as part of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) 2012 Bus and Paratransit Conference in Long Beach, Calif., ESPA co-hosted the third annual Walk & Roll! Wellness Event with APTA and Long Beach Transit.  

Michael Melaniphy, APTA president and chief executive officer, welcomed the group. Mary Leary, assistant vice president of Easter Seals Transportation Group, provided a brief description of the event’s origin, and Cynde Soto, a member of the Long Beach Transit Paratransit Advisory Committee, gave a short description of the paratransit options and how they are integrated into the full Long Beach transit system.  

Pictured from left to right are Michael Melaniphy, Mary Leary and Cynde Soto  (Source: ESPA)

This accessible event was open to everyone and provided participants with an opportunity to share an afternoon stroll that highlighted the importance of accessible paths of travel to transportation for everyone in our communities, including people with disabilities. Walk & Roll! participants also walked through Long Beach’s Transit Gallery, a section of town where the bus stop shelters, sidewalks and surrounding structures are enhanced with the work of local artists. As one participant remarked, "Walk and Roll is an excellent event for fun, fitness, friendship and integration!"

3rd Annual Walk & Roll! Participants Gather for a Photo (Source: APTA)

The Walk & Roll! begins after receiving brief instructions (Source: ESPA)

Share Your Ideas for Improving Transportation for Veterans | The White House

Shared from The White House

Yesterday, the White House Joining Forces blog shared an U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's invitation to share their ideas for improving access to reliable, affordable transportation for veterans, service members, military families, caregivers. Here is an excerpt from the article:

The benefits Americans enjoy today wouldn't be possible without the courageous service of our nation's veterans. So when they return home, we must turn our sincere appreciation of the men and women who bravely protect and defend the United States of America into action. We must help them and their families find meaningful work, a good education, and quality medical care—none of which is possible without access to reliable, affordable transportation.

And now, we’re proud to broaden the conversation by giving those who have been on the front lines of military service a chance to communicate with those who are on the front lines of delivering transportation services. This online give-and-take will help us make better decisions about the transportation connections our military families need to pursue the opportunities they deserve.

Read the full article at The White House

Share your ideas to improve transportation for veterans!

Online Dialogue to Improve Transportation for Veterans Ready for Your Ideas

Shared from U.S. Department of Transportation - Welcome to the FastLane: The Official Blog of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation

The U.S. Department of Transportation helped launch a national dialogue on strengthening transportation choices for America’s military veterans, wounded warriors, and their families. This online conversation, “Strengthening Transportation Choices So We Can Serve Those Who Have Served Their Country,” is open until June 8, and we invite those interested in helping veterans and service members to participate by visiting veteransdialogue.ideascale.com.

The benefits Americans enjoy today wouldn't be possible without the courageous service of our nation's veterans. So when they return home, we must turn our sincere appreciation of the men and women who bravely protect and defend the United States of America into action. We must help them and their families find meaningful work, a good education, and quality medical care—none of which is possible without access to reliable, affordable transportation.

That's why the Federal Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility and the Department of Defense are sponsoring this first-ever online exchange of ideas about the transportation options veterans need and how we can help make those options available to our returning heroes and their families.

As Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff said, “We are thrilled to support a national conversation that will, for the first time, enable veterans and service members to engage in a frank and creative exchange about their transportation needs with a wide range of organizations that can ultimately deliver solutions.”

Visit the FastLane for the full article