Statewide partnership preparing for annual count Sept. 25-27

OLYMPIA - Each year, the number of people who choose to walk, ride bicycles or take other active travel means as their mode of transportation is increasing in Washington. How do we know? Volunteers annually count the number of people who walk or ride bicycles at selected locations during a three-day survey. For those who would like to help, volunteer registration is now open https://bikepedcount.wsdot.wa.gov for this year’s survey starting Tuesday, Sept. 25.

Volunteers are vital to the success of this project, and about 400 people are needed for the count. For the 2017 count, volunteers tallied more than 63,500 people biking and walking in communities across Washington. In 2017, the number of people who walked, biked or used other active modes increased 4 percent over the 2016 count, when evaluating comparable sites.

 For this 11th annual survey, the Washington State Department of Transportation and Cascade Bicycle Club https://www.cascade.org/ are partnering with FeetFirst http://www.feetfirst.org/, Washington Bikes http://wabikes.org/ and Futurewise http://futurewise.org/ to help count the number of people bicycling and walking Tuesday, Sept. 25, through Thursday, Sept. 27.

“This volunteer effort makes sure that people who bike and walk are counted as essential users of the transportation system,” said WSDOT Active Transportation Division Director Barb Chamberlain. “Each year that volunteers make the collection process possible, we get a more robust picture of the growth in active transportation.”

 “We’re excited to once again work with the Washington State Department of Transportation to ensure that biking and walking counts across Washington state,” said Richard Smith, Executive Director of Cascade Bicycle Club, “This is possible only because of the hundreds of volunteers who care about safer biking and walking.”

Data collected during the count is used by state and local agencies to estimate demand; measure the benefit of bicycle and pedestrian project investments; and improve policies, project designs and funding opportunities. The data also helps agencies understand how and where to address active transportation options for people who don’t have the income to choose other transportation alternatives. For these people, walking and biking might be their only mode, or part of a multimodal trip to access transit.

As WSDOT embarks on an update to the statewide active transportation plan, this effort will shape the vision of a future with a complete, comfortable network for all ages and abilities.

In addition to the annual count, WSDOT, Cascade Bicycle Club, and local agencies are partnering to install permanent counters at locations around the state. To see counts from both data collection programs, visit the WSDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Count Portal http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/data/tools/bikepedcounts/.

Get involved

To learn more, visit WSDOT’s website http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/bike/Count.htm, email Cascade Bicycle Club mailto:meganc@cascadebicycleclub.org  or call 425-243-3588.
To sign-up to volunteer, visit bikepedcount.wsdot.wa.gov https://bikepedcount.wsdot.wa.gov/
Participating communities

WSDOT and the Cascade Bicycle Club are asking volunteers from across the state to perform the counts in nearly 60 communities including:
Anacortes, Bainbridge Island, Battle Ground, Bayview, Bellevue, Bellingham, Bothell, Bremerton, Burien, Burlington, Concrete, Ellensburg, Everett, Federal Way, Ferndale, Gig Harbor, Issaquah, Kelso, Kenmore, Kent, Kirkland, La Conner, Lake Forest Park, Lakewood, Longview, Lyman, Lynden, Mercer Island, Milton, Mount Vernon, Mountlake Terrace, Oak Harbor, Olympia, Orting, Parkland, Pasco, Pullman, Puyallup, Renton, Richland, Seattle, Sedro-Woolley, Shoreline, Snoqualmie, Spokane, Spokane Valley, Sumner, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Reservation, Tacoma, Tukwila, University Place, Vancouver, Vashon Island, Walla Walla, Wenatchee and Yakima.

WSDOT’s count is part of the National Documentation
Project http://bikepeddocumentation.org/, an annual bicycle and pedestrian count and survey effort sponsored by the Institute of Transportation Engineers Pedestrian and Bicycle Council. The count will also help measure WSDOT’s progress toward the goal of increasing bicycling and walking to reduce the number of vehicle miles driven.