Why Walking Matters:

• Pedestrians and walking are the glue that holds a good transit program together. It is part of the foundation of a ‘SMART’ Smart Growth strategy. You’re taking your life in your hands when you walk to transit in San Diego County. We are second only to New York in the percentage of traffic deaths who are pedestrians (24%). People won’t use transit if it’s not safe to get there.

• Our region talks-the-talk but we don’t walk-the-walk. San Diego commits an embarrassingly low level of annual funding to pedestrian and bicycle facilities. Over the last two years, SANDAG spent 38 cents per capita on pedestrian safety projects. The national average is 76 cents. Many regions spent far more, but none have our ideal weather for walking.

•While Mobility 2030 proposes an increase in current annual pedestrian and bicycle funding levels, this is not enough. And, it is meager compared to other regions of California.

• Its good for our health…and a community’s economic and social well-being are directly tied to the health of its residents.

Recommendations:

1. Increase to 2% the percent of the RTP allocated to pedestrian and bicycle projects and safety. In proposing just 0.55%, San Diego is out of step with other major regions in California. Places like Sacramento (2.8%) and San Francisco (1.3%) have devoted significantly more of their regional transportation funds to pedestrian and bicycle projects.

2. Provide routine accommodation for pedestrians in all regional projects. Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration have both already established as policy the routine accommodation of pedestrians in road projects. This same requirement needs to be included in Mobility 2030. In particular, all SANDAG-funded projects should meet the criteria for walkability as defined in SANDAG’s own Pedestrian Design Guidelines.

3. Include WCWG as a key participant in the State of the Commute report. The SANDAG Walkable Communities Working Group should be involved in determining the goals and process for pedestrian counts as part of the new State of the Commute report. Accessing the committee’s technical expertise will help ensure that the study is rigorous, effective, and relevant. Moreover, the committee has a stake in deciding how the study defines walking as a mode of transportation and how pedestrians are counted.