By Terry Miller
Local Monrovia fitness expert and trainer Lynda Linforth has teamed up with a committee called ‘Move Monrovia’ where she and other members hope to instill in local citizens the benefits of walking and cycling–locally. The benefits of walking and cycling are well-documented but worth review: improve general health, help to lower both blood pressure and improve heart health, as well as improving mental health and wellbeing; help with weight and stress management; improve fitness; in congested areas cyclists and pedestrians breathe in less fumes than drivers; save you money; produce no pollution, so good for the environment and tackling climate change; often quicker to get around in Monrovia; fewer cars on the road and more cyclists and pedestrians means safer roads; have fewer days being ill each year.
A federal study last year highlights the importance of and side-benefits of walking and cycling in your community.
The full report can be read here: (http://www.pedbikeinfo.org/cms/downloads/NTPP_Economic_Benefits_White_Paper.pdf)
This white paper clearly indicated that as communities across the United States consider enhancements to their non-motorized transportation networks, there is a growing desire by both transportation planners and decision-makers to evaluate the impacts of these investments.
Many communities begin new infrastructure programs with pilot projects to evaluate their efficacy before implementation on a broader scale. Therefore, it is important to provide a technical resource on the methods available for communities to evaluate the different types of outcomes from non-motorized transportation investments, including: mode share changes; environmental benefits; increased accessibility; health benefits; and economic benefits.
The variety of potential economic benefits of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and programming investments include: commute cost savings for bicyclists and pedestrians; direct benefits to pedestrian, bicycle, and tourism-related businesses; indirect economic benefits due to changing consumer behavior; and individual and societal cost savings associated with health and environmental benefits. This report provided information on the types of economic benefits realized from non-motorized transportation investments and a review of measurement and analysis techniques to evaluate them. This analysis also examines the different scales at which researchers may focus their data collection and analysis, including: individual consumer behavior; economic impacts within a non-motorized travel corridor; or community-wide economic impacts.
The goal of this report was to provide a technical resource for communities seeking to measure the economic impacts from pedestrian and bicycle transportation projects in the future. The report concludes that researchers should choose evaluation methods and scales of analysis appropriate to the project or program they intend to evaluate. Evaluating the effects of bicycle and pedestrian transportation investments also requires comparison to baseline or control data
Ideally, researchers or project planners should design research plans before implementation of non-motorized transportation projects so that they can collect the relevant baseline data. Comparing communities or neighborhoods where non-motorized transportation projects have been implemented to similar communities without those investments can establish a control comparison to avoid attributing impacts to non-motorized transportation projects that may reflect more general trends.
Essentially, Ms. Lynforth hopes to:
- Create a network of safe bike-ways within Monrovia that connect major points of interest such as schools, parks, city resources etc., while emphasizing regional connectivity.
- Identify funding opportunities for bike-way enhancements and improvements and help facilitate the application process
- Initiate a bicycle safety education campaign for all community members
- Generate wide-spread support for more sustainable growth development.
For more information, call Nancy Bond (626) 275-2012 or visit: www.movemonrovia.com.
