Note: This transcript was exported from the video version of this episode and it has not been copyedited

00:00:00:01 - 00:00:28:18
Martina Haggerty
A lot of cities are shifting the way they talk about protected bike lanes to something like an urban trail network because of that multimodal aspect. You know, it's it might be people skateboarding or rollerblading. I've heard that's coming back now, which is crazy. So, you know, whatever you're thinking, whether you want to jog with your stroller, you know, it's about opening up access for all of these different modes of transportation and recreation so that people can enjoy their cities.

00:00:28:20 - 00:00:54:04
John Simmerman
Hey, everyone, welcome to the Active Towns Channel. I'm John Simmerman, and that is Martina Haggerty, senior director of the Local Innovations Project. We're going to be talking about the brand new initiative called the Great Bike Infrastructure Project. It's a good one. So let's jump right into it with Martina. Martina. Welcome back to the Active Towns podcast.

00:00:54:07 - 00:00:59:23
Martina Haggerty
Thanks for having me. It's great to see you again. And as always, love coming on here to chat with you.

00:00:59:25 - 00:01:09:17
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah. And I say welcome back because this is your second time on the podcast. Why don't you just take a quick moment to tell everybody who you are?

00:01:09:19 - 00:01:41:29
Martina Haggerty
Yeah, it is my second time on the podcast. I'm an old pro now, so I spent a long time and working for the City of Providence for Mayor Laura, the most recently advancing bike infrastructure and other planning and land use initiatives there. And that was the capacity in which I was previously on the podcast. And now I've transitioned to a new role, People for Bikes, which is a national advocacy group, and the trade association for the U.S. bike industry.

00:01:42:01 - 00:02:11:04
Martina Haggerty
And there I am the senior director of Local Innovation and help invest in local communities all across the country to advance bike infrastructure. So it's really exciting to be in a position to help advance bike infrastructure in so many different communities of all different sizes and shapes all across the country. And that's what we're doing now, sort of thinking about how what that next investment is in places.

00:02:11:06 - 00:02:23:29
John Simmerman
Yeah, fantastic. So you said local innovations. Talk a little bit about more about what local innovations is as a program, an initiative within people for bikes.

00:02:24:01 - 00:02:58:03
Martina Haggerty
Sure. So over time, people for bikes through their local innovation team has invested in communities through programs like the Green Lane Project, which was responsible for welcoming the concept of protected bike lanes and green paint for bike lanes to the U.S. really? And helped spread that across the country ten or so years ago. Other programs that we've run include the big jump, where we invested in about ten communities across the country to accelerate bike infrastructure.

00:02:58:06 - 00:03:22:11
Martina Haggerty
More recently, the Final Mile was a program through that office where we invested in five communities to accelerate bike infrastructure. And we also are responsible for other things that people have bikes produces, like our city ratings program, which is really our measurement tool for our progress in the United States. How cities are doing.

00:03:22:14 - 00:03:50:17
John Simmerman
Yeah, fantastic. And I'm scrolling down on the the landing page for the People for Bikes website and you had mentioned the big Jump project and also the Final Mile project, and that's how you and I know each other is because way back when in the day I was helping document a lot of the activities being done in in the area of of infrastructure and and taking a look at the different programs.

00:03:50:17 - 00:04:13:18
John Simmerman
And so I was very much embedded with and involved with the big jump project and had the opportunity to travel to many of those ten cities to document the types of projects that they had identified in their big jump target areas. And then also with the Final mile. And you and I had the opportunity to be on the same study tour in 2018 to the Netherlands.

00:04:13:18 - 00:04:15:06
John Simmerman
And that was a lot of fun.

00:04:15:09 - 00:04:34:13
Martina Haggerty
That was that was a great trip. We do that a lot with the cities that we invest in. We like to get them to other U.S. communities to experience great bike networks, but also abroad. And there are few better places than the Netherlands to really experience what great bike infrastructure can do for a place.

00:04:34:16 - 00:05:00:26
John Simmerman
Yeah, that actually reminds me too. I never produced a video for that. 2018 tour, study tour. So that might be something I should do because originally I was kind of following all ten cities and then the final miles that is thinking of doing a documentary, The Donkey Never documentary, never came to fruition partly because of COVID happening, but also, you know, who knows, maybe that would be a fun thing.

00:05:00:26 - 00:05:16:14
John Simmerman
You do a little mini doc on that experience and maybe catch up with some of the other study tour participants to see how impactful that experience was for them personally as well as for the cities.

00:05:16:16 - 00:05:21:18
Martina Haggerty
Yeah, yeah. A little throwback documentary and where are they now? Feature would be.

00:05:21:22 - 00:05:22:18
John Simmerman
Exactly.

00:05:22:20 - 00:05:41:29
Martina Haggerty
It was I mean, you were there, you saw it. It was just those study tours are such a transformative experience for folks to really be immersed in a great biking city for several days, if not a full week. And you come back with a completely new perspective on what is possible in the United States and in your own country.

00:05:42:00 - 00:05:54:21
Martina Haggerty
So I think a lot of those folks came back and and were put to work in their communities and really helped transform them. So I'd love to see sort of a retrospective of on how that works.

00:05:54:24 - 00:06:16:23
John Simmerman
Well, actually, since we're talking about that, how to talk a little bit about that, that influence that that sort of study tours and other types of experiential things has had on you in terms of, you know, the fact that as it turns out now you're working for people for bikes, so it must have been impactful.

00:06:16:26 - 00:06:44:25
Martina Haggerty
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Looking back, you know, who would have thought that I'd be at people for bikes now? You know, the city of Providence, while I was there working from ERA laws that we received technical assistance and funding from people for bikes through the big jump program and through the final mile. And so we were one of the ten cities and big job, one of the five Final Mile cities and both of those programs were really transformative.

00:06:44:25 - 00:07:21:11
Martina Haggerty
The study tour was really transformative. We also did some domestic study tours with some other folks from the city of Providence that were really instrumental in us being able to do what we did over the past ten years or so in terms of getting a great bike network on the ground in Providence. You know, I will say going back to the study tour, one of the things that that shocked me and shocks everyone that goes on one of these is that, you know, a lot of these cities, Amsterdam, etc., weren't always great bike biking cities.

00:07:21:11 - 00:07:48:15
Martina Haggerty
And so everyone kind of in the U.S., I feel like you get dismissed, especially at a public meeting or something like that. And people say we're not we're not the Netherlands. They've always bikes. It's in their culture. It's different, you know, and it's not. That was like for me, that was just mind blowing, that that transformation was only in the past 30 years or so over there and that they were very car oriented cities and towns, much like US cities.

00:07:48:15 - 00:08:01:16
Martina Haggerty
And they made a this is decision to transform and they made a decision to put bikes and people first over car access. And so that was that was pretty cool.

00:08:01:18 - 00:08:28:29
John Simmerman
Yeah. They just like many other cities around the globe, did, cycle at pretty impressive numbers prior to World War Two. But as you mentioned, after World War Two, they really doubled down on being car centric. And so they they, you know, actually separated bike lanes didn't exist in large numbers in the urban environments there in the Netherlands. So much prior to World War Two.

00:08:29:02 - 00:08:49:24
John Simmerman
But but people would just ride in the street, you know, prior to World War Two and not that many people owned cars. But when they doubled down on the car centric design and really doubling down on the number of cars, that's when yeah, it was shocking. And that's that's kind of the upheaval that took place in the early 1970s as as you just mentioned.

00:08:49:26 - 00:09:12:21
John Simmerman
And they pivoted. They did you know, they sort of said, hey, no, no, this is not the road that we want and need to be heading in. And so there was that pivot. And so it is very start to see the before and after pictures of the 1970s of what, you know, the Netherlands and other cities to like Copenhagen, you know look like looked like then and then what it looks like now.

00:09:12:21 - 00:09:35:04
John Simmerman
So it really should be inspiration for cities globally and across North America to to say that, you know, hey, it you know, we can strike a balance. We can start to work on some infrastructure which becomes more people oriented and people friendly. Let's let's do this. Let's talk a little bit about that, that sort of evolution that took place.

00:09:35:04 - 00:10:09:14
John Simmerman
As you mentioned, the Green Green Lane project, which was the project that was immediately before the big jump. And then after the big jump, you had the final mile really, the Green Lane project was about demonstrating that creating protected and separated facilities was a good thing to do. In Austin, where I'm at here was a participant in the in the Green Lane project and then moved on to participate in the big jump and then moved on to participate in in the final mile.

00:10:09:14 - 00:10:33:17
John Simmerman
So they made it. They actually were participants in all three of those major initiatives for you in Providence. You were part of the big jump in the final mile. Why don't you define what Big Jump was about and then final mile, what what that was about since you participated in that. And then we'll shift to the evolution to now what you're calling the Great Bike Infrastructure Project.

00:10:33:19 - 00:11:08:28
Martina Haggerty
Good teaser there. Yeah. So the big jump really was focused on specific geographic parts of a city. So there were ten cities that participated in that. Providence was one, Austin was one, New Orleans, I believe, Fort Collins. There were a bunch of other folks from across the country and it went from just demonstrating with the Green Lane Project, one protected bike lane or a few in a city to show what they were like because there were so few in America that most most people didn't even know what on earth these things were.

00:11:09:04 - 00:11:32:11
Martina Haggerty
And so it was all about, you know, just getting single, these singular projects out there. And the big jump, the main concept behind that was was to say, okay, can we transform a specific geographic area within a city? And so for the city of Providence, it was a part of our downtown and stretching into South Providence, that's where we were removing a highway.

00:11:32:11 - 00:12:00:18
Martina Haggerty
We removed or relocated Interstate 195 and opened up over 20 acres of land for redevelopment in downtown and transformed what used to be a highway bridge connecting several neighborhoods into a bike and pedestrian bridge. And so that was the focus of our big jump initiative. And a lot of the other cities had similar focuses is on specific neighborhoods or clusters of neighborhoods or corridors within their cities.

00:12:00:20 - 00:12:29:20
Martina Haggerty
And the final mile really took it to the next level. The Final Mile was a program that said, okay, if we invest heavily in a city in its advocacy and the supportive services and the staff that are helping make these projects possible to provide professional development opportunities and things like that, can we rapidly accelerate the construction of an entire bike network across an entire city in two or three years?

00:12:29:22 - 00:13:04:24
Martina Haggerty
And so the five cities that participated in that program, which were where Providence, Austin, New Orleans, again stayed on for that program, Pittsburgh. And who am I? Forget I'm forgetting somebody a Denver, Denver, I'm sorry, Denver. Yeah. And so those five cities were able to construct more than 300 miles of all ages and abilities, bike infrastructure as part of a cohesive, city wide network in three years, which was I think it was when we compared it to peer cities that weren't a part of the program.

00:13:04:24 - 00:13:31:09
Martina Haggerty
It was about three times as much bike infrastructure being constructed during that same time period. And so it was a really interesting experiment to say, because a lot of cities do this piecemeal bike work, which, you know, they'll they'll put a bike lane or a bike lane there. And the idea here was let's do the whole city at once or as much of it as we can rapidly and just get it on the ground.

00:13:31:12 - 00:13:40:12
Martina Haggerty
And then, you know, we can improve on it over time. But let's get the network on the ground, bare bones and tweak it and edit it as time goes on.

00:13:40:15 - 00:14:25:21
John Simmerman
That's an interesting point that you're making, is let's get something on the ground, get a network on the ground, let's accelerate this. Let's move that really fast. And what was interesting about the Final Mile project as a as an initiative in itself is there was a heavy investment in the narrative in in the framing that went out. And so I don't know about in Providence, but in Austin here I'd see billboards, you know, with framing, you know, marketing and raps on busses, with framing and really what it was trying to communicate to the entire populace is that building out a a safe and inviting network for active mobility.

00:14:25:21 - 00:14:52:09
John Simmerman
I'm not even going to call it bike lanes, active mobility, because scooters are using it, too, and people in wheelchairs are using it. So it's it's these mobility networks and building out a network of active mobility options really sort of opens up a whole new dimension of opportunity and choice for people. And it helps everybody even and even an helps drivers.

00:14:52:09 - 00:15:11:13
John Simmerman
And that was one of the narratives in the framing that came out of that was in fact, this this is helpful for for everyone in the city, including you as a driver, because every person who's, you know, participate in using this mobility lane is another person, not in a car in front of you.

00:15:11:15 - 00:15:41:12
Martina Haggerty
Yeah, Yeah, totally. And, you know, it was a huge component of the work that we did in Providence was reducing vehicular travel speeds on these streets. A lot of these streets were very unsafe for pedestrians. We're seeing high rates of speeding. Businesses were concerned about it, residents were concerned about it. We were seeing higher crash rates. And so putting in protected bike lanes on major commercial corridors really helped to slow traffic and make those streets safer for everybody.

00:15:41:14 - 00:15:57:02
Martina Haggerty
We did a lot of neighborhood greenways or bike boulevards to where we were slowing traffic on residential streets where there were complaints and concerns. And it really was something or is something that works, works for everybody whether you bike or not.

00:15:57:04 - 00:16:20:29
John Simmerman
Yeah. Okay. Before we dive into that next evolution, which is the Great Bike Infrastructure project, let's give a little bit of time to the other four or the other three things highlighted under infrastructure here. So starting over here at the BNA, the bicycle Network analysis give a little bit of of that context to what the BNA is all about.

00:16:21:01 - 00:16:27:22
John Simmerman
And I'm sure we'll we'll talk a bit about city ratings too because they're they're connected.

00:16:27:25 - 00:16:58:03
Martina Haggerty
Yeah the our bicycle network analysis is the the tool behind our city ratings program. So our city ratings program is the way that we measure progress on bike network in city different towns across the United States and what the bicycle network analysis does. And you're actually, John, scrolling as you're scrolling through our website right now. I know you're showing some of those the scores for some of the cities.

00:16:58:06 - 00:17:06:20
Martina Haggerty
And we've got we're now updating those quarterly. And so you're seeing some very fresh scores there as you scroll through that little sneak peak.

00:17:06:20 - 00:17:07:28
John Simmerman
Breaking news.

00:17:08:01 - 00:17:15:22
Martina Haggerty
The United States has a new number one city there. Actually, I think it might be the best city in the world right now. Mackinac Island in Michigan was not.

00:17:15:23 - 00:17:17:09
John Simmerman
Have you have you been?

00:17:17:12 - 00:17:19:15
Martina Haggerty
I haven't, but now I have to. My gosh.

00:17:19:23 - 00:17:26:15
John Simmerman
It's a wonderful look now that we're here and we see a 99 score, is this 99 out of 100?

00:17:26:18 - 00:17:49:05
Martina Haggerty
So it's 98 100. So we analyze all cities on a score of 0 to 100. And 100 is the best you can get. You can see The Hague on your screen is at an 89 Provincetown, Massachusetts, a great little coastal community as an 88, we've got and now we've got Mackinac Island at 99. And so that score was just added, I think, last week.

00:17:49:05 - 00:17:52:24
Martina Haggerty
And obviously that's a car free island for folks who aren't familiar with it. And so I was.

00:17:52:24 - 00:18:17:12
John Simmerman
Going to say, it's all I have to say. It's a little bit not fair. It is a car free island. It's it is a wonderful success story in North America. It is in Michigan. Obviously, it's in northern Michigan, just off of the lower Peninsula. Just before you get to the U.P., the Upper Peninsula, and it's been a car free island since the 1800s.

00:18:17:12 - 00:18:45:29
John Simmerman
And so it actually, you know, very early on they made that decision that it would be a car free island. And there's only three or four motor vehicles on the island. And I think one is the corner and one is the ambulance. And but otherwise you get around by walking, biking or horse drawn carriages. And most of the logistics, most of the deliveries are done by by horse drawn wagons.

00:18:46:01 - 00:19:05:28
John Simmerman
It's a it's a trip. It's a lot of fun. I was there in a decade ago in 2013 and I need to get back. So that's cool. I'm glad to see that. Okay. And then number three, here is the future of mobility. Five cities are paving the way. That's that is the final one that we just talked about.

00:19:05:28 - 00:19:24:00
John Simmerman
So we don't need to talk about that anymore. But really, as you mentioned, the BNA is the heart and soul of the city ratings program. So I don't think we need to talk any further about that because we just covered it under the BNA analysis. Unless I'm missing something else on the city ratings.

00:19:24:02 - 00:19:44:19
Martina Haggerty
I think you've got it. You really have our city ratings director on here on a Future podcast. She knows all about every component of it and how it what makes it tick, how it works. And I know folks often have a lot of questions about why their city rated a certain score, how they can improve their city rating score and so we've got a lot more information about that on our website.

00:19:44:21 - 00:19:47:10
Martina Haggerty
But yeah Rebecca it would be awesome to have on here.

00:19:47:11 - 00:20:12:04
John Simmerman
Yeah. And Rebecca and I have talked about having her on, so I need to circle back around to her and get that to make that happen for everybody. So now we're on the Great Bicycle Project or Infrastructure Project. So this is the new evolution of, you know, of local innovations going again from the Green Lane project to the Big Jump project and to the final mile.

00:20:12:09 - 00:20:35:17
John Simmerman
And by the way, folks, the reason why they called it the big jump is, as Martina mentioned, we it was a focused on a geographic area and trying to make a big advance, a big jump in terms of the number of people who feel comfortable within that geographic location of being able to get on a bike. And so that's the origins of that name.

00:20:35:20 - 00:21:30:11
Martina Haggerty
Yeah, the origins of project names are always interesting. So our new program is a really bold initiative called the Great Bike Infrastructure Project because we really do see this as a unique moment in time where this is sort of America's next great big investment. We've made a lot of big infrastructure investments as as a country over the past hundreds of years, and we've built highways and other things and now I think with the availability of federal funding and the focus on repairing connections and in community sustainability, equity, getting more people walking and biking and improving safety, there's there's really more federal funding than ever available for biking and walking infrastructure and we want to seize

00:21:30:11 - 00:21:42:14
Martina Haggerty
that moment. We want to help local communities and advocacy organizations jump on this moment and take advantage of that funding opportunity to build bike infrastructure everywhere.

00:21:42:17 - 00:22:13:15
John Simmerman
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned funding too, because in fact, people for bikes as a a nonprofit, as a funder, you're not actually funding the infrastructure projects typically because you don't have billions and billions of dollars in your account. But what you are doing and what the organization has been doing is and you mentioned you alluded to it earlier with the big jump, is there's a lot of technical assistance and a lot of supporting.

00:22:13:20 - 00:22:50:00
John Simmerman
And then with Final Mile, there was a lot of that infrastructure. We talked about the investment in the framing and the marketing and helping the community build the local support necessary to be able to pass those infrastructure bonds locally. Because actually, if you can do what Austin has done, which is, you know, raised through multiple election cycles, the funding necessary to build out their network and not have to rely on federal funding, all the better, because federal funding typically is slower, takes a little bit longer.

00:22:50:03 - 00:23:10:19
John Simmerman
There's also always strings attached to it. And so although we appreciate the federal funding, it's even better if cities can really start changing the narrative and building the community support so that they can actually, you know, start investing in dollars at the local level and move this a lot faster.

00:23:10:22 - 00:23:30:17
Martina Haggerty
Yeah, Yeah. I think, you know, it takes really we work across all three scales, national, state and local, and it takes funding from all of those levels to get the amount of bike infrastructure and pedestrian infrastructure that we need on the ground out there. It's going to take everybody. And so, you know, and there's also, you know, when you go after federal grants, you need local matching, what they call local matching funds.

00:23:30:17 - 00:23:45:29
Martina Haggerty
Typically, federal government will supply 50 to 80% of a project funding. You need to come up with the rest at the state or local level. And so through local bonds, initiatives and other things, it's really critical to have more funding for bike infrastructure.

00:23:46:01 - 00:24:17:12
John Simmerman
Yeah, so part of this project is and I was I was present at the announcement of, of this and so I was I was at the event here in Austin when Jen dice, the CEO, you know, talked about this a 1000 plus projects and and that's part of what's audacious about this is you have this vision that a truly is the great infrastructure project.

00:24:17:12 - 00:24:39:00
John Simmerman
You're talking about 1000 plus projects. So talk a little bit about, okay, what do you mean? How is this you know, my gosh, did you come into a lot of money? But so so explain how this is possible, that 1000 plus projects are getting some level of support from people for bikes?

00:24:39:03 - 00:25:05:25
Martina Haggerty
Yeah, that's a great question. So obvious. I wish we were able to fund all of those those bike infrastructure projects. But, you know, at the center of this campaign is the goal to build thousands of bike infrastructure projects both for recreation and for transport nation in the states all throughout the country. And the list that you're showing on your screen right now is really and the map is are really at the center of that.

00:25:05:25 - 00:25:28:12
Martina Haggerty
And I know you're kind of scrolling through our interactive map here on our website, which you can zoom into. You can see specific cities or states and you can click to see what kinds of bike projects are proposed or planned in in your community or nearby. And these are, you know, thousands of projects that are in various stages of planning or proposal.

00:25:28:12 - 00:25:55:17
Martina Haggerty
So it might be something that is proposed in a plan by a community. It could be a project that is funded, but maybe a few years out, maybe it's soon to be under construction. But they're all projects that need the support of folks to make sure that they get funded and built and stable. As you know, there's there's always that sort of NIMBY pushback at the last minute as a project that's constructed, whether it's a trail project or a protected bike lane.

00:25:55:19 - 00:26:21:07
Martina Haggerty
You know, people are always fearful of change. And we want to make sure that folks are equipped with the knowledge of what bike infrastructure projects that they should focus on in their community. Reach out to your local advocacy organization to see how you can support these projects and support their work in advancing these projects. And that's really the goal here, is to collect all of those in one place.

00:26:21:07 - 00:26:46:27
Martina Haggerty
There's really nothing like this out there. We looked and thought, Well, if it's not out there, we should create it, because how else are people going to know about projects that are happening in their backyard? How else are they going to know the right local advocacy organizations to contact? And so we're really pooling all that data together from all sorts of different sources across the country and making it available to folks.

00:26:47:00 - 00:27:15:12
Martina Haggerty
And, you know, when you click on a project on the on on the interactive map or it'll actually bring you a pop up box up that will show you the name of the projects, a little bit of more information about it. It'll let you click on a link for more information to learn about the project. And it also lists the state and local advocacy organizations in your area so that you can reach right out to them and and see what you can do to help.

00:27:15:14 - 00:27:16:09
Martina Haggerty
We found that.

00:27:16:12 - 00:27:18:14
John Simmerman
Do you know where I'm zooming in on this is?

00:27:18:17 - 00:27:20:23
Martina Haggerty
What's your zooming in to Austin.

00:27:20:25 - 00:27:36:01
John Simmerman
You know I'm not boring Boring. I know Austin No I'm kind of zooming in on northwest Arkansas area because I know you guys are even have, like, an office now up in the northwest Arkansas area, right?

00:27:36:03 - 00:27:51:19
Martina Haggerty
We do. We have a really cool office that you can it's a building called the ledger that you can bike right up to. It Is an external bike ramping right. Anyway that's where our offices there. Yeah. And with so we have a huge focus on helping advance bike infrastructure in northwest Arkansas.

00:27:51:21 - 00:28:11:19
John Simmerman
And tastic that's great And I see that you've got these tabs here where you've got the West and Southwest and Midwest and southeast and northeast. So walk us through how cities get engaged and involved with people for bikes within the Great Infrastructure Project.

00:28:11:21 - 00:28:34:29
Martina Haggerty
So there are a few different ways for folks to get involved. If you if you take a look at our list and you don't see a project that you'd like to see on our list in your community, you could there's a source through our website, through the AQ page on the Great Bike Infrastructure Project page, where you can submit your projects or help us correct project information.

00:28:35:02 - 00:29:00:19
Martina Haggerty
And the main way that we are helping advance these projects, aside from just getting the information out there and encouraging people to to help support these projects locally is providing support for things like action alerts. So when a project is going for a hearing for a funding before the City council or the state legislature or a mayor is threatening to remove a bike lane that was just constructed.

00:29:00:19 - 00:29:21:06
Martina Haggerty
And one of these priority projects, we help issue things called action alerts in coordination with local and state advocacy organizations to our entire network to ask people to show up to the public meetings, to write letters, to call their elected officials, to take action and make sure that these projects get funded, built and stable.

00:29:21:09 - 00:29:50:02
John Simmerman
Yeah, and that's a good again, y'all are nonprofit. And so it's not like you're rolling in massive amounts of of money to to be able to do this. So you're again providing a support that you can do, like support in action alerts and support as we were talking about earlier in technical assistance and being able to to help educate, you know, or communities and populations, etc..

00:29:50:08 - 00:30:22:18
John Simmerman
You also sort of track each year after each election cycle the the bonds and the results of elections with regards to funding towards said projects. And so I know that that's something that that comes out in the literally the days, you know, hours after every election, a major election cycle, there's there's sort of a posting that comes out from y'all about, you know, the major wins that took place, you know, across the country.

00:30:22:20 - 00:30:34:22
John Simmerman
So that's that's another sort of thing that you're doing in terms of when you talk about tracking these projects, you're also tracking, you know, sort of the zeitgeist of how things are going across the country.

00:30:34:24 - 00:30:56:16
Martina Haggerty
Yeah, Yeah. Both in terms of getting these projects built. We'll be tracking the status of these over time and helping celebrate those wins. But the other part that you've pointed out are our investments in supporting vote for bikes. We called our vote for bikes campaign as like the local ballot initiative that support support these projects that make them possible.

00:30:56:19 - 00:31:14:16
Martina Haggerty
And so that's, you know, if anybody's interested in that, you can reach out to us through our website. We again like to track those. We like to know what's getting funded out there, who's passing new innovative funding mechanisms to to build this kind of infrastructure. And we want to support it and ensure that we call it our army.

00:31:14:16 - 00:31:20:03
Martina Haggerty
But our our database of millions of people are supporting these projects in their own communities.

00:31:20:05 - 00:31:37:00
John Simmerman
Yeah, So storytelling is incredibly important to all of this. And so I see that we have our transformative stories sort of outlined here. Walk us through sort of what is all these transformative stories are all about.

00:31:37:02 - 00:32:10:27
Martina Haggerty
So transformative stories are all about exactly just that, telling the stories of these projects that give it that local connection. You know, people care about national campaigns, of course, like the Great Bike Infrastructure Project, Let's Transform America. We all love that. But what people really care about is the project that's in their backyard that they're familiar with that is going to close a gap in their recreational trail network to make it safer and more accessible, to build a protected bike lane to help their kids get to school more easily.

00:32:11:00 - 00:32:33:19
Martina Haggerty
Whatever the project is, we want to tell those stories. We want to celebrate those local advocacy coalitions and elected officials that are doing great things, doing the really hard work. And that's that's really the goal there, is to to bring those to life so that people can understand the impact this has on a very personal level for people.

00:32:33:21 - 00:33:03:20
John Simmerman
And I notice in scrolling through these, we see that some of them are proposed, some of them are funded, some of them are approved. And so there's that status that you sort of alluded to earlier, which is, okay, well, where where is this this project at in terms of this? So that's part of the narrative of these success stories or or highlights is, you know, Yeah, this this particular protected bike lane in Madison is currently at the proposed stage.

00:33:03:22 - 00:33:27:05
Martina Haggerty
Yeah. Yeah. And we want to help rally that local support to get all of these projects from proposed to approved, fully funded to build and you know we'll be there each step along the way to help to offer advice to, to folks that are working on the ground this local communities connecting them with the right people, helping them figure out funding sources and things like that.

00:33:27:08 - 00:33:47:21
John Simmerman
Yeah. Or there's some stories that really have resonated with you, or I should say I'm sure there are some stories that have really resonated with you. What are some of the stories that have really resonated with you in, you know, from the first few weeks of this being launched?

00:33:47:23 - 00:34:21:21
Martina Haggerty
You know, I think one of the great stories that you scrolled through on the website there is the the Glacial Adrenaline Connector Project in Wisconsin. The Trail project connects a greater regional trail system. And I really like this project because it is not only connecting trail systems, but it's connecting more people to the trail system. And so and making riding, whether it's recreational or for transportation more accessible to more people, is also important.

00:34:21:24 - 00:34:39:11
Martina Haggerty
Making sure that access to trailheads isn't just for people who have a car and a bike rack that you can get there with your family safely and easily from your house is going to encourage more people to get on bikes, and that's what we want. Yeah.

00:34:39:13 - 00:35:07:16
John Simmerman
I think that's an important thing that you just highlighted there, is that a many of these facilities, many of these infrastructure investments, you know, can fall into this this sort of area where it is multi-use in nature? It it's certainly this this trail is going to be a shared use trail. And so it's not, quote unquote, just bike infrastructure.

00:35:07:18 - 00:35:44:26
John Simmerman
It's really is multi-modal types of infrastructure that's being, you know, built out. And, you know, as I alluded to earlier, even our quote unquote, protected bike lanes, really, we're realizing that these are very essential for people in wheelchairs, people on scooters and other mobility devices. And so I think that's an important thing to realize that even though it's people for bikes and it's, you know, a bike advocacy initiative, really, we're looking at active mobility and really more people oriented mobility options.

00:35:44:29 - 00:36:14:02
Martina Haggerty
It is. And a lot of cities are shifting the way they talk about protected bike lanes to something like an urban trail network because of that multimodal aspect. You know, it's it might be people skateboarding or rollerblading. I've heard that's coming back now, which is crazy. So, you know, whatever you're thinking, whether you want to jog with your stroller, you know, it's about opening up access for all of these different modes of transportation and recreation so that people can enjoy their cities.

00:36:14:04 - 00:37:00:21
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah, I love it. Again, another great example, too, of, you know, a success story in the in the making here and really looking forward to seeing how how this, you know, kind of plays out. It also sort of highlights the fact that a network is oftentimes comprised of many different types of infrastructure facilities. Whereas, you know, when you look at an entire network across like the city of Madison, you have some good on street network facilities which then transition to some off street facilities and shared use paths, which then, you know, transition into, you know, another type of of trail network or facility.

00:37:00:28 - 00:37:15:06
John Simmerman
And so it really isn't just one thing. It isn't just protected bikeways or it isn't just natural surface trails. There's there's sort of this blending of different types of infrastructure that creates an entire network.

00:37:15:09 - 00:37:37:26
Martina Haggerty
Yeah. And that's what you want to see, what you want to see. Neighborhood greenways and bike boulevards reaching out into neighborhoods. You want to see protected bike lanes or separated shared use path on busy, busy roads that connects between those neighborhoods and connect to downtowns and things like that. And then, you know, shared use paths are and trail systems are a huge part of that.

00:37:38:02 - 00:37:54:23
Martina Haggerty
And we're even looking at things like bike parks and and off road mountain biking trails and things like that, because that's all that's all part of the experience of having a great biking city that you have great places to bike and great places to bike to with our spirit kids or for your own your own recreation.

00:37:54:26 - 00:38:20:03
John Simmerman
Yeah. And you do bring up another good point there too, is that the when you build out a city that is, quote unquote bikeable, it serves more than just one purpose. And being back in the day, it seemed like, you know, the bike lanes when you were just talking about a painted bike lane, it just kind of served a very, very narrow portion of the population.

00:38:20:03 - 00:39:05:13
John Simmerman
The 1.5% of of confident riders that that that's all they needed. They just needed a painted bike lane and they do it. And and, you know, that's kind of where we were stuck for many, many decades. And then the Green Lane project came around and really the awareness of trying to create more all ages and abilities facilities. And then suddenly you start to open up the real opportunities, which takes us beyond just recreation, because that's kind of where we were stuck in is we were stuck in a in an area where it was just kind of recreation and then a few hard core commuter typical stereo stereotype vehicle commuter males that were confident and they

00:39:05:13 - 00:39:38:14
John Simmerman
rode, you know, and that's what they did. They were bike commuters. But in reality, what we're talking about is trying to open up to a a much broader constituency, a much broader part of the population in some cities is as much as 60% of the population that are interested, but they're concerned with their safety. And so if they had a safer network, then maybe they would ride their bike to the grocery store and maybe they would, you know, take the kids to school, into the park, into their friend's place.

00:39:38:16 - 00:39:51:00
John Simmerman
So that's what we're talking about here is is being able to open it up beyond just recreation. Nothing wrong with recreation, but making riding a bike, being more than just that.

00:39:51:02 - 00:40:12:15
Martina Haggerty
Absolutely And that's why I like to talk about it is an all ages and abilities network that you know it's it's folks that could be an eight year old child an 80 year old grandmother and everybody in between no matter their comfort, comfort or experience riding a bike, we want them to feel comfortable and confident to get out there and ride more often.

00:40:12:15 - 00:40:20:09
Martina Haggerty
And that's really what it takes, is things like shared use paths or neighborhood greenways with low traffic or protected bike lanes to make that happen.

00:40:20:12 - 00:40:26:13
John Simmerman
And you're a parent, so you can you can speak to this very viscerally and and personally.

00:40:26:15 - 00:40:47:13
Martina Haggerty
I am I have a ten year old who loves to ride his bike. He just talked me into getting a mountain bike, which is a whole new thing for me of that sort of urban commuter type bicyclist. I have an e-bike my my mom bike with a cargo so that I can I can talk my son around the city for places where I'm not comfortable letting him ride his bike on his own parents out there.

00:40:47:13 - 00:41:11:09
Martina Haggerty
No, there's nothing more nerve wracking than watching, you know, an 8 to 10 year old ride on a busy street. You just never know what they're going to do. You never know what cars are going to do. And having protected bike lanes, being able to ride to places where I don't have to worry about him and he can have that freedom to ride on a bike path and I know he's going to be safe is a game changer both for him and for me.

00:41:11:13 - 00:41:12:18
Martina Haggerty
So, yeah.

00:41:12:20 - 00:41:27:00
John Simmerman
That's that's fantastic. That's fantastic. Is there anything that we haven't mentioned about the great infrastructure project, a bike infrastructure project that you want to make sure we leave the audience with.

00:41:27:02 - 00:41:53:15
Martina Haggerty
In addition to our our list of a thousand projects, as we call it, that's going to help us build this more bikeable nation. We're also offering through the Great Bike Infrastructure Project, a series of legislative strategies to help people, whether they're advocates or policymakers at the state, local and county level, to accelerate the construction of bike infrastructure through legislation.

00:41:53:17 - 00:42:05:12
Martina Haggerty
And so our our legislative guide offers a series of strategies that have been effective in helping states and cities all across the country do just that.

00:42:05:14 - 00:42:32:22
John Simmerman
Yeah, and I can't emphasize this enough. I've seen it over the years, really the couple of decades that I've been following this work. This matters. We need to to really push for policy changes and legislation and and funding. And so getting this stuff right is is absolutely critical. So this is a very, very important resource to tap into.

00:42:32:27 - 00:42:37:09
John Simmerman
If you're here in America, you definitely need to do that.

00:42:37:11 - 00:42:57:18
Martina Haggerty
It is. And, you know, as much as we encourage people to work with local advocacy organizations and their local elected officials to make sure that priority bike projects are getting built in their communities, please use our legislative guide to advance legislation at the same time, work with your local advocacy coalition to take a look at our guide, see what your community has.

00:42:57:24 - 00:43:16:09
Martina Haggerty
It does what you think might work. You know, if everything from more than a dozen different ways to fund bike infrastructure at the state and local level in there through you know, things that you might be familiar with, like general obligation bonds that are often on the ballot, but also things like tax increment financing districts and business improvement districts.

00:43:16:09 - 00:43:31:02
Martina Haggerty
There are a lot of communities that are doing really innovative things out there, and there's no need to reinvent the wheel. So we put all of that together in one resource to help people take advantage of what other cities are doing, what other states are doing, and get it done in their own community.

00:43:31:05 - 00:43:47:11
John Simmerman
Fantastic. That is awesome. Yeah. So Martina Haggerty, the senior director of Local Innovations, thank you so very much for joining me once again on the Active Towns podcast.

00:43:47:13 - 00:43:58:06
Martina Haggerty
Thanks for having me, John. Always a pleasure to be here and thanks for all you do to promote all this great work and get people out there and active and walking and biking around their communities.

00:43:58:08 - 00:44:14:15
John Simmerman
Hey, everyone, thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Martina, and if you did, please give it a thumbs up. Leave a comment down below and share it with a friend. And if you haven't done so already, be honored to have you subscribe to the Journal. Just click on that subscription button down below and ring that notifications bell.

00:44:14:18 - 00:44:42:00
John Simmerman
And if you are enjoying this content, please consider becoming an active town's ambassador. It's easy to do. Just click on the link, taking you to the website. And there's many different ways that you can support the channel, including becoming a patron on member YouTube. Super. Thanks. Just click on the button right there as well as Buy Me a Coffee and you can even make a donation to the nonprofit as well as going out to the active town store picnic.

00:44:42:00 - 00:45:02:01
John Simmerman
Your own streets are for people. Schwag. We've got bottles, we've got coffee mugs as well as T-shirts. Every little bit really does help and is much appreciated. Hey, thank you so much for tuning in. It really means so much to me. And until next time. This is John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness. Cheers.

00:45:02:03 - 00:45:20:14
John Simmerman
And again, sending a huge thank you to all my active town's ambassador for supporting the channel on Patron. Buy me a coffee. YouTube. Super. Thanks. As well as making contributions to the nonprofit and purchasing things from the active town store. Every little bit adds up and it's much appreciated. Thank you all so much.