Bicycle and Pedestrian
Improving safety for people walking and riding bicycles, and encouraging more short trips to be taken on bike or on foot where practical, is a priority for the RPC. More than 22% of trips Americans take each day are less than a mile in length, a distance easily walked or bicycled. Yet over the last half century much of the nation’s transportation network has been planned with little attention to the needs of people walking or riding bicycles, with negative implications for traffic safety, air quality, and public health. Multiple communities in the RPC region have taken steps in recent years to make themselves more bicycle and pedestrian friendly: initiating Safe Routes to School programs, investing in sidewalk bicycle lane infrastructure, and building multi-use trails. RPC takes an approach to bicycle and pedestrian planning known as the “Five Es” - Engineering/Infrastructure, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement and Evaluation. RPC staff collaborate with partners including municipalities, NHDOT, the State Trails Bureau, and non-profit groups like Seacoast Area Bicycle Riders (SABR) and the Bike/Walk Alliance of NH on a range of projects to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety and encourage more trips to be taken on bicycle.
Find out more about local and regional bicycle/pedestrian initiatives and how the RPC works with each:
- Bike Routes
- Bicycle Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) Research Project
- NHDOT Complete Streets Advisory Committee
- Multi-Use Trails
- Bike/Walk to Work
- Safe Routes to School
- Exeter Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan
