The Toole Design Columbus team has been helping communities across Ohio to achieve their active transportation goals, and we are excited to showcase some of this work at the 2022 Ohio Transportation Engineering Conference (OTEC). Learn about our projects and our approach by attending the sessions listed below. And be sure to stop by our booth to say hello to Columbus Office Director David Shipps, Engineering Group Manager Steve Koch, Senior Planner Julie Walcoff, our conference presenters, and additional members of our planning and engineering staff.
Tuesday, October 25
Mariel Colman will discuss the content of the new ODOT Multimodal Design Guide (MDG), including design considerations that can be applied to projects throughout Ohio to accommodate people walking and biking. (Read below for more about the MDG!)
David Shipps will moderate a panel on Complete Streets corridor improvements. Panelists will discuss concepts for engaging local stakeholders, transformational impacts of local projects beyond the critical road condition, and examples of Complete Streets implementation in Youngstown, OH, and West Texas.
Wednesday, October 26
Catherine Girves will present on the development of the City of Painesville’s School Travel Plan (STP), which provided a strategy for improving walking and bicycling conditions for the children of Painesville City Local Schools. The team used creative public involvement practices to develop a plan that considered the needs of all concerned in this racially diverse community.
As part of this session, which offers engineering ethics training, Mariam Massoud will ask: What if we reconsidered our approach to transportation engineering? One that is centered on the values we want to see reflected in our communities.
Making a difference for Ohioans
At our booth, in our sessions, and throughout the conference, Toole Design staff are excited to talk with you about how we’re partnering with state and local agencies to make tangible, measurable differences in the lives of Ohioans in communities across the state. Read about a few of these exciting projects below.
ODOT Multimodal Design Guide
One recent milestone was our completion of the ODOT Multimodal Design Guide earlier this year. The MDG currently stands as the best state-of-the-practice guide to bikeway design, and much of the new content is likely to be included in the next edition of the AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities. Significantly, it brings together previously separate modal considerations, and it features previously unpublished technical specifications. Learn more about the development of the MDG in Mariel Colman’s OTEC session, and dig even deeper by accessing the free, on-demand MDG 101 trainings the Toole Design Team created in partnership with ODOT.
Toole Design leads: Mariel Colman and Jeremy Chrzan
Scioto Greenway Extension
We recently completed a planning level cost estimate for a 4.5 mile multi-use path to extend the Scioto Greenway. The new path along the east side of the Scioto will connect Scioto Audubon Metro Park to the site of the former Heer Park near Williams Road. Once built, the project will have a profound effect on active transportation options for communities south of Columbus.
Toole Design leads: Mariel Colman, Mariam Massoud, and Katy Sawyer
Toledo Vision Zero
The City of Toledo set the ambitious and important goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2031, along with promoting multimodal travel and improving overall transportation safety. To help Toledo meet that goal, Toole Design assisted in the development of an accurate dataset of fatal and severe crashes, analyzed Toledo’s crash history to highlight citywide design characteristics and trends that lead to crashes, and mapped a high injury network. We also facilitated stakeholder and public engagement efforts that led to identifying goals for the entire decade with specific action items to implement over the next three to five years. These targeted, implementable action items include Vision Zero policies, priority actions, and a timeline for implementation.
Toole Design leads: Catherine Girves and Carli Goode
Painesville School Travel Plan
As you’ll learn in Catherine Girves’s session, the Toole Design Team helped create an STP for the City of Painesville. Like many STPs, it includes infrastructure recommendations to address barriers near high-speed car traffic, unsafe street crossings, and gaps in the pedestrian and bicycle network related to freeways and active railroad lines. But unlike many STPs, it also describes barriers resulting from cultural norms and structural racism that impede children’s ability to safely walk or bike to school. We worked with stakeholders, community residents, and potential funders to identify and select recommendations to address those barriers.
Toole Design leads: Catherine Girves and Carli Goode
We look forward to connecting with you at OTEC 2022 and dreaming big about the future of transportation in Ohio!
