Pedestrian and Bicycle PlanningCourse
Spring 2009
Faculty advisor:Daniel Rodriguez ()
Instructors:Laura Sandt () and Carl Sundstrom ()
TA:Robin Michler ()
Course date/time: MW 11:00AM-12:15PM
Room: NE 301
Office Hours:TBD
Course Web site:
Course Overview:
Current transportation thought, design, and practicesare being reevaluated as we strive towards healthy, mobile, and sustainable cities and regions. Integration of pedestrian and bicycle planning into transportation planning is essential in creating a sustainable system to achievethese goals.
Pedestrian and bicycle transportation are influenced by micro-scale elements of the built environment, such as sidewalks, bicycle lanes, traffic speeds, and roadway crossings, as well as by macro-scale characteristics, such as community-wide pathway systems and regional land use patterns. As a result, addressing walking and bicycling issues requires the bridging of many disciplines, including urban planning/design, civil engineering, and others. Thus,this course brings experiences from professionals in many fields (both public and private) and researchers at the local and national level into the classroom to provide diverse perspectives on effective ped/bike planning strategies.
This course is designed to critically discuss the pedestrian and bicycle master plan process. It is divided into several sections that will bring this comprehensive process together. The first part of the course will map out the issues and challenges that necessitate bicycle and pedestrian planning, such as: physical and mental health, social equity, environmental sustainability, and economic development. The course will then discuss user needs including facility design fundamentals, land use and network connectivity, and safety, access, and mobility.
The final portion of the course will focus oncreating bicycle and pedestrian master plans. It will include a comprehensive look at the elements of a plan, how to analyze plans and elements, how to best use public participation, and finally how to fund and implement the plan. As a graduate level course, it will critique current best practices in the context of how effectively they are addressing the social, environmental, economic, and health related transportation impacts pedestrian and bicycle planning is supposed to improve. While this course is focused on the US, it will use innovative international models to offer alternatives to current US planning practices.
Class Participation:
This class relies on active participation from students. You are expected to complete the reading assignment listed in the syllabus and any assignment before class for that day. We will discuss current events along with the reading assignments.
Assignments and Grading:
Class Participation10 pts
Assignment #120 pts
Assignment #220 pts
Assignment #325 pts
Assignment #425 pts
TOTAL100 pts
Honor Code:
The UNC Honor Code states: “It shall be the responsibility of every student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to obey and to support the enforcement of the honor code, which prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing when these actions involve academic processes or University, student or academic personnel acting in an official capacity.”
To meet this standard in this course, you are expected to complete assignments individually and all ideas that are not your own must be cited. To read the Honor Code visit:
Topic Outline:
Date / Topic / Comment1 / 1/21/2009 / Intro/Course Overview/Survey/History/Legislation
2 / 1/26/2009 / Benefits/Challenges/Ecological Framework
3 / 1/28/2009 / Health, Social Equity, Environment, and Economic Development
4 / 2/2/2009 / Land Use/Connectivity Issues, Safety, Access, and Mobility
5 / 2/4/2009 / Pedestrian Facility Design Fundamentals and ADA issues
6 / 2/9/2009 / Wheelchair Lab
7 / 2/11/2009 / Bicycle Facility Design Fundamentals
8 / 2/16/2009 / Anatomy of a Pedestrian/Bike Master Plan + Plan Hierarchy / Assignment #1 due
9 / 2/18/2009 / Public participation, coalition building, and partner buy-in
10 / 2/23/2009 / Data Collection (Needs, Sources, Methods, and Measures)
11 / 2/25/2009 / Field data collection
12 / 3/2/2009 / Pedestrian Facility Analysis Tools (ISI, LOS, audit, etc)
13 / 3/4/2009 / Assignment #2 Presentations / Assignment #2 due
14 / Spring break
3/16/2009 / Bicycle Facility Analysis Tools (BCS, LOS, audit, etc.)
15 / 3/18/2009 / Safety and Crash Data Analysis
16 / 3/23/2009 / Demand Estimation and Analysis
17 / 3/25/2009 / Funding (and development review), Implementation, and Institutionalization
18 / 3/30/2009 / Evaluating Pedestrian Master Plans
19 / 4/1/2009 / Connection with land use and transportation plans, TDM, Policies
20 / 4/6/2009 / Trail and Park Planning
21 / 4/8/2009 / Programming and promotion / Assignment #3 due
22 / 4/13/2009 / Panel Discussion
23 / 4/15/2009 / International Examples and wrap up
24 / 4/20/2009 / Final Presentations
25 / 4/22/2009 / Final Presentations / Assignment #4 due