Our correspondent Debbie Bulger reports from the National Congress of Pedestrian Advocates, which took place between August 16-18 in Oakland:

"It was very exciting to meet people from all over the U.S. and some from Canada who are promoting pedestrian travel and infrastructure. There were professionals in public health, lots of blind people, and representatives from 28 other community organizations like Mission Pedestrian."

The congress was sponsored by America Walks, a national coalition of pedestrian advocates, of which Mission Pedestrian is a member. Dan Burden of Walkable Communities, Inc. gave the keynote plenary session.

His theme was that speed is theft. Theft of our neighborhoods, theft of our children's independence and health, theft of our safety. He showed dramatic pictures of the asphalt being stripped from the old brick roads in Orlando. The project is being paid for 75% by the homeowners. The bike lanes are concrete with the restored brick roads. The roads look narrower, the brick surface dramatically slows cars and house values have gone up as a result.

He showed photo after photo of roads being narrowed, or as they say, the space being reallocated to more efficient modes of travel. He said that sidewalks, tree belt, and parking lanes should consist of 50% of the right of way. He recommended 6 foot parking lanes and 7 foot bicycle lanes, eight feet if room.

He recommended 10 foot travel lanes to keep speeds at 30 mph. He said many cities are now getting rid of the one way couplet streets that were created in the 60s and 70s and having two-way traffic again because it slowed cars and was safer for peds.

Bill Moyer (not Bill Moyers) is a professor who studies social movements. He compared the pedestrian movement to the civil rights movement and described the four roles of social movements: the citizen, the rebel, the change agent, and the reformer. Generally we play the different roles at different times. He discussed effective and ineffective ways to play each role.

Debbie Grubb described the difficulties for blind pedestrians of changing the timing for lights during different times of day. Also she explained the need for tactile cues so blind peds know where to cross the street when there was a roundabout.

Groups discussed how to accommodate all types of pedestrian needs by using universal design principles. For example, a crosswalk could be textured to alert the driver, but could have a smooth path in the center to accommodate those who had trouble walking and those with high heels (those who choose to have trouble walking!). Several engineers noted that shaded pavement lasts 10 years longer than pavement exposed to the sun.