Institute for Transportation

Description

The focus of this webinar will be Iowa’s recently completed Bicycle and Pedestrian Systemic Safety Analysis. The underlying approach to this analysis is a systemic one in which locations are identified based on a high risk of crashes as opposed to a traditional analysis, which typically focuses on a high frequency or rate of crashes. The systemic approach is best when crash occurrences are few and when exposure is limited or unknown at specific locations. In this analysis, all of Iowa’s paved roadways and intersections were analyzed and given a composite score indicating relative risk for both bicyclists and pedestrians. The impetus of this project comes from several strategies in Iowa’s Long-Range Transportation Plan, Bike and Pedestrian Long-Range Plan, and Strategic Highway Safety Plan, which identified the need to address bicyclist and pedestrian safety.

Speaker Bio

Samuel Sturtz is a transportation planner in the Iowa DOT’s Office of Systems Planning. As part of the planning team, his responsibilities include performing statewide analysis and screening reports using the agency’s extensive crash and roadway datasets. He is also involved in many of the long-range planning activities for the department, including the update to Iowa’s Long-Range Transportation Plan, Iowa in Motion 2045, and the recent update to Iowa’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan. Before working at the Iowa DOT, Sturtz was a graduate student at the University of Iowa’s School of Urban and Regional Planning, where he concentrated in Transportation and Land-use.