Missed your chance to count the eagles this year? How about counting the number of people who bike or walk to their destinations in Bellingham? Volunteers are needed from Tuesday through Thursday, Sept. 27-29 to help count, as part of an annual effort to track progress on efforts to increase walking and bicycling and reduce dependence on single-occupancy vehicles.
You can volunteer for either a morning shift from 7-9 a.m. or an afternoon count from 4-6 p.m. on the date you choose at a kimbrown@cob.org.
This is the ninth year Bellingham has been included as a “count city” in the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) initiative to quantify local and statewide walking and cycling numbers. WSDOT encourages communities to gather the information as part of a statewide effort to contribute to the National Documentation Project. Information from the Bellingham count supports local efforts and contributes to the statewide goal of reducing the number of vehicle miles driven and increasing bicycling and walking activity.
“In Bellingham we do like to walk and ride. That’s clear based on the high numbers we count each year – thanks to dedicated community volunteers,” Bellingham Mayor Kelli Linville said. “We are grateful for the counters as their work will help us assess demand, evaluate the benefits of our infrastructure improvements, and determine where future investments will have the most impact.”
Data collected in the count is used by state, as well as Bellingham, agencies to estimate demand; measure the benefit of bicycle and pedestrian project investments; and improve policies, project designs and funding opportunities. As an example, Bellingham is using the information to monitor bicycle and pedestrian transportation trends as a result of our state- and national-award-winning Alabama Street Corridor Multimodal Safety Improvement project.
Count data going back to 2008 is available online via: http://wsdot.wa.gov/data/tools/bikepedcounts/
