February 2017                       Issue 33
In This Issue
New England APWA Chapter Spring Conference - Save the Date
CTDOT Receives an Award for the CT Safe Routes to School Program
FHWA's Express Yourself! Share Your Excitement for Road Diets and Post a Selfie Today
Innovation Station: Connecticut's New Data Visualization Tools
There's Still Time To Enter Your Child In the Roadway Safety Poster Contest!
New England APWA Chapter Spring Conference - Save the Date

Tim Webb, President of the New England Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA), and his planning committee are finalizing plans for the Spring
Rentschler Field
2017 NEAPWA Conference. 
The 2017 event will be held in the conference facility at the Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT on April 12th. 
 
The day will be filled with education and networking. Get this on your calendar early and check the NEAPWA website for event updates regarding agenda and registration. We are looking forward to seeing you there!
CTDOT Receives an Award for the CT Safe Routes to School Program

Last month, the American Council of Engineering Companies in Connecticut gave an Engineering Excellence Award to the CT Department of Transportation (CTDOT) for the Safe Routes to School Program.     

What is the Safe Routes to School Program?
Since its inception in February 2006, the CTDOT Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Program has awarded approximately $1.6 million in federal funding for promotion, training and infrastructure projects. Approximately $1.3 million of this amount went to fund infrastructure projects, such as installing pedestrian signals, creating dedicated bicycle lanes and filling in gaps in discontinuous sidewalk networks.

Improving children's safety while walking and bicycling is a central mission of Safe Routes to School. Working with schools, they determined the most effective methods to encourage kids to walk and bike. The project's success was due to a shared commitment between CTDOT and their critical partners. The CT Safe Routes to School Project was not just about biking and walking, it was about:
  • Reducing air emissions
  • Reducing traffic congestion
  • Strengthening the bond between parents and children
  • Building long lasting walk to school memories.
This project was really about improving communities, one student at a time.

To learn more about this great program please visit the CT Safe Routes website.    
FHWA's Express Yourself! Share Your Excitement for Road Diets and Post a Selfie Today

Want to share your Road Diets? Across the Nation, transportation specialists, travelers, and road practitioners have been posting photos online using the hashtag "#RoadDiets" to promote their enthusiasm for this effective road reconfiguration technique. Now it's your turn. Post a photo today and join the movement! In the spirit of collecting and sharing Connecticut best practices, the T2 Center would like you to add the hashtag #CTRoadDiets to your post.
 
The goal of the Selfie Campaign is to raise awareness of a Road Diet to the general public and to promote the effectiveness of these successful road reconfigurations.
   
This is one in a series of campaigns, led by the FHWA Office of Safety, to encourage agencies to institutionalize Road Diets as a safety solution.
How can you Join the Campaign?
It's easy! Here's how it works:

  1. Safely snap a selfie with the sign at your favorite Road Diet (Points for Creativity!)
  2. Post the photo on Facebook or Twitter. Include "#RoadDiets" and "#CTRoadDiets" in your text along with your state or locality. For example, my tweet would be: In Storrs, CT #RoadDiets #CTRoadDiets are awesome!

 

Remember, be safe when you take that selfie!

 
To find out if a Road Diet is right for your area and to learn more about the history of Road Diets, visit the Office of Safety website and download the Road Diet Information Guide .
Connecticut's New Data Visualization Tools

Data visualization is the presentation of data in a pictorial or graphic format. It enables decision makers to see analytics presented visually, so they can grasp difficult concepts or identify new patterns.
The Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center (CTSRC), following up on the development of their nationally recognized Crash Data Repository (CDR), has launched a new video tutorial to show users how to access the new data dashboards. Here is a link to the videos, take a few minutes to review, they will walk you right through the process of getting helpful data for your town to make sound safety planning decisions.
While you are on the video site, take a moment to view the winning videos in the "Stop the Knock" Student contest, very powerful. Pass it along to others.  
There's Still Time to Enter Your Child In The Roadway Safety Poster Contest!

There is still time to enter your child into this year's Roadway Safety Poster Contest. To enter, here's what you do:
  1. Watch our animated video about roadway safety with your child.
  2. Have them draw a poster about pedestrian, bicycle, passenger or work zone safety.
  3. Send your poster to us for a chance to win cool prizes (like a new Chromebook!) Click here for contest guidelines.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for future Connecticut Crossroads topics, please feel free to email the designer Regina Hackett at regina.hackett@uconn.edu.