Safe Routes to School in the Westwood Neighborhood | Capstone Project by Val Henao

Safe Routes for Youth Westwood Neighborhood, Denver CO Created by: Valeria Henao Cano Client: Westwood Unidos Advisor: Jennifer Steffel Johnson Capstone Project submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Urban and Regional Planning, College ofArchitecture and Planning, University of Colorado Denver

May 15, 2020

Table of Contents Executive Summary

SECTION I

Introduction

16 18

Problem

Westwood Unidos

Objectives

Report Outline

Background Research

Pedestrians / Cyclists Safety

Best Practices to Improve Non-motorized Mobility

Current Plans for Westwood

Methodology

Existing conditions

SECTION II

SECTION III

Safe Routes Maps

30 36 38

Community Engagement

Analysis of Quantitative Data

Projects that Could Affect Mobility

SECTION IV

Safe Route Maps Findings

SECTION V

Recommendations

62 64

70 72

Engineering Interventions

Grassroots Interventions

SECTION VI

Conclusion

SECTION VII

References

SECTION VIII

Appendix A

78 80

80 84

88 90

Table of Exhibits TABLES Table 1. Demographics of Elementary Schools

FIGURES Figure 1. Project Methodology Process Figure 2. Community Engagement Process Figure 3. Example of Analysis of Quantitative Data Figure 4. Safe Route to Schools and Parks Figure 5. Example of Tactical Urbanism in Medellin, Colombia Figure 6. Methodology Process Figure 7. Census Tracts in Westwood Figure 8. Summary of Demographics in Westwood Figure 9. Maps Created by Community Members Figure 10. Example of Map by a Community Member After Scanning Process Figure 11. Community Maps Overlaid Figure 12. Dangerous Areas Identified by a Community Member Figure 13. Preferred Streets Identified by The Community Figure 14. Safe Route From School To Parks Selected by The Community, Castro Elementary Figure 15. Safe Route From School To Parks Selected by The Community, Munroe Elementary Figure 16. Safe Route From School To Parks Selected by The Community, Knapp Elementary Figure 17. Heat Map of Traffic Accidents With Pedestrians Involved Figure 18. Heat Map of Traffic Accidents With Bicyclists Involved Figure 19. Map of Traffic Counts Figure 20. Map of Neighborhood Ways Figure 21. Map of Denver Bicycle Facilities Figure 22. Map of Intersection Quality Figure 23. Map of Bicyclist Safety Findings Figure 24. Map of Pedestrian Safety Findings Figure 25. Proposed Pedestrian Network by The Neighborhood Plan Figure 26. Proposed Bicyclist Network by The Neighborhood Plan Figure 27. Morrison Road Improvements Diagram Figure 28. Project Process From Analysis to Final Findings Figure 29. Castro Elementary Safe Route Maps, Analysis and Final Route Figure 30. Munroe Elementary Safe Route Maps, Analysis and Final Route Figure 31. Knapp Elementary Safe Route Maps, Analysis and Final Route Figure 32. Final Map of Neighborhood Safe Route From Schools to Parks Figure 33. Map of Priority Areas for Intervention Figure 34. Example of Safe Pedestrian Environment Figure 35. Map of Sidewalk Quality from Safe Multimodal Transportation Plan Figure 36. Example of Safe Crossing Figure 37. Example of Safe Intersection Figure 38. Example of Safe Infrastructure for Cyclists Figure 39. Guide for The Location of Wayfinding Signage Figure 40. Types of Wayfinding

11 12 12 13 14 28 32 33 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 57 58 59 64 65 66 67 68 69 72 73 73 74 74 74 75

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

| Executive Summary

Executive Summary Problem Westwood is a diverse, low-income neighborhood in Denver, with approximately 17,000 residents. Westwood’s population is 79 percent Latino, and 23 percent of them do not speak English. The Piton Foundation rated Westwood as Denver’s second most-vulnerable neighborhood in terms of being prepared to help children thrive (Urban Land Institute, 2013). The neighborhood’s concentration of elementary students living within a mile of their school is the highest in the city (City of Denver, 2016a) and a large percentage that population walk or bike to school. However, one of the most pressing problems for this community is mobility safety, both for pedestrians and bicyclists. Community members and organizations such as Westwood Unidos have identified mobility safety between schools and parks as a problem to address with this project.

Objective Westwood Unidos has as a goal to provide the youth of the neighborhood with safe access to newly improved amenities like parks. Currently, access is limited by the lack of information and knowledge about the safest routes to move around between schools and parks. With the help of the community of Westwood, including kids and their families, the main objective of this

| Westwood

project is to identify safe routes between schools and parks and map them.

Background research For this research project, I considered the multiple bodies of work that focus on the intersection of safety and youth transportation by bicycle or walking in low-income neighborhoods. Road safety is one of the most significant problems worldwide. Road traffic crashes kill 1.2 million people each year and injure millions more, particularly in low-income and middle-income communities (World Health Organization, 2007). Additionally, transportation safety issues affect not only children’s school travels but also their overall physical activities (Zhu & Lee, 2008). Lack of physical activity is among the major leading causes of chronic illnesses from childhood to adulthood (Hoffman et al., 2014). Several benefits can come from more pedestrian and bike-friendly environments; Walking to school is an affordable and environmentally clean mode of transportation that may increase physical activity and reduce obesity (Cooper et al., 2005).

Methodology The main goal of this research is to find the safest routes in the neighborhood and to represent these in user-friendly maps. This project used a two-pronged methodology. A

community engagement mapping assessment with parents and their kids; and spatial analysis mapping using available mobility data from the City of Denver, Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG), US Census, and the survey by the people for bikes. Using several data sources that account for the multiple variables that make walkability and bicycle ridership safer. The end result of this project are maps for each schools along with a single map for the entire neighborhood that shows the safest route for the community.

Existing conditions Westwood is a culturally rich neighborhood, with a community that has proven to be resilient despite its many challenges, including a lack of neighborhood amenities, unsafe pedestrian environment, and a higher rate of poverty and crime than Denver as a whole. Westwood used to be a neglected neighborhood, with few amenities accessible to residents compared to other parts of Denver. However, Westwood Unidos has helped push the process of improving existing parks and developing of new parks and green spaces.

Community engagement, Mapping Community Safety The main goal of the community engagement was to gather input from the community on what streets they use to go from their houses to parks and schools around the neighborhood. An important question to solve was whether there were differences between community perceptions of security and the data collected on mobility accidents. I held two community meetings, one with parents and one with youth. I collected a total of 24 community maps. The community maps concentrate on the most used routes; additionally, community members included annotations about why they chose to draw those routes and about which streets and Figure 1. Project Methodology Process

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Executive Summary intersections they believe are not safe. The next step was to identify the routes considered by the community as the safest. The data collected permitted the creation of a final map that represents the most used route for each one of the selected schools to their closest park, a requirement from Westwood Unidos.

Figure 3. Example of Analysis of Quantitative Data

Projects That Could Affect Mobility

Figure 2. Community Engagement Process

Analysis of quantitative traffic data The second source of analysis focuses on data on pedestrian and bicyclistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; safety of the area. The data comes from the data repositories that relate to traffic safety of the City and County of Denver and the People for Bikes organization. I analyzed the data through a series of maps. Maps included an evaluation of the number and place of accidents with pedestrians and bicyclists, the amount of traffic on main roads using traffic counts, streets that are adequated for bicycles, and finally, the quality of intersections. I later overlaid all findings in these maps to identify the safest streets for residents to walk or bike.

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The data from the community workshops and quantitative data created a picture of the most dangerous areas in the neighborhood for pedestrians and bicyclists. Fortunately, the City of Denver is implementing current planning efforts, such as the Morrison Road improvements and the neighborhood plan. Those plans include improvements to the mobility network, I analyzed the impact of such projects on the final routes identified from the analysis. Additionally, the new results serve to identify areas that are not addressed by any of the current plans.

Findings of Mobility And Safety: Final Maps By combining the three data sets (community preferences, quantitative analysis, and proposals to improve mobility), I was able to create a concluding map for each school, showing the

Figure 4. Safe Route to Schools and Parks

safest routes for kids to go to their closest park. The next step was to combine the individual school maps, merging and linking the safe paths created a final safe route map for the entire neighborhood, showing the safest routes from the three schools to its parks in Westwood. The final map is going to be distributed by the client to the Westwood community in Spanish and English to inform them about the more accessible and safe routes. Finally, I evaluated the infrastructure in the selected route and

created a map that shows the areas that, even though are consider the safest, still need interventions to improve their quality.

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Executive Summary create a set of possible projects that could be implemented by the community, the city of Denver, or a combination of stakeholders. I identified two scales of interventions. The first one I call engineering infrastructure; these include infrastructure interventions such as bike lanes and sidewalks, in addition to wayfinding signage that helps guide residents get from the schools to the parks using the most appropriate routes. The second set of interventions I call grassroots interventions. These are projects that the community can implement themselves to improve mobility safety, an example of this is tactical urbanism.

Conclusion Walkability and safety are essential for communities where residents do not have access to private cars or public transit and where walking is the only option for getting around. Westwood is one of these cases. A project like this one that identifies and provides recommendations to increase safety for walking and biking can be instrumental for the community to improve walkability and bicycle ridership. The findings of the mobility analysis identified the best routes that I then represented on a map that is going to be distributed among parents and kids, which was the main goal of the project. Pedestrian safety is not a unique problem to the Westwood neighborhood. Many other communities suffer from a lack of safe infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists, both in the City of Denver and the United States. Citywide safe mapping efforts could help increase walkability and bicycle ridership among youth, and therefore, help to reduce not only safety but also health problems related to a lack of physical activity.

Figure 5. Example of Tactical Urbanism in Medellin, Colombia | Source Asphalt Pro Magazine

| Westwood

Safe Routes for Youth |

SECTION I

INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

| Introduction

Introduction Problem

Westwood is a diverse, low-income neighborhood in Denver, with approximately 17,000 residents. It is about 1.5 square miles in area (Urban Land Institute, 2013). Sheridan Boulevard bounds the neighborhood on the west, Federal Boulevard on the east, Alameda Avenue on the north, and Mississippi Avenue on the south, with Morrison Road diagonally crossing the neighborhood (City of Denver, 2016b). The area is comprised of single and small multifamily housing, with many units containing multigenerational families. Westwood’s population is 79 percent Latino, and 23 percent of them do not speak English. The Piton Foundation rated Westwood as Denver’s second most-vulnerable neighborhood in terms of being prepared to help children thrive (Urban Land Institute, 2013). The community has one of the highest population segments under the age of 24 in Denver at more than 35%. Correspondingly, Westwood has a high concentration of education centers, including three elementary schools— Munroe, Castro, and Knapp, as well the site of the former Kepner middle school that includes three charter schools—STRIVE Prep, Kepner Beacon Middle School, and Rocky Mountain Elementary (City of Denver, 2016a). The neighborhood’s concentration of elementary students living within a mile of their school is the highest in the city (City of Denver, 2016a). Student proximity is significant because the physical

| Westwood

environment influences the ability of over 2,000 elementary students to get to and from school safely. However, community members and organizations such as Westwood Unidos have identified that this community presents unsafe mobility between home and school. Furthermore, Westwood Unidos considers that there is a need to find wayfinding methods to identify safer routes to access schools. Westwood used to be a neglected neighborhood, with few amenities accessible to residents compared to other parts of Denver. Westwood Unidos has helped push the process of improving existing parks and developing of new parks and green spaces. Some examples of these improvements are the major renovation of Westwood Park, which was rededicated in the summer of 2018, the activation of Cuatro Vientos Park, and the implementation of a park specifically designed with input from youth leaders from the bicycle library and repair project located in Garfield Lake Park. Westwood Unidos also played a primary role in the similar multistage process from concept through activation of the “Via Verde,” a three-mile route through the neighborhood connecting schools’ parks and green spaces as well as being close to the Westwood’s planned recreation center.

Westwood Unidos Westwood Unidos has the mission of unifying and organizing community leaders and community-based organizations to act on the issues they identify as most important for the neighborhood. The organization has incorporated aspects of the asset-based model of community development (ABCD) and is shifting toward a more classic community organizing effort to deal with more challenging issues such as displacement of families through evictions, the rising cost of homeownership and rental, as well as rapidly increasing property taxes. Gentrification threatens to impact this neighborhood in ways that will undermine its unique and vibrant cultural identity. As an organization, Westwood Unidos works primarily with immigrant families: Spanish speaking adults and their children.

Objectives Westwood Unidos has as a goal to provide the youth of the neighborhood with safe access to the newly improved amenities so they can enjoy them. Currently, this access is limited by the lack of information and knowledge about the safest routes to move around between schools and parks. With the help of the community of Westwood, including kids and their families, the purpose of this project is to identify those safe routes and map them.

data from community meetings as well as traffic-related data sets and combines these to create maps showing the safest routes between schools and parks. These new safe route maps will be produces in Spanish and English and distributed among neighborhood families to be used as reference about the best paths to use. The result of this project will serve the neighborhood by enabling parents to learn the best routes for their children to move around the area, especially from schools to parks, and will help children to actively and safely enjoy their neighborhood. The organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission is to help the community to organize and take positive action to help the neighborhood to become a safer place. In an area where violence and street traffic safety are two of the main concerns, the identification of these routes can help residents move around the neighborhood safely. Additionally, the awareness provided through these maps could increase pedestrian mobility and can have a myriad of community benefits in terms of safety and health. What makes the neighborhood safer for children makes it safer for all others who live there.

The project analyzes qualitative, experiential Safe Routes for Youth |

| Introduction

Report Outline The remainder of this report includes: 1.Background research. This section provides an overview of academic literature on the intersection of youth transportation by bicycle or walking in low-income neighborhoods and safety, including some best practices. This section also reviews plans that have been created for the Westwood neighborhood. 2.Methodology. This section delineates the various data collection and data analysis strategies that are used to form the project process and inform the creation of the maps. 3.Existing conditions. This section includes demographic data in addition to information about the neighborhood to provide an idea of the current conditions of the neighborhood. 4.Safe routes maps analysis. This section includes the description of the community engagement, data analysis, and neighborhood plan proposed interventions. These variables were used to identify the safest route for the neighborhood. 5.Safe route maps findings. This section includes a map of the safe routes between each school to the closest park in the neighborhood along with a general map of the neighborhood.

| Westwood

6.Recommendations. This section includes a series of recommendations for wayfinding and some strategies to improve the streets that are not 100% safe. 7.Conclusion. This section includes a summary of the elements of the analysis and the recommendations.

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Background Research

Background Research

For this research project, it is crucial to consider the multiple bodies of work that focus on the intersection of safety and youth transportation by bicycle or walking in low-income neighborhoods. These can be divided into two subcategories: first, safety and health issues related to transportation and their disproportionate effect in young people and minority populations; second, best practices to improve the quality of non-motorized transportation. Finally, there is a summary of the plans and reports about the Westwood that are related to transportation.

Pedestrians / Cyclists safety Road safety is one of the most significant problems worldwide. Road traffic crashes kill 1.2 million people each year and injure millions more, particularly in low-income and middle-income communities (World Health Organization, 2007). Every day over 1000 young people under the age of 25 years die in road traffic crashes around the world. Road traffic injuries are the second leading cause of death among 10-14 years (Peden et al., 2004). Historically, when developing transportation infrastructure, the focus of planners has usually been motorized transport over non-motorized transport. There are many cases where roads have been created without taking into account their impact on communities; an example of this are high-speed roads that cross neighborhoods close to schools or parks (World Health Organization, 2007).

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Planners have inadequately considered children and youth in urban planning decisions. As a result, young people have to share their walking or cycling space with motorized vehicles; this increases their chances of being involved in a road traffic crash (World Health Organization, 2007). Impact on kids’ walkability and bicycle ridership

Early on, scholars have explored youth in the urban environment and determined that “ traffic is the greatest inhibitor of children’s freedom to use their living space” (Lynch & Banerjee, 1977). Compared with adults, youth are limited in deciding their daily routines and even more restricted in gaining access to physical activity facilities without transportation and guidance from a parent, school, or youth organizations. Therefore, community and physical environments might be even more important determinants of physical activity among youth compared with adults (Moore et al., 2010). As a result of the dangers that vehicles pose to pedestrians and particularly to youth, there has been a decline in the number of young people who walk to school in recent decades, mainly because of long travel distances, inadequate or missing pedestrian facilities, and dangers from traffic and crime (Martin & Carlson, 2005). In 1969, roughly half of the country’s schoolchildren walked or bicycled to or from school; also,

around 87% of children living within 1 mile of school used to walk or bike to school. Today, less than 15% of schoolchildren use active modes of transportation to go to school (N. C. McDonald, 2007). In 2014 of the 31% of children who lived within a mile of school, only 38% walked or bicycled, compared to 41% who were taken to school by car (Stewart et al., 2014). Impacts on kids’ health Transportation safety issues affect not only children’s school travels but also their overall physical activities (Zhu & Lee, 2008). Lack of physical activity is among the major leading causes of chronic illnesses from childhood to adulthood (Hoffman et al., 2014). The trips to and from school are an opportunity to achieve the needed physical activity for children; however, the data shows that increasingly children are being driven to school instead of walking or cycling. In the United States, around 50% of children and adolescents get to school by car, and only 10% walking (Martin & Carlson, 2005). The reduction of children’s physical activity contributes to obesity, which is a growing public health problem in the U.S. The implications of this include increased risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and other health problems (Zhu & Lee, 2008). One of the biggest problems is that obesity and associated health risks do not target all groups in the same way: low-income, Black, and Latino

populations face the most significant risks (Day, 2006). For example, a California study found that low-income or minority children were exposed to disproportionately high volumes of traffic. In that case, contrary to the usual assumptions about the health benefits of physical activity, walking became a risk, the health benefits that walking could bring were undermined by the environment’s threats to personal safety and respiratory health (Green et al., 2004). Most planners focus today on the creation of new, high-quality pedestrian infrastructure. Yet, the improvement of inadequate and unsafe existing infrastructure is essential for low-income, minority neighborhoods. (Zhu & Lee, 2008). Impacts on vulnerable communities Students in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color frequently face systemic barriers, including historical and ongoing discrimination. Schools in these communities are often underfunded, and sometimes they are unable to attend after school programming that could improve their academic achievements (Drews, 2017). Additionally, barriers to physical activity like crime and safety concerns are especially relevant in low-income urban environments (Moore et al., 2010). Obstacles related to neighborhood characteristics in urban areas that affect the amount of youth walking or cycling include access to safe play areas, availability of after-school programs, and traffic and street safety Safe Routes for Youth |

| Background Research

Best practices to improve nonmotorized mobility Several benefits can come from more pedestrian and bike-friendly environments; Walking to school is an affordable and environmentally clean mode of transportation that may increase physical activity and reduce obesity (Cooper et al., 2005). Studies report that children and adolescents who travel by bike at least once per week have a tendency to have healthier body weights and have a lower risk of early death (Hoffman et al., 2014). Bicycles can be used as a more cost-effective alternative while still providing transportation. When people are cycling, they do not have to consider things like gas, insurance, or the costs of bus fares. Bicycles are also associated with a feeling of independence versus being dependent on someone else for a ride (Hoffman et al., 2014). The enhancement of opportunities for young people to access pedestrian and bike transportation modes has been the center of attention of a number of policy and urban projects. These projects concentrate on features such as density, land-use mix, street connectivity, and physical amenities like street lighting and trees that encourage walking to school (Schlossberg et al., 2006). In the early 1970s, Denmark had the highest child mortality rate from traffic accidents in Western Europe. To change this, the country passed a legislation in 1976 to protect children from

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traffic on school journeys. Since then, Denmark has invested heavily in safe walking and cycling routes, and an early demonstration project in the 1980s in Odense succeeded in reducing school journey accidents by 82% (Osborne, 2005). Danish research has shown the effectiveness of investing in safe walking and cycling routes. During the period 1985-2000, the number of children (6-16 years old) killed or injured fell by 46%; approximately half the reduction is a consequence of the road safety and cycle route improvements (Jensen & Hummer, 2002). These improvements typically include segregated cycleways and footpaths, reallocation of road space away from cars in favor of pedestrians and cyclists, lower speed limits in residential areas, and requirements for motorists to defer to pedestrians and cyclists at side roads and crossings (Osborne, 2005). Denmarkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s national government partially funded the Cycle City project. This project includes marketing work in schools, including awards for the class that collectively cycles the furthest distance in one week. They also loaned trailer bikes for no charge to parents in kindergartens, the project has emphasized training schoolchildren about road safety (Osborne, 2005) IIn the United States, the transportation legislation implemented by Congress in 2005 included a national policy goal: the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program. (N. C. McDonald et al., 2014). This programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal is to increase the rates of walking, bicycling, and other

al., 2014). Cycling provides urban children with a form of transport not otherwise available. Thus, the potential exists that access to bicycles and programs focused on promoting cycling may help to increase activity before and after school and on the weekends (Hoffman et al., 2014)

Cyclists infrastructure in Denmark | Source https://www.flickr.com/ photos/118304891@N02/14198765585

modes of active school travel (AST); this holds promise for enhancing the health of children and adolescents. One of the goals is to reduce the rates of obesity among high school-aged adolescents by 22.1% if AST is used at least four days a week (Stewart et al., 2014). The infrastructure investments that the SRTS program promotes include the planning, design, and construction of improvements on existing sidewalks, speed reduction strategies; pedestrian and bicycle facilities; improvements for bicycle parking; and traffic diversion close to schools. These interventions could substantially improve the ability of students to walk and bicycle to school (N. C. McDonald et al., 2014). The risk of injuries to cyclists is lower on roads with on-road bicycle routes, on-road market bicycle lanes, and off-road bicycle paths, compared to streets without any of these features (Reynolds et al., 2009). Infrastructure improvements on the roads helped increase walking and biking by 18% (N. C. McDonald et

There have been a variety of community-level initiatives and programs implemented in urban environments to promote health and physical activity. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has sponsored several â&#x20AC;&#x153;Get Healthyâ&#x20AC;? initiatives in major urban cities throughout the US in an effort to reduce obesity and related chronic diseases by providing opportunities for daily physical activity (Hoffman et al., 2014). The program aims to create safe spaces for community members to be physically active, including walkable and bikeable neighborhoods. Additionally, several non-profit organizations in the US are working to promote cycling among urban youth. Bike Works, located in Seattle, seeks to educate urban youth and encourage cycling through their eight-week class in which students learn how to fix and ride bikes. Cycles of Change in East Oakland created the Bikery Community Bike Shop and Bike-Go-Round initiatives; their idea is to teach safe urban riding while providing access to healthy, consistent transport. Urban Youth Bike Corps located in Harlem, New York, offers after-school hours for bike mechanics and cycling training. (Hoffman et al., 2014). Bicycles can be a tool for transportation for youth Safe Routes for Youth |

| Background Research that could help improve their physical and mental health. Additionally, when bicycle programs are paired with community partners, this can help communities build self-esteem, freedom, confidence, and pride (Drews, 2017). Youth who bike regularly as a means of transportation are more able to do things independently, including going to their friendsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; houses, their local parks, or running errands for their parents (Orsini & Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien, 2006).

Cycles of Change Oakland | Source https://oaklandlibrary.org/ biketoactionmonth/events/cyclesofchangebikedrive.html

Current plans for Westwood Planning for safe roads is a common theme in many of the existing plans and documents published for the Westwood neighborhood. The Urban Land Institute worked with local community stakeholders to identify the major issues that create obstacles to healthy living in Westwood. They found that the area is underserved with parks, walking paths, bike trails, sidewalks, and recreation and other facilities. Their recommendation is to enhance Morrison

| Westwood

Road to become a cultural and physical focus of the neighborhood, in addition to focusing on building a new recreation and wellness center (Urban Land Institute, 2013). The Health Impact Assessment report conducted by the city shows that large portions of Westwood residents are suffering from chronic health conditions due to the lack of physical activity in comparison to residents from other Denver neighborhoods (City of Denver, 2016c). Given the fact that Westwood has the youngest population of any neighborhood in Denver and the highest concentration of elementary students in the city living within a mile of their school (City of Denver, 2016c), it is important to create more safe accessibility for over 2,000 elementary students to get to and from schools and parks safety to homes every day in the neighborhood. The neighborhood plan establishes the foundational components for the development of the neighborhood. The idea is to create a connected, celebrated, resilient, and healthy Westwood. For this, they want to capitalize on the assets that the neighborhood already has, like the existing natural areas, open spaces, cultural destinations, schools, and a relatively connected street network. With all this, the goal is to create a vibrant, connected and well-design neighborhood with diverse opportunities for the community (City of Denver, 2016b). The neighborhood plan and the Safe Multimodal Transportation plan identify connectivity issues like narrow sidewalks, low night-time lighting,

dangerous intersections, and high traffic speeds that create an unsafe environment for the community, and where several vehicle crashes resulting in pedestrian injury or death have occurred. These issues impact the safety and mobility of the residents, including the high concentration of children who live within one mile of their local schools (City of Denver, 2016b, 2016a). These plans also identify potential interventions with a focus on safely, efficiently, and conveniently link people to neighborhood destinations by a variety of travel modes, creating a connected Westwood (City of Denver, 2016b). Additionally, they say that the improvement of the pedestrian, bicycle, and transit infrastructure could impact the health of the youth in Westwood by increasing their physical activity. Pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure improvements will reduce chronic diseases, including obesity, and will also reduce

injuries caused by vehicular crashes. Projects in these areas could increase the possibilities of the residents to safely access the neighborhood and other regional destinations (City of Denver, 2016a). The background research presented in this section provides insight into the research that other people have done about youth and safe mobility. The literature, case studies, and existing plans prove that there is a need and a benefit to encourage children and youth to do more physical activity and to create tools that allow them to do it. The mapping part of this capstone project will be a tool to help them achieve those goals.

Visioning elements of the neighborhood plan | Source Westwood Neighborhood Plan

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Methodology

Methodology

The main goal of this research is to find the safest routes in the neighborhood and to represent these in user-friendly maps. In order to achieve this, the project used a two-pronged methodology. First, I conducted a community engagement mapping assessment with parents and their kids; and second, I conducted a spatial analysis mapping using readily available data sources from the City of Denver, Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG), US Census, and other transit-oriented US sources. These two approaches produced quantitative and qualitative data, both in the forms of maps. Finally, the outcomes of these two approaches, the community mapping and the spatial analysis, were merged into a single map that will synthesize the main findings. I designed the maps derived from this data to be accessible both in English and Spanish for community members including kids.

Figure 6. Methodology Process

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Qualitative Data: Community-Produced Maps

There is no better source to understand what the safest routes in a community are than the people who walk and bike there every day. The qualitative data of how the people experience moving around the neighborhood streets was collected at community meetings. We held the community meetings at ‘La Casita,’ which is the Westwood Unidos office and where the community attends different classes like zumba and taekwondo. The meetings with parents were held during the day while the kids were in school. Norma Brambila, the Community Connector & Safety Coordinator, coordinated the invitation of families and organized the meetings. For the meetings with kids, we used the space of the Youth Safety Committee, which is a monthly event that happens at ‘La Casita.’ I attended this event in February and used the time to create

safe route maps with the children and youth. During the meetings, I talked with the adults and young people that live in Westwood and walk or bike a route every day. I brought maps for the participants to work with, and facilitated the main activity off the meeting, which was the creation of individual maps. Additionally, I facilitated and took notes during a group discussion and heard about personal experiences that the participants shared. Quantitative Data: GIS Mapping of Data Sets

I performed the second form of mobility safety analysis using GIS. The analysis included a combination of data including the Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) the total volume of vehicle traffic on a highway or road for a year divided by 365 days, collected using a technique called the continuous count data collection method. This method includes sensors that are permanently embedded into a road, and traffic data is measured for the entire 365 days, collected as â&#x20AC;&#x153;traffic countsâ&#x20AC;? dataset from the City and County of Denver open data platform, street width data and traffic accident data collected from the Denver open data platform, walkability scores; and bicycle network analysis data from the organization People for Bikes. Each one of these data sets was used as variables to create a matrix that helped me identify what are the best /safest streets for all people, especially children and youth, to travel around the neighborhood.

Analysis of data For the data collected from the community meetings, I analyzed the maps produced during the meetings to identify the input from the kids and the mothers, and I reviewed my notes from the group discussions. Using that information, I created a map with two layers: one that shows the routes that they identified as the safest ones, and a second layer that represents the places that they identified as unsafe, including particular intersections, alleys, and roads. The analysis of the quantitative data helped me identify a variety of low-stress networks for pedestrians and bicyclists. Further, I reviewed the neighborhood plan for Westwood to identify the projects that are focused on improving mobility, like sidewalks, intersections, and bike lanes improvements. Finally, after creating the maps from the community meetings, the quantitative data analysis, and planned mobility projects, I compared and combined the three maps and produced the final safe routes map to be presented to the community.

Safe Routes for Youth |

SECTION II

EXISTING CONDITIONS

| Existing Conditions

Existing conditions

Westwood is a culturally rich neighborhood, with a community that has proven to be resilient despite its many challenges, including a lack of neighborhood amenities, unsafe pedestrian environment, and a higher rate of poverty and crime than Denver as a whole. Through the impressive grassroots efforts of the community coupled with a significant amount of investment by the City and other partners, Westwood has entered into a phase of cultural celebration and reinvestment (City of Denver, 2016b).

Figure 7. Census Tracts in Westwood

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Westwood is predominantly composed of single-family houses. Due to the history of the neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development, it lacks a consistent urban pattern, resulting in poor connectivity and unsafe intersections. Morrison Road serves as the predominant commercial corridor for the area; however, with a dominance of auto-oriented uses, the street has struggled to become an attractive people-focused main street that serves as a destination and connection for neighborhood residents and employers (City of Denver, 2016b).

The “Census tract” is an area roughly equivalent to the areas of the neighborhood established by the Bureau of the Census for analyzing populations. Tracts generally comprise a population between 2,500 to 8,000 people. The Bureau of the Census describes them as “relatively permanent,” but they do change over time. Therefore, in order to compile data on a specific neighborhood over several decades, it is necessary to figure out the correct tract numbers for a given neighborhood every census year (Bureau of Census & U.S. Department of Commerce, 1962). Westwood is divided in four census tracts, 45.03, 45.04, 45.05 and 45.06. By combining data from these four-census tracts

is possible to obtain the proper demographic information of the study area (see figure 2). In Westwood, 79% of residents are Latino, with most immigrants born in Mexico; this high percentage of migration leads to the fact that more than 23% of residents do not speak English (see figure 8). Cultural, economic, and language marginalization makes this community more vulnerable. Elementary schools in the neighborhood have the highest percentage of residents as students, making the neighborhood prime for implementing “safe routes to school” programs.

Figure 8. Summary of Demographics in Westwood | Source U.S. Census

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Existing Conditions The fact that a significant portion of the neighborhood’s families have children and that 36.5% of the total population is under 18 years old makes the need for creating safe routes to move between parks and schools more relevant (Census.Gov, n.d.). Creating safe routes is imperative not just for schools but for all Westwood neighborhoods to safely walk and bike in their neighborhood. A positive finding of this project is that all neighborhood residences have access to a park within half-mile. However, not all residents have a safe way to access them; the maps created here will help the residents understand the best routes they can take and hopefully increase the use of parks in the neighborhood. Based on residents’ feedback, the neighborhood’s transportation network is challenging for pedestrians and bicyclists to use safely due to high traffic speeds, missing or inadequate sidewalks, lack of bicycle infrastructure, lack of pedestrian/bicycle scaled lighting, and unsafe intersection crossings. Residents observe that there is poor compliance with traffic laws, particularly posted speed limits and stop signs (City of Denver, 2016b). As mentioned before, a significant portion of Westwood residents are monolingual Spanishspeaking, creating a language barrier resulting in difficulties accessing City services, emphasizing the need for clear actions and resources to connect residents to neighborhood and public services (City of Denver, 2016b).

| Westwood

Existing wayfinding in spanish in Westwood

Schools in the neighborhood The neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concentration of elementary students living within a mile of their school is the highest in the city (City of Denver, 2016a). These includes three elementary schools, Munroe, Castro, and Knapp. The site of the former Kepner middle school includes three charter schools: STRIVE Prep, Kepner Beacon Middle School, and Rocky Mountain Elementary. (City of Denver, 2016a).

I am analyzing the three elementary schools for this project; this project could be used as an example to include the other schools later with help from Westwood Unidos. Each one of these schools has around 400 students, and from that population, approximately 90 % of the students identify as Hispanic or Latino (Denver Public Schools, n.d.).

Knapp Elementary

Munroe Elementary

Castro Elementary

Number of Students

471

421

357

Number of Hispanic/ Latino Students

437

383

303

Table 1 Demographics of elementary schools | Source Denver Public Schools

View of downtown Denver from Westwood

Safe Routes for Youth |

SECTION III

SAFE ROUTES MAPS ANALYSIS

| Safe Route Maps Analysis

Safe Route Maps

To understand the levels of safety in the neighborhood, this section describes the threepart process used to identify the safest routes of the neighborhood from schools to parks taking into account multiple variables that make walkability and bicycle ridership safer. First, the community engagement process and the information gathered from there. Second, the analysis of data like traffic accidents, traffic counts and existing mobility infrastructure; and finally, the study of some of the projects that are already planned or in the implementations process in the neighborhood to understand what the best route alternatives will be after those improvements are implemented. Furthermore, the process identified areas of future investment for the neighborhood.

Community engagement A key part of this project was to gather community feelings and impressions about security. The main goal of the community engagement was to gather input from the community on what streets they use to go from their houses to parks and schools around the neighborhood. An important question to solve was whether there were differences between community perceptions of security and the data collected on mobility accidents.

Community Meetings I I held two community meetings, one with parents on February 18th in the morning and another one with kids on February 25th in the evening. We met at La Casita, the headquarters of Westwood Unidos. With the kids, we used the space of the monthly Youth Safety Committee to hold the meeting. We selected the space of La Casita because it is the place where usually the community gathers when they have meetings about safety in the neighborhood. People were invited to the meeting with the help of Norma Brambila the community connector and safety coordinator, she invited the parents and kids and coordinated the schedules and catering provided in the meetings, which follows the usual protocols of community meetings of the project client.

February 25th Meeting with kids

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The approach of community mapping provided an easy and understandable way for the community to spatialize their input about safety in the neighborhood. Additionally, maps are a way to engage everybody in the community without language barriers; after someone locates themselves in the space, it does not matter what language they speak.

February 18th Meeting with moms

The first meeting had 15 mothers from different parts of the neighborhood. First, I explained what the objective of the project was. Afterwards, with the help of a large-format map of the neighborhood, I explained how they could locate themselves on the map. The first activity was to help each member to find their residencies, the schools, parks, etc. Next, I gave each one a printed map and some trace paper; with this I asked them to identify the routes they used most often to move around the neighborhood, including routes between their houses and schools, parks, church, and other gathering

spaces around the neighborhood. Alongside routes, I encourage participants in Spanish and English to write notes that could explain the experiences they had traveling through the highlighted routes. I sat with each one of the participants and helped to answer questions and encourage the inclusion of input on each one of the maps. Each map elucidated conversations about the individual experiences in the spaces. Community members highlighted areas that they consider dangerous because they were usually vacant or because drivers did not respect the stop signs. We had 15 participants at the meeting with kids, ranging in age between 8 and 17 years old. These kids, current and former students of the neighborhood schools, are part of the neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Youth Safety Committee; the mapping exercise was undertaken during one of their already scheduled meetings. The process was the same used during the meeting with the moms: I explained the objective of the project, I explained how the map worked and how to locate themselves on it; and after that I gave each kid a map where they could draw their most-used routes to go to school, parks, etc. (Figure 4)

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Analysis Mapping Community Safety From both meetings, I collected a total of 24 maps (Figure 9). The community maps concentrate on the most used routes; additionally, community members were asked to include annotations about why they chose to draw those routes and about which streets and intersections they believe are not safe. February 18th Meeting with moms

Figure 9. Maps created by community members

| Westwood

Figure 9 shows examples of the results from community mapping exercise. The maps are characterized by the use of lines with different thicknesses and patterns of lines and colors. The lines show the different routes that community members take from their houses to the schools and from there to the parks. After they drew the maps, the next step was to draw the neighborhood boundary to use as a guide for the scaling process. After this, I scanned the maps and used Adobe Photoshop to scale them, and then I added the base map of the neighborhood to help with the analysis process (See example in Figure 10).

February 25th Meeting with kids

Figure 10. Example of may by a community member after scanning process

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Analysis Analysis The next step after scanning the maps was to overlay them together; that way, I could identify the routes that were drawn more times by the community. Here is the result of this process, some streets are darker than others and the notes from the community makes reading this map complicated. Because of this I decided to export each map as a layer and then analyze which streets repeated more often both with good and bad comments, in addition to which intersections were marked as dangerous.

Figure 11. Community maps overlaid

| Westwood

February 18th Meeting with moms

Figure 12. Dangerous areas identified by the community

Figure 12 shows the areas the community identified as dangerous. In 90% of the maps that the community created Morrison Road was marked as a dangerous road, or an area that they usually avoid when walking. Additionally, people identified four intersections along Morrison Road as â&#x20AC;&#x153;intersections to avoidâ&#x20AC;? because they don not feel safe when they cross them. Irving street was identified as a dangerous area because it is frequently used for car races by neighborhood residents.

February 25th Meeting with kids

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Analysis

Figure 13. Preferred streets identified by the community

Figure 13 shows the areas the community identified as dangerous. In 90% of the maps that the community created Morrison Road was marked as a dangerous road, or an area that they usually avoid when walking. Additionally, people identified four intersections along Morrison Road as â&#x20AC;&#x153;intersections to avoidâ&#x20AC;? because they don not feel safe when they cross them. Irving street was identified as a dangerous area because it is frequently used for car races by neighborhood residents.

| Westwood

Map Outcomes The data collected permitted the creation of a final map that represents the most used route for each one of the selected schools to the closest park. The idea of showing each school and its nearest park came from Westwood Unidos and is going to be used by each school as a tool to show students the preferred route they should use.

Garfield Lake Park

Figure 14. Safe route from school to parks selected by the community Castro Elementary

Castro Elementary School | Source coloradosun.com

Gardfield Lake Park | Souce Go Hike Colorado

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Analysis

Figure 15. Safe route from school to parks selected by the community Munroe Elementary

Munroe Elementary School | Source School.speakingscame.com

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Cuatro Vientos Park | Source Architizer.com

Figure 16. Safe route from school to parks selected by the community Knapp Elementary

Knapp Elementary School | Source Kepner School Website

Westwood Park | Source luxdenver.com

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Analysis

Analysis of quantitative traffic data The second source of analysis of the pedestrian and bicyclistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; safety of the neighborhood comes from the data repositories that relate to traffic safety of the City and County of Denver and the People for Bikes organization. To understand the current conditions of mobility and safety in the neighborhood, I created a series of analysis maps that I later overlaid to identify the safest streets for residents to walk or bike.

Data analysis Traffic accidents (bike and peds) This data comes from the City of Denver open data source; the shapefile is called Traffic Accidents. This dataset includes motor vehicle crashes reported to the Denver Police Department that occurred within the City and County of Denver and during the previous five

Figure 17. Heat map of traffic accidents with pedestrians involved | Data from Denver Opendata Catalog

| Westwood

calendar years plus the current year to date. After filtering the data set to show only these pertinent data points, I did a point density spatial analysis to create a heat map of danger related to traffic accidents with pedestrians (Figure 17) and cyclist (Figure 18) for the neighborhoods from 2015 to January of 2020. These maps show the hotspots where there

have been more accidents over time. The heat maps communicate which areas are the most dangerous for pedestrians to circulate. This map shows how intersections along arterial streets like Morrison Road and Federal Boulevard are the most dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists. Additionally, it shows how the area around Castro Elementary School is one of the hotspots of dangerous intersections for pedestrians.

Figure 18. Heat map of traffic accidents with bicyclists involved | Data from Denver Opendata Catalog

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Analysis Traffic counts The traffic count data is useful for knowing how busy the roads are (Caliper, 2020). The traffic count data set measure annual average daily traffic (AADT) on individual road segments; this is the total volume of vehicle traffic on a road for a year divided by 365 days. This map shows that Morrison Road and Federal Boulevard are the busiest roads of the neighborhood, with volumes of up to 28,213 cars per day.

Figure 19. Map of traffic counts | Data from Denver Opendata Catalog

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Neighborhood ways (People for Bikes) Neighborhood ways are two-lane streets where it is made clear that bikes and cars share space and where human-powered movement is prioritized above autos. They offer low-stress, usually signal-supported crossings of major streets for people on foot and bike (Andersen, 2017). This dataset shows the streets that are designated as neighborhood bikeways in the neighborhood. The map shows that

the only street that is properly designed as a neighborhood way according to the People for Bikes organization is Morrison Road.

Figure 20. Map of neighborhood ways | Data from peopleforbikes

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Analysis Denverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bicycle lanes The Denverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bicycle Lanes data set from the City and County of Denver shows the proposed and existing bicycle facilities that go through the Westwood neighborhood. There are different types of bike lanes, from neighborhood ways to dedicated bike lanes. This data will help understand which streets are the best-suited streets for bicyclists to move around the neighborhood safely. I concluded from the data

that Knox Street, Kentucky Avenue, and Stuart Street are the most suitable roads for cyclists. Roads suitable for transit by bicycles represent a low percentage of roads in the neighborhood.

Figure 21. Map of Denver bycicle facilities | Data from Denver Opendata Catalog

| Westwood

Intersection quality This data comes from the City of Denver open data catalog; the shapefile is called the sidewalk line. This dataset shows where crosswalks are missing and what intersections have crosswalks that make them safer. From this data we can understand the quality of the intersections in the neighborhood. The use of this dataset is vital because knowing where marked crosswalks are helps indicate the optimal or preferred locations

for pedestrians to cross and helps designate right-of-way for motorists to yield to pedestrians. This map shows how a big percentage of the intersections along Morrison Road, one of the busiest streets of the neighborhoods, are missing crossings. This aligns with the data provided by the community where they express that crossing this street always feels unsafe.

Figure 22. Map of intersections quality | Data from Denver Opendata Catalog

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Analysis Learning from merging of different data sets After creating a map for each one of the data points mentioned before, I overlaid the layers into a new map to understand which areas are more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists to move around, which will help me identify the safest routes for each condition (see figures 23 and 24). After overlaying the data related to bicyclists safety, I identified two sections in Morrison road,

Figure 23. Map of bicyclist safety findings

| Westwood

in addition to Federal Boulevard and Hazel CT as dangerous streets for bicyclists to move around. We can see in the map that the only dangerous area that aligns with the existing bicycle infrastructure is Morrison Road. This is positive, because we can use one of the already designed bikeways for this projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposed safe route.

This map shows the data that is pertinent for pedestrian safety. The dangerous areas are identified, and it is not a surprise that Morrison Road is identified as a dangerous road, both for pedestrians and bicyclists. In addition to this, some of the roads that are identified as safe for bicyclists because they are classified as bicycle facilities by the city of Denver, are shown here as dangerous for pedestrians, this makes

the definition of a singular safe route for both pedestrians and bicyclist more difficult.

Figure 24. Map of pedestrian safety findings

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Analysis

Projects that could affect mobility The community and data have created a picture of the most dangerous areas in the neighborhood for pedestrians and bicyclists. Fortunately, current planning efforts are being implemented in the neighborhood, such as the Morrison Road improvements and the neighborhood plan. Those plans include improvements to the mobility network. Following, I will explain some of the projects and their implications for this Safe Routes for Youth project and how these planned improvements affect the findings from the two previous analysis efforts. Additionally, this serves to identify areas that are not addressed by any of the current plans. Finally, I will explain some of the community efforts that have been implemented in the neighborhood to increase safety and bicycle ridership.

infrastructure. Additionally, the plan outlines six transformative projects for the neighborhood. One of them is the transformation of Morrison Road (City of Denver, 2016b).

Neighborhood plan In the City of Denver’s Westwood Neighborhood Plan, the planning team identified three vision elements: connected, celebrated, and resilient. Westwood’s prosperity and health are intimately linked to creating a walk-able, bike-able, transitrich neighborhood with premier open spaces. The plan identified that Westwood’s mobility network is robust. However, it lacks critical safety and multimodal elements; it is because of this that they identify connectivity as one of the goals for the neighborhood. The objective of this goal is to create a well-connected neighborhood with a variety of pedestrian-friendly streets, bike trails, and protected lanes, parks, greenways, and green

| Westwood

Existing picture of an intersection in Morrison Road

The plan identified priority intersection improvements shown below. These intersections are highly utilized crossing locations for both pedestrian and cyclists; therefore, they should be designed with these groups in mind. The plan proposes a “toolbox” of improvements, including decorative pedestrian crosswalks, traffic calming improvements, pedestrian-oriented lighting, stop control, and safe routes to school improvements (City of Denver, 2016b).

Figure 25. Proposed pedestrian network by the neighborhood plan | Source Neighborhood Plan

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Analysis In addition, to the intersections improvements, the plan proposes an integrated system of bicycle infrastructure within the neighborhood that links to the citywide network. This network must include a variety of improvements shown below, that encourage new bicycle trips for a wide range of novice and experienced cyclists. Some of the ideas are to update the citywide bicycle network to include neighborhood

bikeways on some streets, intersections improvements with things like bicycle timing, bike boxes, intersection crossing markings, two-stage turn queue boxes, and median refuge islands (City of Denver, 2016b).

Figure 26. Proposed bicycle facility network by the neighborhood plan | Source Neighborhood Plan

| Westwood

Morrison Road Implementation plan Morrison Road has a long history of serving as a commuter route for regional residents. The speed of traffic combined with an arterial street superimposed upon a local street grid has resulted in significant pedestrian safety concerns (BuCu West, 2017). In the 2016 Westwood Neighborhood Plan, Morrison Road was identified as one of six projects necessary to transform the Westwood

neighborhood positively, and when implemented, will â&#x20AC;&#x153;have a catalytic effect on the neighborhood.â&#x20AC;? (BuCu West, 2017). The purpose of the Morrison Road Streetscape Implementation Plan (MRSIP) is to develop solutions to improve pedestrian safety along and across the street and implement infrastructure improvements to improve the health, sustainability, and visual appeal of the corridor (BuCu West, 2017).

Figure 27. Morrison Road Improvements Diagram | Source Streetscape Implementation Plan Morrison Road

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Analysis Morrison Road Streetscape Implementation Plan was initiated in January 2016 and was intended to be a year-long process. The one-and-a-halfmile stretch of Morrison Road is a multi-purpose corridor that serves as a commuter shortcut from Alameda Avenue to Sheridan Boulevard and connects adjacent municipalities to Denver. Additionally, it is a designated bike route offering short segments of delineated bicycle lanes (BuCu West, 2017). Of the 19 intersections along Morrison Road, seven intersections received traffic calming and streetscape improvements in 2016/2017. Among them is Lowell Boulevard identified as one of the safe intersections to cross Morrison road by the community (BuCu West, 2017).

Visual simulation of proposed Morrison Road | Source Streetscape Implementation Plan Morrison Road

Preliminary design for West Virginia and Newton Street | Source Streetscape Implementation Plan Morrison Road

| Westwood

Bike Library In 2016, Westwood Unidos youth started their own youth-led bike shop and library in a shipping container, which is now located at Garfield Lake Park (Bicycle Colorado, 2017). The youth-led project came to be because “a lot of [Westwood children] don’t have bicycles,” said Norma Brambila, the community connector for Westwood Unidos. “The kids learned how to fix their bikes, and then taught other kids how to fix their bikes. I am very excited that the youth are the ones working on this.” (Bicycle Colorado, 2017)

Westwood Unidos’ bike library was made possible with a grant from the Rose Community Foundation in addition to support by Centura Health’s donation of a fleet of 25 new Jamis bicycles, and free bicycle education sessions from Bicycle Colorado. Denver Parks & Recreation also played an important role in setting up a permanent location for the library at Garfield Park. The library is open to community members who want to either check out a bike for use or need repairs on a bike they own. It is staffed on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m.4 p.m. (Bicycle Colorado, 2017).

Bike library opening | Source Bycicle Colorado

Safe Routes for Youth |

SECTION IV

SAFE ROUTE MAPS FINDINGS

| Safe Route Maps Findings

Findings of mobility and safety: Final maps I was able to use the compilation of the three data sets, the community input, quantitative data analysis, and neighborhood plan recommendations to create the final map that presents the safest routes from schools to park in Westwood (see figure 29). The idea was to create one map per school with the best route to the closest park, for this I did a zoom in for each school and created three maps. One that shows

Figure 28. Project process from analysis to final findings

| Westwood

the community preferences, another one that shows the results of the quantitative analysis, the most dangerous streets and intersections, and finally a map that shows the proposals to improve mobility that the neighborhood plan has for that area. After comparing the information from these three maps I was able to create a map for each school showing the safest routes for kids to go to the parks.

Figure 29. Castro elementary safe route maps analysis and final outcome

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Findings

Figure 30. Munroe elementary safe route maps analysis and final outcome

| Westwood

Figure 31. Knapp elementary safe route maps analysis and final outcome

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps Findings

Figure 32. Final map of neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s safe route from schools to parks

The Safe route from schools to parks map summarizes the three best routes for each school while creating a circuit around the neighborhood to access both schools and parks. I created this map based on the three data sources of the research, the community input, the quantitative data analysis, and the neighborhood plan recommendations. In the street selection process, I prioritize streets that have infrastructure to support both areas of interested safe biking and walking. With all those

| Westwood

previous considerations I was able to create one single route that residents using non-motorized transportation modes can use safely. However, there are areas of this route that still need improvement.

Figure 33. Map of priority areas for intervention

As highlighted in the existing conditions chapter, the Westwood neighborhood has years of infrastructure neglect. Most streets in the area of study are still not to the standard of the city of Denver. Even though the final route is the safest one for the community, there are still some areas that can be improved. The Priority areas for intervention map (see Figure23) shows the areas that the city of Denver should prioritize to make the route safer. Some of the improvements necessary in priority areas

(streets and intersections) are the widening of sidewalks, improve the singing for the bike lanes, the redesign up to city standards of crosswalks, and the setting of appropriated stops sings.

Safe Routes for Youth |

SECTION V

RECOMMENDATIONS

| Recommendations for interventions

Recommendations for Interventions After identifying the best routes between schools and parks, and the areas where improvement is needed, it is crucial to identify strategies to improve pedestrian mobility that are appropriate for the needs of this area. The goal here is to create a set of possible projects that could be implemented by the community, the city, or a combination of stakeholders. I identified two scales of interventions. The first one I call engineering infrastructure; these interventions include infrastructure interventions such as bike lanes and sidewalks, in addition to wayfinding signage that helps guide people from the schools to the parks using the right routes. The second set of interventions I call grassroots interventions. These are projects that the community can implement to improve mobility safety along the identified routes and intersections. Additionally, at this scale too, I recommend appropriate wayfinding strategies that the residents and community organizations can implement themselves to improve safety along these routes.

Existing conditions of Sidewalk infrastructure | Source Neighborhood plan

The typical streetscape improvement projects throughout the City and County of Denver include a defined 5’ -0” minimum “amenity zone” – located between the back of curb and the sidewalk – where trees, site furnishings (benches, bike racks, trash cans), pedestrian lights, vehicular lights, and wayfinding/signage are located (BuCu West, 2017). Additionally, existing and proposed bulb-outs support traffic calming, pedestrian safety, and provide areas for street trees, water quality/green infrastructure, ornamental plantings, and streetscape amenities (see figure 34).

Engineering & Wayfinding interventions A high number of sidewalks (around 80%) in Westwood are less than 5’ wide ; this is lower than the recommended minimum width for sidewalks. Narrow sidewalks discourage residents from walking.

| Westwood

Figure 34. Example of Safe Pedestrian Environment| Source Nacto.org

Figure 35. Map of sidewalk quality | Source Safe Multimodal Transportation Plan

Engineering interventions to improve pedestrian safety include the improvements of sidewalks that allow pedestrians to walk along the roadway without the interference from traffic. A buffer or planting strip, this is a zone separating pedestrians on sidewalks from moving vehicles on the road. Other interventions include marked crosswalks, curb ramps, or curb cuts that provide a smooth transition between sidewalk and street (see figure 36). Figure 36. Example of Safe Crossing | Source Nacto.org

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Recommendations for interventions can make intersection crossings safe and improve conditions for students walking to schools and parks. Not all of them apply to all intersections, but the city and community can select the ones they consider more appropriate. A comprehensive bike plan would be needed to determine accurately what treatment is adequate for which streets.

Figure 37. Example of a safe intersection | Source Nacto.org

Additionally, interventions to improve bicyclistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; safety include bike lanes, which are used to delineate the portion of the roadway that is exclusively used by bicyclists. Sharrows or shared lane markings offer guidance for bicyclists on where to ride while alerting motorists of the presence of bicyclists within a lane shared by both bicyclists and drivers. In the neighborhood, only Morrison Road has any of these demarcations. To support more bicycle ridership, the number of roads with bike lanes demarcations needs to be increased. There are multiple design treatments that

In addition to the engineering interventions, wayfinding is an important improvement that needs to be done in the neighborhood. Wayfinding are information systems that help people move around a place and guide them through it. If they are done appropriated wayfinding can encourage people to walk and bike, in addition to promote a sense of place. An effective wayfinding system should be an extension of the walking and cycling network.

Figure 39. Guide for location of wayfinding signage | Source Alta Planning

The existence of signs helps communicate routes and destinations to people and help to reduce the physical barriers to use non-motorized transportation modes because it makes them more visible (Alta Planning + Design, n.d.). Increasing wayfinding in the neighborhood, Figure 38. Example of safe infrastructure for cyclists | Source Nacto.org

| Westwood

Figure 40 Types of wayfinding | Source Alta Planning

specially from the schools to the parks and vice versa will help the community to understand what the best route is, in addition can help other people that is not familiarized with the neighborhood to understand how to move around. The community already implemented some wayfinding to show the safest routes to go to the schools, they have signals both in Spanish and in English given the high number of Spanish speakers that live in the neighborhood.

Existing Wayfinding in Spanish

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Recommendations for interventions

Grassroots interventions In June of 2017, the state identified the Westwood neighborhood as one of Denverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Creative Districts (BuCu West, 2017). The neighborhood is categorized as a Hispaniccentric culture area. A manifestation of that cultural heritage is contributing to the improvement of the urban realm through colorful murals created by local painters that display the heritage of the Latino community. As part of the process of improving the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, some strategies that include art can be used to keep the cultural character of the neighborhood while improving safety. These types of strategies that merge community engagement and art align with the goals of the practice of Tactical Urbanism. Tactical urbanism projects are interventions that are temporary, low-cost, and inclusive of the community in their design and implementation. Because of their temporary nature, tactical urbanism projects are intentionally be low cost (Safe Routes to School National Partnership, 2017). Tactical urbanism takes many forms and can be employed to accomplish a variety of ends, including traffic calming, economic development, and to make communities more beautiful. A temporary traffic installation can help community members understand what the streets could look and feel like before the more permanent interventions are implemented. This could help bring changes that make the roads

| Westwood

and neighborhoods safer and more inviting for kids to walk and bike to school. An example of

Example of Tactical Urbanism | Source Safe Routes Partnership

these interventions are painted intersections. Pop-ups projects are a type of tactical urbanism that communities can implement to make streets and public spaces walkable, bikeable, and attractive. For these types of projects, a community identifies the area that they want to improve; next, they request permission from the city for a temporary installation, and finally, they install the temporary features. The idea of these types of projects is that the public uses the installation and gives feedback that can help develop more permanent improvements. Popups projects focused on the safety of roads and

walkways can be used as a pilot for some of the engineering projects mentioned above; these projects help make a case for more permanent improvements by demonstrating the value of the investment that make it easier, safer, and more inviting for people to walk and bike (Safe Routes to School National Partnership, 2017).

Another type of intervention is the one called Intersection repair; the purpose of this intervention is to repurpose neighborhood street intersections as community gathering spaces. While the design elements are important, â&#x20AC;&#x153;repaired intersectionsâ&#x20AC;? encourage neighborhoods to interact more frequently and give them a nearby place to care about outside their homes (Street Plans, 2012).

Example of Temporary Crosswalk | Source Safe Routes Partnership

Painted intersections use paint to turn dangerous intersections into spaces shared equally by people and cars (M. McDonald, 2013). By painting an intersection, the community can slow down traffic and create a safer intersection. Interventions like the painting of streets help drivers to focus and navigate the crossings with more caution. It is not just about traffic calming but is also a way of building a sense of community (Metcalfe, 2015). Additionally, painting these intersections by the residents themselves turns those streets into public spaces.

Example of Intersection Repair | Source Epic Small

Example of Tactical Urbanism on Intersections | Source Epic Small

Safe Routes for Youth |

SECTION VI CONCLUSION

| Conclusion

Conclusion A good urban neighborhood is a place where all pedestrians have access to a walkable environment, a place where kids can safely go to school and parks. Walkability and safety are essential for communities where residents do not have access to private cars, and public transit and walking is their only option for getting around. Westwood is one of these cases, as 30% of the families are below the poverty level (USA.gov, n.d.), and the lack of proper bus routes limits their access to public transit. Additionally, the neighborhoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concentration of elementary students living within a mile of their school is the highest in the City of Denver (City of Denver, 2016a). A project like this one that identifies and provides recommendations to increase safety for walking and biking can be instrumental for the community to improve walkability and help people to feel more comfortable walking around. In this project, I analyzed data from the community meetings that showed the preferred routes by the community and the traffic data that showed the safest streets and intersections for pedestrians and cyclists. Finally, revising the projects related to mobility that other entities have developed for the neighborhood, this project identified the best routes from each elementary school to the closest park. Additionally, I determined which one was the best route for the entire neighborhood that shows a connection

| Westwood

between all schools and parks. The findings of the mobility analyses identify the best routes that I represented on a map that is going to be distributed among parents and kids. Which was the main goal of the project. In addition to the maps, this project provided a series of recommendations that go from engineering interventions like sidewalks improvements that require a response from the City of Denver or other experts; to grassroots interventions like painted intersections that can be implemented by the community in the short term and with a low cost. Pedestrian safety is now a unique problem to the Westwood neighborhood. Many other communities are suffering from lack of mobility in the City of Denver and all around the United States. Mapping safer routes in neighborhoods is a project that could be implemented citywide in the City of Denver to show access from all schools to the closest parks. A citywide safe mapping effort could help increase walkability and bicycle ridership among youth, and therefore, help to reduce not only safety but also health problems related to a lack of physical activity.

Safe Routes for Youth |

SECTION VII REFERENCES

| References

References Alta Planning + Design. (n.d.). Wayfinding Design.

Cooper, A. R., Andersen, L. B., Wedderkopp, N.,

https://altaplanning.com/wayfinding-

Page, A. S., & Froberg, K. (2005). Physical

design/

activity levels of children who walk, cycle,

Andersen, M. (2017, August 17). Neighborhood Bikeways are hard to explain—Here are 26 free photos to help. People for Bikes.

or are driven to school. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 29(3), 179–184. Day, K. (2006). Active living and social justice:

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| Westwood

Safe Routes for Youth |

SECTION VIII

APPENDIX A SAFE ROUTE MAPS IN SPANISH

| Safe Route Maps in Spanish

Castro Elementary | Safe Route in Spanish

| Westwood

Munroe Elementary | Safe Route in Spanish

Safe Routes for Youth |

| Safe Route Maps in Spanish

Knapp Elementary | Safe Route in Spanish

| Westwood

Westwood | Safe Route in Spanish

Safe Routes for Youth |

Westwood Neighborhood Denver, CO 2020