Road User Education and Multimodal Planning: Can Capability Be Part of the Process?

Abstract

New designs, technologies, and rules are all being deployed to make roads more usable for people traveling by a variety of modes: walking, biking, transit, and driving. This paper examines whether and how road user education might be better integrated into the multimodal planning process. Interviews with multimodal transportation planners and education specialists, in addition to content analysis of online educational videos geared toward enhancing bicycle capabilities and awareness, reveal a nexus between the significant changes to roads and facilities proposed by planners and road user education. It is found that some multimodal transportation organizations have adopted practices that support education of current road users, with content and approaches that emphasize safe usability and mode shift. Planners can play a distinctive role in the process of educating current and potential users, helping set the “time and place” for education and the content of educational materials and practices. Still, a lack of agreement is evident for planners as to whether current practices fall within their purview. Hurdles that impede planners’ ability to engage in multimodal road user education include inadequate coordination, a lack of funding, and limited training or access to trained specialists and effective content. If users’ capabilities to safely use and be aware of multiple modes are seen as essential to communities’ mobility objectives, a conceptual shift for planners, adding education to traditional expertise in infrastructure and policy, may be required.