The Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG) will organize volunteers across the region to count people walking, jogging, running and riding bikes. The effort is part of the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project.
According to John. G. Johnson, Executive Director, ACOG, the counts help local and national governments and organizations keep track of how many people walk and bike on a particular street. The undertaking works in much the same way as the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s traffic counts, which help determine how many people drive on a certain road.
“The results from this project also help local communities plan, design, fund, and justify the needs for bike and pedestrian related projects,” Johnson said.
Edmond, Oklahoma City Bike & Pedestrian Count
Volunteers will post at various locations in Edmond and Oklahoma City, 5-7 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, September 13-15. They will also count from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Saturday, September 17. They will manually tally people on count forms provided by ACOG and the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project.
Norman Bike & Pedestrian Count
The City of Norman will participate a week later, when the University of Oklahoma’s football team has a bye week. Volunteers in Norman will count between 4:30 and 7 p.m., Tuesday, September 20, and 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., on Saturday, September 24. They will also manually tally people on count forms provided by ACOG.
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About the National Bike & Pedestrian Documentation Project
One of the greatest challenges facing the bicycle and pedestrian field is the lack of documentation on usage and demand. Without accurate and consistent demand and usage figures, it is difficult to measure the positive benefits of investments in these modes, especially when compared to the other transportation modes such as the private automobile. An answer to this need for data is the National Bicycle & Pedestrian Documentation Project, co-sponsored by and Alta Planning and Design and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Pedestrian and Bicycle Council. This nationwide effort provides a consistent model of data collection and ongoing data for use by planners, governments, and bicycle and pedestrian professionals.
About ACOG and Multimodal Planning
ACOG hosts the Metropolitan Planning Organization for Central Oklahoma. Multi-modal planning is among the transportation planning and data services ACOG provides. This type of planning considers various modes including walking, cycling, automobile and public transit, etc., as well as connections among modes. Part of ACOG’s multimodal planning work includes the popular Bike To Work Day project. For more information about multimodal planning at ACOG, contact John M. Sharp, Project Coordinator, or Charlotte Adcock, Assistant Planner – Multimodal. To receive regular updates from ACOG, sign up for our newsletter on the ACOG website, acogok.org. You can also email us enews@acogok.org.