Event

APBP 2024 Webinar - Pop-Up Traffic Calming and Placemaking for Small Urban and Rural Communities

In this session, researchers from the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University will share successes and lessons learned from four years of planning, designing, installing, and evaluating pop up traffic calming projects in Montana communities that range in size from 1,000 to 50,000 people. Pop-up traffic calming refers to temporary and interim style installations that are low cost, easy to install, and are iterative in nature. They provide the opportunity to try new ideas and evaluate impacts on driver and pedestrian behavior, vehicle speeds, and community perceptions. Rural communities face unique challenges that often include a lack of resources, both monetary and staff time, as well as pathways for effective community engagement. 

In addition, rural communities possess unique identities that do not allow for a cookie cutter process to be used. WTI staff has worked around Montana to develop and test a process for pop-up traffic calming and placemaking. This process focuses on the iterative nature of pop-up projects while working through the community engagement processes, evaluation, and final reporting. This session is intended to engage participants from small towns around the challenges and discuss processes for moving forward community engagement and traffic calming programs in a productive manner.

Presenters

• Rebecca Gleason, Western Transportation Institute 
• Matthew Madsen, MPH, CHES, Western Transportation Institute