Durham Residents Want Our Streets to be Safe for Everyone

On April 26, the IndyWeek published an article that first ran in the 9th Street Journal entitled "Reckless Roxboro May Get a Revamp if Locals Can Persuade NCDOT". I encourage you to read this article by Esmé Fox and pay attention to the quotes by NCDOT district engineer John Sandor.

While I find the quotes to be troubling, they are not entirely surprising, and I think it’s helpful that he's saying this publicly to a reporter. Now we know what mindset and arguments that we're facing. In the article, the district engineer is reported as having made the following points:

  1. He only raises concerns for congestion, making no mention of concern for excessive speeds or safety. The community has repeatedly called for a new design intended to slow speeds and make these streets safe and comfortable for all users. Car volumes on these streets have dropped since the opening of the East End Connector (I-885).

  2. He poses the questions, "Are they going to use smaller streets? Are they going to go through neighborhoods now?" He's referring to his own speculation that a design for two-way travel and slower speeds would cause drivers to look for other paths.  What he doesn't seem to realize is that Roxboro and Mangum Streets already cut through existing neighborhoods. People live on those streets and have to cross those streets to move through the neighborhood. However, instead of being designed as connectors, the current designs divide the communities.

  3. “Has it [two-way conversion] been done successfully? I think you’ll see a mixed bag of results. It’s not a magic pill that’s going to go in there and fix all these things for these people. It actually changes the road completely. Whereas if I’m a pedestrian on a one-way street, all I have to do is look one way, right?” First, there actually is a lot of evidence that one-lane of traffic in each direction will be slower than two lanes of traffic in one direction. The expected slower speed is the primary reason that the capacity of the streets would be lower, since there would still be a total of two lanes of traffic in each direction on Mangum and Roxboro Streets. There are also a lot of other reasons that communities make these conversions, including for economic development (look no further than Durham’s own conversion of Main Street and Chapel Hill Street from one-way to two-way travel inside the Loop). More concerning however, is that he is not being a partner with the City in solving the concerns about speeding traffic and safety. We want NCDOT’s district engineer to be a partner in redesigning streets that are safe for all users.

  4. “We have a bigger responsibility than just those citizens that live down in that corridor.” ​This is the quote that burns me up.  First of all, he is dismissing residents who are engaging in a public process to shape their own physical community.  Second, he doesn't acknowledge that the City Council, our elected representatives, adopted the Move Durham Study in 2020 recommending converting these streets to two-way travel, nor that the City staff are the ones who have been trying to work with him on the analysis to convince him that a new two-way design will "work" for traffic flow.  I read this as a statement that he and his colleagues at the NCDOT district office believe that they know better what the Durham community wants and needs in their street designs than the City Council and staff, let alone the residents. 

We cannot let these comments go without response. I and several others have submitted letters to the editor at IndyWeek and are sharing them with City staff and elected officials. The text of my letter to the editor (limit 300 words) is below:

“Residents from neighborhoods across Durham, whether in northeast central Durham or southwest Durham, we all want and deserve streets that are safe for walking, biking, and driving. That means streets designed for slower speeds, with sidewalks, safe crossings, protected bike lanes, and access to transit.  In the April 26th article "Reckless Roxboro May Get a Revamp if Locals Can Persuade NCDOT", Esmé Fox reports on the residents organizing for safer two-way designs of Roxboro and Mangum Streets. The City Council adopted this change in their 2020 Move Durham Study, and staff has hired an engineering consultant to analyze the impacts before developing a design.  However, the district engineer dismisses this direction set by our elected and staff leadership, “We have a bigger responsibility than just those citizens that live down in that corridor.”  Since these are NCDOT-maintained streets, the district engineer also needs to be convinced to become a partner in making this change.

Just last week at the NC Traffic Safety Conference, the City of Durham Transportation Department, the Southside Neighborhood Association, and Bike Durham were recognized with the 2024 Collaboration of the Year Award by the Governor's Highway Safety Program.  This award was for the collective effort to engage the residents about their desires for slower speed traffic where they lived, to co-design solutions that the City evaluated, approved, and implemented.  

We call on NCDOT engineers to embrace this model of collaboration so that they become full partners with the City and community residents in addressing concerns about speeding traffic that too often leads to tragedy.  Our streets belong to all of us and they should be designed so that everyone can thrive whether walking, biking, riding transit, or in a car.”

We cannot achieve the changes to our streets that we need unless we convert NCDOT’s district engineer to be a partner in addressing these problems.

Composite of (unflattering) images from the awards event at the Traffic Safety Conference.

What You Can Do

  1. Send your own letter to the editor at IndyWeek (backtalk@indyweek.com) in response to "Reckless Roxboro May Get a Revamp if Locals Can Persuade NCDOT". The limit is 300 words.

  2. Sign up to receive email updates on our Safe Streets campaign.

  3. Become a sustainer to power this campaign for safe streets by making a monthly or annual contribution.

Vision Zero Durham

Remembering John Allore

As I was preparing to write this post last Thursday about our Vision Zero Durham rally and comments at the City Council public hearing on March 20, I heard the tragic news that John Allore, Durham’s budget director, had been killed while riding his bike in western Orange County.  I had known John from my years working at GoTriangle and more recently through Bike Durham’s advocacy on City budget priorities.  My impression of John was always that he was genuine, caring, and good at his work for the City.  I was also always interested to hear about his acting, too.  He was an avid bike rider, both for recreation, and as a commuter (bike-bus-bike from Carrboro to Durham).

I have been in touch with some of his family, as well as his colleagues at the City, about whether there is support we can offer to honor John’s memory.  We are also coordinating with advocates in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, where John lived.  As a reminder to all, we will host the annual Ride of Silence on Wednesday, May 17 at 6pm, starting downtown at CCB Plaza.  

John’s death is yet another tragic reminder that the time is past due for the local, regional, and state governments to change our approach to transportation to Vision Zero. 

Calling for Vision Zero Durham at City Hall

On Monday, March 20th, nearly fifty people gathered at the intersection of W. Main, Morgan, and Watts Streets to rally for safer streets and to protect one another as we rode to City Hall for the public hearing on the budget.  BIke Durham Advocacy Committee Co-Chair Erik Landfried remembered Tysiea Gurley and Mike Possley who had both been killed recently while crossing Durham streets.  He also spoke about the serious injuries suffered by Noah Goyette when the bike lanes on West Main Street were blocked by idling cars and he hit a pothole when swerving to avoid the cars.  On behalf of Bike Durham, Erik called for the City to invest in a Vision Zero Durham agenda:

  • Fund a full-time, dedicated Vision Zero Coordinator. The person in this position will lead an interdepartmental, interdisciplinary team in identifying, prioritizing, and implementing measures to reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries. It’s important to hire this position now as a Vision Zero Action plan will be developed later this year.

  • Fund the repair of existing sidewalks, bring curb ramps up to ADA standards and convert all existing bike lanes into protected bike lanes.

  • Provide annual funding commitments for traffic calming and the completion of safe city-wide sidewalk and protected bike lane networks.  

Residents, many with their bikes, gathered to rally for safer streets.

Brian Hawkins spoke on behalf of the Durham Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC), stating, “...what we are asking for is the city to prioritize the usability and safety of the infrastructure in which we have already invested. Bike lanes are a welcome addition to our cityscape, but it is clear that simply painting a stripe on the road is not sufficient. In fact, we would argue that a bike lane that is suddenly and unpredictably unavailable creates a more dangerous situation than no bike lane at all, which we saw right here last month.

We call on the City Council to prioritize the following to address this issue: 

1. The addition of physical barriers to existing bike lanes

2. More consistent enforcement of parking restrictions 

3. A program and policy whereby the City conducts public visits to sites of serious and/or deadly crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists, and produces crash memos that describe how similar tragedies can be avoided in the future”

Following the media event, we created a cyclist-protected bike lane to start our ride to City Hall for the public hearing.  Seven of us signed up to speak to Council in support of the Vision Zero Durham agenda.  I highly encourage you to watch the remarks made at this link.  In addition to powerful comments in support of the Vision Zero approach to traffic safety, there were others advocating for expansion of the community safety department, known as the HEART program.

We received excellent media coverage, including CBS17, WRAL, News & Observer, IndyWeek, and 9th Street Journal.  

Why Do We Advocate for Vision Zero?

Bike Durham was incorporated ten years ago as a voice for residents who wanted streets safe for people on bicycles.  We have since broadened our vision to a transportation system that is safe, affordable, and sustainable for everyone, regardless of who they are or where they live.  One key approach to achieving this vision is known as Vision Zero.

According to the Vision Zero Network, Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all. First implemented in Sweden in the 1990s, Vision Zero has proven successful in communities across Europe — and is now gaining momentum in American cities and states.

Vision Zero is not just a catchy slogan.  It is a fundamentally different approach to thinking about our transportation system.  

Again according to Vision Zero Network, Vision Zero is a significant departure from the status quo in two major ways:

  1. This approach recognizes that people will sometimes make mistakes, so the road system and related policies should be designed to ensure those inevitable mistakes do not result in severe injuries or fatalities. This means that system designers and policymakers at the city, state, and federal levels are expected to improve the roadway environment, policies (such as speed management), and other related systems to lessen the severity of crashes.

  2.  This approach is multidisciplinary, bringing together diverse and necessary stakeholders to address this complex problem. In the past, meaningful, cross-disciplinary collaboration among local and state traffic planners and engineers, policymakers, and public health professionals has not been the norm. Vision Zero acknowledges that many factors contribute to safe mobility — including roadway design, speeds, behaviors, technology, and policies — and sets clear goals to achieve the shared goal of zero fatalities and severe injuries.

More is described in Vision Zero Network’s document Core Elements for Vision Zero Communities and their recorded webinar Vision Zero 101.

Here in Durham, the City Council adopted a Vision Zero resolution back in 2017, following the adoption of a Vision Zero program at the state level in 2015.  Our regional transportation organization also adopted a goal of zero deaths and serious injuries by 2050.  The goals have been set, but the paradigm shift has not occurred.  In recent meetings with NCDOT engineers, it is clear that safety is not yet prioritized ahead of minimizing traffic delay.  We still hear City staff putting too much emphasis on the behaviors of people driving, walking, biking, or rolling, and accepting enough responsibility for the changes that they could make to our streets to encourage slow speeds and safe spaces for everyone to use our streets.

We need our City leaders to recommit to Vision Zero through this year’s budget by approving:

  • Funds for a full-time, dedicated Vision Zero Coordinator. The person in this position will lead an interdepartmental, interdisciplinary team in identifying, prioritizing, and implementing measures to reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries. It’s important to hire this position now as a Vision Zero Action plan will be developed later this year.

  • Funds for the repair of existing sidewalks, bring curb ramps up to ADA standards and convert all existing bike lanes into protected bike lanes.

  • Annual funding commitments for traffic calming and the completion of safe city-wide sidewalk and protected bike lane networks.  

You can sign our petition in support of the Vision Zero Agenda and share it with your friends.  Our goal is 500 signatures by April 30.

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

Attendees standing vigil for the 22 victims of traffic violence in Durham during 2022. Luminaries were placed in the outside lanes of Guess Road at the trail crossing as a symbol of the type of measure that we would like considered to make this crossing, where Matt Simpson was killed while on his bicycle, safer for everyone.

On the Sunday, November 20, about 50 of us gathered at Westover Park for Bike Durham’s first observance of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.  It was a simple, yet powerful event.  We called for the City to complete a Vision Zero Action Plan by next November showing the roadmap for getting to zero deaths or serious injuries from traffic violence.  We also called for the City Council to fund a full-time, dedicated Vision Zero Coordinator to lead this work. 

Tyler Dewey, representing the Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee, said that for those who are walking, biking, or rolling on Durham’s streets, “The dangers are clear to us, but they don’t define us…Our vulnerability is not inherent to our bodies. It is imposed on us by systems and institutions that value speed over human life.” He continued, “There is a way forward…We must build for a people-centered future, rather than our car-dependent present.”

City transportation director Sean Egan confirmed the City’s commitment to Vision Zero and said that the city has applied, together with the regional transportation planning organization, for a federal Safe Streets and Roads for All grant to develop a regional Vision Zero Action Plan.

Council member Javiera Caballero also spoke, challenging Durham residents to tackle transportation safety challenges the same way that we have tackled affordable housing. She said, “We need to be the…leader in the state. I know we can do it. When we put a bond, which is coming, in front of you all, we need you to resoundingly vote yes.”

Bike Durham executive director John Tallmadge and Bridget Bell lighting a candle for the vigil

Then Bridget Bell read a statement prepared by her friend Allison Simpson - widow of Matt Simpson who was killed while riding his bike across Guess Road, just steps from where we gathered.  This emotional moment was followed by lighting hand-held candles and reading the names of the twenty-two road traffic victims who had died this year in Durham, as well as 14-year old Riverside student Aliyah Thornhill who was killed while walking on a dark road in Oak Ridge, NC on Halloween.

We finished the vigil by placing luminaries in the outside lanes of Guess Road to narrow it from four lanes to two at the crossing where Matt Simpson was killed.  Twenty-two of the luminaries had the names of the victims and/or the dates of their crash. We all stood for twenty-two minutes to honor their memories and watched drivers slowly pass using the two center lanes of Guess Road.  We were grateful to the Durham Police Department for keeping us safe while we placed the luminaries in the street and retrieved them, and for producing this video summary of the event.

The following day at the city council meeting, council member Monique Holsey-Hyman (who also attended Sunday’s vigil) read a Mayor’s proclamation recognizing November 20th, 2022 as the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims in Durham. Allison Simpson was able to make brief remarks virtually on Zoom in accepting the proclamation. You can watch the reading and Allison’s remarks here.

Our local event, covered by CBS 17 and ABC 11, was part of a larger, growing movement for Vision Zero across the country and world.  More than sixty communities in the U.S. and hundreds across the world held Day of Remembrance events on November 20th (recap here) with the theme of “Remember. Support. Act”.  

Importantly, US Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sat down for an interview recognizing the Day of Remembrance (you can read remarks from the Secretary and watch a recording of his comments here). This was an important reminder that this year the federal government has set a direction to eliminate deaths and serious injuries.  NCDOT adopted a Vision Zero policy in 2015, the City of Durham adopted a Vision Zero resolution in 2017, and our regional transportation planning organization adopted a goal of zero deaths or serious injuries due to traffic violence by 2050.  

The direction has been set and is aligned from the federal to the state to the regional to the local level.  But resolutions and policy statements won’t save lives. This past Sunday, The NY Times ran a story about how the number of roadway deaths in the U.S. began increasing in recent years while it has continued to fall in countries across the world.

Now it is past time for our leaders and government agencies to act on their commitments.  Bike Durham will be working with partners and supporters to move our local, regional, and state governments to action in Durham, starting with our calls for a Vision Zero Action Plan to be completed by the 2023 Day of Remembrance and for funding a full-time, dedicated Vision Zero Coordinator.

Another Hit-and-Run Driver Sends a Friend, who was Riding his Bike, to the Hospital

On the evening of Friday, September 9th, a Bike Durham member and frequent volunteer was struck by the driver of a truck while cycling through the Five Points intersection in downtown Durham. The crash was a hit-and-run, though we understand that the driver and vehicle have been located thanks to several eyewitness accounts. Two off-duty paramedics immediately assisted the crash victim until an ambulance could arrive at the scene.

Photo of damaged bike on ground at Five Points in Durham following crash when driver hit man on bike and drove away

Photo of damaged bike on ground at Five Points on September 9

The crash victim suffered a fractured pelvis and broken hand and is currently recovering in the hospital following three surgeries. Despite this, he is in good spirits and plans to continue biking and advocating for safer streets in Durham once he recovers from his injuries. Bike Durham wishes him a speedy and complete recovery.

Unfortunately, these types of crashes are all too common in Durham. On average every 16 days someone is killed or seriously injured while walking or biking in Durham. Just two months ago, Matt Simpson was killed crossing Guess Road on his bike with his family. These tragedies will continue to occur in Durham as long as motor vehicle speed and delay at intersections continue to be the number one priority for how our streets are designed.    

The formula for safer streets is simple:

  1. Reduce motor vehicle speed on all streets. Speed kills.

  2. Create fully protected places for people walking, biking, and using transit on larger streets. 

  3. Shift funding away from projects that make it easier to drive to projects that make it easier to walk, bike, or use transit.

Cities that have implemented a human-centered transportation system instead of a vehicle-centered one have achieved remarkable success. Oslo, Norway, a city twice the size of Durham, recorded zero pedestrian or cyclist fatalities in 2019 and only a single vehicle fatality. This is not some type of Scandinavian exceptionalism - Oslo had 41 traffic fatalities as recently as 1975. By prioritizing people instead of cars, Oslo made the streets safer for everyone, not just those walking or biking.

The City of Durham must do more to implement the Vision Zero program adopted in 2017. Vision Zero is a framework to eliminate traffic fatalities. There needs to be dedicated funding for the Vision Zero program in the City’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget, beginning with the hiring of a Vision Zero coordinator staff position.

The City should also begin conducting more holistic crash investigations that include people from the City, State (if it is on a State-maintained road), and transportation safety advocates. They should also produce follow-up reports available to the public following each crash that leads to a fatality or serious injury, similar to those done in Washington, DC.

Bike Durham Named Advocacy Organization of the Year

Last Monday, Bike Durham was named the Advocacy Organization of the Year by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) - our nation’s organization representing bicyclists in the movement to create safer roads, stronger communities, and a Bicycle Friendly America.

LAB gives this award to a bicycling and/or walking advocacy organization or club who, in the past year, made significant progress. LAB recognizes an organization whose leaders have worked tirelessly together to grow and strengthen their organization and fulfill their mission. This award is about recognizing organizations that are inclusive, welcoming, and committed to growing bicycling.

We are thrilled with this recognition for all we accomplished in 2022. We are also pleased that the League recognized our work that centers safe walking and transit equity, as well as safe bicycling. It all works together to give us the transportation system we deserve - one that is safe, affordable, and sustainable for everyone, regardless of who they are or where they live.

The League’s Executive Director, Bill Nesper, asked us to answer three questions that could be shared as part of the award announcement. I want to share our responses with you, too.

What do you hope the future holds for the bike movement? We hope that the bike movement joins forces with others to remake our communities and retake our streets so that its safe, affordable, and enjoyable for everyone to bike, walk, rolll, and use transit.

How should advocates seize this moment to shape the future?  We should all be stretching our comfort zones to invest in the relationships to build a multi-racial coalition for safe, affordable, and sustainable transportation.

What was a recent moment of bike joy in your work?  On a Saturday in early December, we held a Bike Festival for youth following four weeks of teaching bike safety skills to fifth graders at Eastway Elementary in Durham. The turnout was estupendo, and the highlight was when the school counselor got on a bike for the first time since she was a girl.

Thanks to all our volunteers, contractors, Board members, member donors, and supporters. This recognition belongs to all of us.

Below you will find video (credit to Arleigh Greenwald, @DurhamStreets) and print recaps of our 2021 accomplishments.

This award includes the Jon Graff Prize for Advancing Safe Cycling - a donation of $1,000 to our organization.

Bike Durham Hears Support for Protected Bike/Walk Lanes from Residents Around North Miami Boulevard

On June 24th, Bike Durham joined with staff from Durham’s Department of Transportation to talk with neighbors of North Miami Boulevard about a proposal to add protective posts to the bike/walk lanes planned for this stretch of street between Raynor Street and East Geer Street.  This is a stretch of street where three people have been hit by drivers while walking in the past two years.  

The first woman who stopped to speak with us was Ms. Brown.  She was using her powered wheelchair in the curb-side travel lane because there is no sidewalk on stretches of the street.  She liked the idea of adding the bike lanes with protective posts so that she has a designated space to operate her wheelchair.  Next we spoke with Mr. Davis who lived around the corner.  He told us that he had purchased a bicycle two years ago, but doesn’t ride it because the streets are too dangerous.  He also supported adding bike/walk lanes with protective posts so that he could bike or walk his dogs in them.

In all, we heard from twenty-one residents who were all concerned that too many drivers go too fast up and down North Miami Boulevard, and reported hearing or seeing crashes on a regular basis.  In addition to speeding concerns, we heard concerns about gun violence in the area.  This is an important reminder that we need to think beyond street design in our advocacy for safe and healthy streets for everyone.

The City had already planned to restripe this street to reduce the driving lanes to one in each direction, adding buffered bike/walk lanes to each side.  In 2019, the City held their own public input process for re-striping this street and eight other streets totaling just over eight miles of new buffered bike lanes.  These projects, all funded with federal grant funds, were all delayed last year by NCDOT when they decided to slow down spending due to their financial problems.  We received grant funds from the American Heart Association to work with the City to install protective posts on buffered bike lanes.  This project should be completed this Fall.

We are hoping to secure additional funding to continue this work with residents in the neighborhoods where all eight miles of planned buffered bike/walk lanes that the City will stripe this Fall.  If they are supportive, we’d like to see all of these bike/walk lanes protected with posts.