Going Nowhere Fast? We Can Help.
The team at City Thread has already helped five cities make life easier for people on bikes, on foot, on transit, and in cars. And thanks to help from our generous funders, we’re ready to partner with ten more cities. Is your city one of them?
When it comes to moving around our cities and enjoying everything they have to offer, we all want the same things: safety, speed, efficiency, low-stress, and low-cost. In a perfect world, our travels wouldn’t pollute the planet and our paths would connect vibrant urban centers and quiet residential neighborhoods.
Although many U.S. cities have developed extensive plans to meet these goals, too few have actually built them. Which means there’s a huge gap between where we are and where we want to be. Whether governments are focused on consistent trash collection or affordable housing or safe and comfortable options to get where we’re going, change is hard—even when that change is something everyone wants. We have plenty of reasons why we end up stuck. Such as:
The mayor wants to beef up transportation options, but housing affordability is a more pressing issue.
The city council wants to make downtown more appealing, but a handful of business owners cry foul when someone suggests removing a single parking spot.
The school board wants to make it easier for kids to walk and bike to school, but test scores have been lagging, and student mental health is a huge priority.
The city’s planners have big dreams about bike infrastructure but the city’s engineers cite MUTCD and AASHTO and other acronyms—as a result, the bike lanes keep getting shorter and narrower.
Meanwhile, bike advocates and transit advocates and housing advocates and social justice advocates don’t talk to each other and each wants something different.
But there’s good news: Getting unstuck isn’t rocket science. Getting unstuck doesn’t require advanced degrees or special certifications. Getting unstuck doesn’t mean leaving community members behind.
I’ve been fortunate enough to work side-by-side with my partners Sara and Kyle as they’ve changed cities. And all that work starts with a simple foundation:
We believe residents know what’s best for their communities, so they always guide the process.
We conduct polling, focus groups, literature reviews, and network analyses to understand the interactions between the built environment and the people who live there—then we focus on the areas where people agree.
We work with partners to build trust, increase capacity, and achieve broad support for projects that benefit people in the places they live, work, and play.
We use a proven playbook to develop long-term programs that help communities quickly complete a few mobility infrastructure projects to build momentum.
We help cities raise money, design projectss, and manage these programs toward completion.
Been There, Done That
It worked in Austin. And in Denver. And in New Orleans and Pittsburgh and Providence, too.
In only 24 months, Austin doubled the pace of bike-lane construction, and by the end of 2021 the city had completed 115 miles of new trails.
In two years, Providence added 43 miles of bike lanes to its streets, creating the city’s Urban Trail Network—a project that actually began with a bike lane removal, but picked up steam as disparate groups focused on shared values and priorities. Now Liza Burkin, an organizer with The Providence Streets Coalition tells us that she consistently hears from people whose commutes have improved—not just bicyclists, but motorists, too: “A friend who drives along Broad Street every day told me she feels so much safer as a driver because the bike lanes have narrowed the street, and there’s literally no space for people to ‘act a fool’ while driving anymore,” she says. “And a traffic cop told me he’s seen a noticeable reduction in speed on Broad Street, too. Everyone’s feeling the added benefit of traffic calming and speed reduction, regardless of how they get around.”
Here’s Where You Come In
Now, we’ve opened our Accelerated Mobility Playbook to more cities with a technical assistance program supported by grants from Wend Collective and bicycle component manufacturer SRAM. Future grant rounds will be announced in our newsletter. Sign up here.
Interested in learning more about funding AMP technical assistance programs? Reach out to Zoe Kircos at zoe@citythread.org.
Our team helped five cities build 335 miles of bike lanes in just two years, and we can help you, too. For more information, visit www.citythread.org/mobilityplaybook.
