the colorado mile markers: recommendations for measuring ...

Executive Summary
Why Measure Active Transportation
Active transportation—generally referring to purpose-oriented
trips by walking or cycling—can be an important component
of one’s daily travel. Furthermore, active transportation
or active travel (hereafter, AT) has important implications for
personal health, livability, and environmental resources. Measuring
changes in AT via well-established indicators is particularly
relevant in two fields: health and transportation. Those
working in the transportation field want to understand the
demand for different types of facilities to support sustainable,
cost-effective mobility for the entire population. They are also
interested in how active transportation links to public transportation.
Those in the public health field realize that to only
focus on exercise misses much routine physical activity done
in the course of commuting, paid work, chores, and errands.
Both fields aim to measure aspects of active transportation,
but a lack of robust, cost-effective, consensus indicators is
preventing progress. Standard measures would allow: planners
and engineers to better accommodate actual travel demand;
public health professionals to better target resources,
programs and monitor progress; and decision-makers to direct
resources and craft responsible policies that respond to
reliable data.
The Project
The goal of this project is to help decision-makers (leaders
and practitioners) make informed actions regarding active
transportation facilities and programs–and to monitor the
results of such actions. There are many data collection approaches
and indicators in use; there also remain substantial
gaps in existing data and lack of standards. This report offers
a recommendation for a robust monitoring system to provide
decision makers with the information they currently lack and
to make it comparable across geographic boundaries.
2. Convene experts and stakeholders to advise the
best data collection methods to use at a larger scale
in Colorado. There are two parts to this task. First is to
identify the types of indicators agencies and groups in
Colorado need in order to achieve their goals. Working
back from the indicators, the second is to uncover
a menu of data collection strategies and tools. This is a
question of practicality and cost, but is intricately tied to
the needs and purposes for collecting information.
3. Identify suitable indicators that many organizations
can agree to contribute to and use, as agencies currently
contribute to and use counts of motorized vehicles,
and recommend a menu of instruments or tools
for gathering data for these indicators. The project
does not actually collect or compile the data, however.
The research involved several different efforts, including: an
inventory of best practices in AT measurement and associated
data collection efforts in Colorado and nation-wide; in-depth
interviews with experts in the field; and convening of local
experts in Colorado. Capitalizing on this background information
and research, we filtered the results in two steps. We
first compiled a master list of 20 indicators that were policyrelevant,
cost-effective, and comprehensive; we also ensured
the indicators could be gathered at a local level, are useful for
important population groups, and are comparable with national
data efforts. We winnowed these 20 to identify those
that are easiest to monitor, consistent with national level research
and benchmarking efforts, and most likely to be useful,
given input during the project and experience among the
research team. These resulting eight indicators create the
AT Mile Markers.
Kaiser Permanente Colorado commissioned Charlier Associates,
in collaboration with Professors Kevin J. Krizek and Ann
Forsyth, to perform three tasks:
1. Leverage existing inventories of tools and methods,
as well as our own data collection, to identify exemplary
examples of how to measure active transport;
with a particular focus on examples currently used in
Colorado. The project focuses on three areas of AT data
collection and methods: (a) the overall demand for AT
(this area is further broken down into two categories:
surveys of populations as a whole and counts of users
along facilities); (b) inventories of facilities by type and
extent; and (c) methods that assess how places support
active travel, including the key issue of safety. It examines
the methods in general but also looks at specific
examples (e.g., particular surveys or counters).
The Colorado Mile Markers • Recommendations for Measuring Active Transportation • May 2012 • Page 5