Using a bicycle-pedestrian count to assess active living in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

BACKGROUND: Downtown Wilkes-Barre, a town of 40,000 residents in Northeast Pennsylvania, and the hub of a planned urban, suburban, and rural trail network, was the site of a number of changes to improve walkability during the Active Living by Design (ALbD) grant period. PURPOSE: The Wyoming Valley Wellness Trails Partnership and Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry initiated the Wilkes-Barre Downtown Bicycle and Pedestrian Count (Bike-Ped Count) in order to pilot bicycle and pedestrian counting methods and to evaluate downtown built environment and policy changes. METHODS: The Bike-Ped Count was conducted during nine 2-hour counting periods over 4 days in September using screen-line count methods at seven locations downtown and at River Common Park. RESULTS: During 18 hours of counting, staff noted 15,347 pedestrians and 773 bicyclists. The largest average number of pedestrians (512) was observed during lunch hours, whereas the largest numbers of bicyclists were observed during evening and weekend hours. CONCLUSIONS: The Bike-Ped Count illustrates patterns of bicycling and walking downtown and allows comparisons of bicycling and walking among locations, including different cities. In the future, counts will help show how ongoing changes to the downtown environment affect walking and bicycling.

Promoting and developing a trail network across suburban, rural, and urban communities.

BACKGROUND: The Wyoming Valley Wellness Trails Partnership received an Active Living by Design grant late in 2003 for a project centered on a growing trail network linking urban, suburban, and rural communities in northeast Pennsylvania, a former coal region, in order to increase physical activity among residents. INTERVENTION: The partnership conducted research, collected information, created promotional documents, worked with partners on events and programs, and participated in trail planning. Local trail organizations continued planning and construction toward developing a trail network. Other partners spearheaded policy change in schools and worksites and worked toward downtown revitalization. The partnership assisted these efforts by providing a forum in which organizations could meet. RESULTS: The partnership became a central resource for information about local parks, trails, and outdoor recreational activities. The partnership increased awareness and use of recreational facilities. Trail partners constructed 22 miles of walking and biking trails. The partnership took advantage of an allied effort that created organizational capacity for wellness in schools and worksites. LESSONS LEARNED: Messages promoting social and entertainment benefits of physical activity were more successful than those promoting health benefits. The existence of multiple small, independent trail organizations can help advance trail development through concurrent development efforts. Urban, suburban, and rural residents' conceptions of walkability may differ. CONCLUSIONS: Trails provide options for recreational and transportation-related physical activity across urban, suburban, and rural landscapes that are supported by all constituents. Trail builders can be strong allies in bringing active living to suburban and rural places.