GCR Inc. to Develop Bicycle Master Plan for Jefferson Parish

Posted on March 1, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The New Orleans Regional Planning Commission (NORPC) hired GCR Inc.  to develop a bicycle master plan for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana – the most populous in the New Orleans region. The plan will serve as a roadmap for the largely suburban parish to become a more bicycle friendly community by making streets friendlier for cyclists and applying smart growth policy changes. Communities around the country are increasingly investing in planning for active communities that promote health, increase road safety and enhance economic competitiveness.

GCR’s approach to active transportation planning is built on three pillars:

• Development of an inclusive vision by engaging community stakeholders in the planning process through a variety of traditional and innovative outreach strategies
• Comprehensive, data-driven evaluation of a community’s existing bicycle transportation network, regulatory environment and education, encouragement and enforcement programs
• Highly specific, actionable and achievable recommendations for policy and infrastructure improvements that embody international best practices in transportation planning and design

GCR’s comprehensive community engagement approach combines traditional public workshops with social media tools, including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and online surveys. These methods are yielding valuable citizen feedback to complement empirical transportation and land use data for analysis.  The results from this analysis are informing clear recommendations for policy goals, objectives and immediate actions to achieve the Jefferson Parish’s vision of a bicycle friendly community.

GCR Inc. has partnered with Alta Planning + Design, Dana Brown & Associates, Villavaso & Associates and Jemison & Partners, Inc. to develop the master plan, and anticipates completing the plan in July 2013.

Visit www.JeffParishBikePlan.org for plan details, updates, documents, events and more.