Due to the nature of COVID-19, there has been an increased demand for safe public spaces as people continue to make trips for essential services. In order to make this possible, communities have implemented new policies that adapt to current needs.
The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center has crowdsourced a dataset to track local community actions and policies that are either temporarily or permanently implemented. The dataset is open-access and available as a reference for other communities that are looking to draft their own action plans. Local actions can be submitted through the form here and will be visible on the dataset within one business day. As of May 21st, there have been over 480 submitted local COVID-19 responses from over 30 countries. Some local actions include:
- Street closures for motor vehicles to increase space for pedestrians and cyclists
- Temporary bike infrastructure being constructed with speculation of it becoming permanent
- Elimination of curbside parking for wider footpath
Explore the dataset for more examples of community actions. Through these uncertain times, communities continue to adapt to new social distancing norms for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.