Program areas at NACTO
Leading the conversation- nacto works to lead the conversation on City Transportation and advance a unified City voice on the National stage, advocating for state and federal adoption of street design guidance that supports safe, sustainable City streets; regulatory changes that give cities greater flexibility to innovate; increased federal research on Transportation issues; improved coordination between state and local Transportation departments; and policies that promote public transit, bicycling, and walking as integral parts of City transportation.throughout the year, nacto worked to maximize the benefits of the federal infrastructure investment and jobs act (iija) by successfully pushing for new rules that explicitly allow cities to apply nacto street design guidance to federally-funded projects on City streets - even if a state requires different, less-safe standards. With the guidance of member cities, nacto also compiled comprehensive recommendations for the u.s. department of Transportation (usdot) about the implementation of the biden administration's new "safe streets and roads for all" initiative, many of which were reflected in the final program. We celebrated the launch of the "reconnecting communities" program, which commits $1 billion to reconnect communities divided by Transportation infrastructure and right historical wrongs. And we organized briefings with both City and usdot speakers to ensure local leaders could take advantage of "flex funding," allowing them to divert dollars from highway to transit projects.nacto pushed aggressively to ensure the vehicles on our roads are as safe as possible. We helped generate over 15,000 comments to the National highway traffic safety administration (nhtsa) in support of updating the new car assessment program to account for the safety of people traveling outside of vehicles for the first time in the program's history. We also pushed nhtsa to think holistically about safety standards for autonomous vehicles, arguing against ad-hoc exemptions for avs that make an already murky marketplace less safe.our ongoing partnerships with other organizations focused on climate justice also paid dividends; working together, we generated over 100,000 comments in support of usdot's proposed greenhouse gas rule, which would establish a National framework for tracking emissions reductions and require states and metropolitan planning organizations (mpos) to set declining targets for transportation-related emissions.beyond d.c., nacto and our City partners notched important wins for safety and equity at the state and local level. Perhaps most significantly, the movement to reform urban speed limits, kicked into high gear by nacto's City limits guidance, is growing. In july 2022, hoboken lowered its citywide speed limit to 20 mph; that same month, salt lake City reduced the speed limit from 25 mph to 20 mph on 70% of its public streets. These municipalities join a growing list of placesranging from new york to fayetteville, akthat have taken action to lower speed limits and save lives on their streets.nacto and our member cities also collaborate to share expertise on local policy for sustainable, people-oriented Transportation, including best practices around improving transit service, meeting vision zero goals for safety, reducing climate impacts, designing accessible bikeways, encouraging shared mobility, and adjusting City practices to pursue racial and mobility justice. This year, nacto began the process of developing and publishing the next iteration of bike design guidance for cities, by cities. We published several working papers that explore some of the most critical gaps in vetted guidance for cities, including best practices for data collection, equitable network expansion, and collaborating with communities to better meet the challenges of our time. This work will feed into an even larger resource: the first new edition of the urban bikeway design guide since 2014.in august 2022, nacto published move! That! Bus! Tactics for transforming transit in two years, a report designed to provide decision-makers including elected Officials, transit board members, department and agency executives- a clear action plan to quickly curb greenhouse gas emissions and incentivize more people to ride transit. Nacto also curated a virtual transit discussion series in 2022, convening practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and riders to dig into specific strategies for transforming transit. Sessions focused on how to implement quick-build bus infrastructure, Transportation demand management, and maximizing limited operating dollars. In total, over 500 participants attended the three-part series.this year, nacto also published a new shared micromobility report, which dives deep into the data from micromobility systems across the u.s. to identify the significant changes that have occurred since 2020, and the trends that are likely to continue into the future. Many of the report's observations and insights were informed by a week- long virtual "micromobility summer camp" hosted by nacto and the better bike share partnership in june 2022 to tease out trends, strategies and best practices in the world of shared micromobility.
Global designing cities initiative - in just seven years, the global designing cities initiative (gdci) grew from a small startup incubated within nacto to one of the most influential leaders on City streets around the world.from the global street design guide to designing streets for kids, gdci has transformed streets around the globe, working directly with 30+ cities, training over 5,000 practitioners, receiving over 100 endorsements from cities, organizations, and countries worldwide, and receiving a prince michael international road safety award.in 2022, gdci took the next step in its organizational growth and became an independent program. Gdci is now managed under the fiscal home of rockefeller philanthropy advisors - an international thought leader specializing in the support of high-impact global projects and strategic philanthropic initiatives. Nacto is excited for gdci to continue its vital work of making streets safer around the world.
Building the movement - nacto convenes a network of leading cities and transit agencies, providing professional development in Transportation policy and urban design, forging connections between peer cities, and empowering the individuals who comprise the progressive local Transportation movement.nacto empowers City staff to better achieve their cities' goals for Transportation through a number of professional development initiatives. Nacto provides opportunities for regular peer-to-peer learning via convenings, targeted workshops, and leadership development programs. Nacto's signature event, the annual designing cities conference, is the premier Transportation conference in the us, shining a spotlight on leadership in safe, sustainable, equitable Transportation practice. After transitioning to virtual convenings during much of the covid-19 pandemic, nacto celebrated the return of in-person gatherings in september 2022 with our 10th designing cities conference, jointly hosted by the cities of boston, cambridge and somerville. The event featured breakout sessions, walking tours and networking opportunities for Transportation practitioners, as well as keynote speeches from influential leaders across government, including usdot deputy secretary polly trottenberg, boston mayor michelle wu, and congresswoman ayanna pressley.in 2022, nacto and the better bike share partnership also launched the second cohort of the Transportation justice fellowship, a leadership development program dedicated to amplifying the work and profiles of mobility practitioners across the Transportation sector who identify as people of color. The program offers twelve fellows an eight-month curriculum designed to develop their individual and institutional capacities to create a more just and equitable mobility field. Nacto, in partnership with the wright institute for transformative change, facilitates skills-building sessions, one-on-one coaching, special trainer visits and structured collaboration, and fellows receive deep support as they work on tangible ways to improve mobility for communities of color. By creating community, fellows will be better able to tackle some of the toughest Transportation challenges facing our country today.nacto hosts peer networks on a range of topics, including National Transportation policy, bikeway design, bike share and micromobility, emerging technology, safety, equity, and transit. Nacto dedicates significant resources to supporting, training, and nurturing these networks of City staff - whether through in-person events or virtual forums.in the last decade, nacto has grown from a couple dozen City Transportation departments to nearly 100 local governments across north america. In 2022 alone, nacto received applications from 20 organizations interested in membership, and recently welcomed five new members: the cities of richmond, va; spokane, wa; and milwaukee, wi; along with two prominent transit agencies, mbta (serving the boston region); and septa (serving the philadelphia region).
Accelerating change - nacto conducts targeted and intensive work with individual cities or regions to catalyze local change and build internal capacity for consistent project delivery. Successful projects and initiatives become National case studies, inspiring other cities with innovative recipes and strategies for transformative initiatives.in 2022, nacto hosted dozens of conversations, meetings, and peer learning opportunities with our network of member City and agency practitioners. This included webinars, workshops, and charrettes. Through our "projects to programs" initiative, nacto partnered with delivery associates and member cities to develop tools cities can use to assess agency conditions, structure work plans and create the conditions for continued success. Using our self-assessment tool, City staff can define their agency's current approach to project planning across various key focus areas, and strategize ways to shift to a more holistic program-based approach. Our building momentum guide uses a metaphorical bike wheel to help City staff shift their thinking from one-off projects to self-sustaining programs that consistently deliver high-quality street improvements. We also published a detailed report, structured for success, that provides a framework to explore where Transportation sits within City governments, the strengths and limitations of different configurations, and a roadmap for taking the steps to make meaningful process changes.nacto members depend on our guidance to help them embed equity at the core of their work. Though our initial focus in participating in the american cities climate challenge program was finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we knew that, for cities to holistically and sustainably meet their climate goals, they also needed to address long-standing racial equity issues.it was with that lens in mind that nacto partnered with nrdc and nelson\nygaard in 2022 to form a transportation-focused "equity cohort" that brought together various cities and nonprofit organizations to study the intersection of Transportation justice, climate change and racial equity. These conversations resulted in the creation of a virtual "Transportation equity peer learning series", which consisted of several sessions focused on the ways City leaders can address these intertwined issues.2022 marked the formal end of nacto's participation in the american cities climate challenge, a program that has guided and supported much of our work for the past three years. Since 2019, nacto has supported the 25 participating cities by providing technical assistance and policy guidance via one-on-one office hours, webinars, design charrettes, and peer network programming. Nacto also provided in-depth topic-based support to six cities and three cohorts, and "accelerator" support to six additional cities.