NMDOT Pedestrian Outreach Program

Project Description

New Mexico has had the highest pedestrian fatality rate in the United States for the last seven years and has consistently ranked in the top five for decades. To combat these pedestrian safety issues, NMDOT released the NMDOT Pedestrian Safety Action Plan in August of 2021. The NMDOT Pedestrian Safety Action Plan established a framework for action to ameliorate New Mexico’s pedestrian safety issues. One specific action that NMDOT still seeks to address is:

“Establish a program to continually gain feedback from all user groups on their experience with the transportation system, especially seeking input from disadvantaged or vulnerable communities, commuters and transit passengers.”

This project will work toward the development of such a pedestrian outreach program across New Mexico. This program is intended to help NMDOT better understand the unique needs and concerns of pedestrians in communities that have both residents who are disproportionately affected by pedestrian-involved crashes and residents who are historically disadvantaged and/or vulnerable.

The Task 1 of the project will begin with a scan of best practices from other states, regions, and cities to see what they are doing in terms of pedestrian outreach. The research team will examine what strategies would be most effective and make recommendations to the NMDOT Planning Division. Strategies may include but would not be limited to focus groups or targeted surveys. Task 2 will create outreach materials and submit them to UNM's IRB. Task 3 will identify communities on which to focus outreach. We will create a pedestrian equity map identifying communities where overlap occurs between crash clusters and communities with a disproportionate number of residents who are historically disadvantaged and/or vulnerable. Task 4 will disseminate the outreach materials from Task 2 to the communities identified in Task 3. The research team will partner with MPOs, RTPOs, city/county staff, and local community organizations to deploy targeted outreach strategies in these specific communities. UNM will also use their connections through the NM LTAP to disseminate the outreach materials. The research team will make recommendations for mechanisms NMDOT might use to integrate feedback received into decision making processes.