The Street Project film and panel discussion on August 13, 7:00PM at Jane Pickens Theater
Hosted by Ride Island: the initiative to advance and support active transportation on Aquidneck Island, managed by Bike Newport, Grow Smart RI, Toole Design, and van Beuren Charitable Foundation.
On August 13, 2024, this important film, which examines the implications of unsafe street designs across the country, will be screened at the JPT Film & Event Center in Newport, and will be followed by an informative panel discussion.
The Street Project provides a deep dive into how America views our streets and how they can be made safer. In an uplifting globe-spanning narrative, the film looks at cycling-friendly meccas in Europe and considers current conditions in New York City and Phoenix (one of the most dangerous cities in America for pedestrians).
On Aquidneck Island, eighty percent (80%) of trips that start and finish on the island are four miles or less. Fifty percent (50%) of those trips are two miles or less, which is a ten-minute bike ride at most. Biking and walking should be the default mode choice for many of the trips on the island today. However, the absence of safe infrastructure to reduce deadly and severe crashes means few people walk or bike to meet their daily needs, other than residents with limited options, and a growing number of people with environmental, health, and/or economic reasons.
The Street Project looks at how we got here, what makes effective street design, how the automobile changed the way we use our streets, the misguided use of victim blaming (jaywalking), the impact of zoning laws on street transportation, and much more.
Following the film screening, a panel discussion and audience Q&A will provide the opportunity for attendees to engage with advocates and technical experts experienced in safer street design.
Panelists will include: Will Handsfield, Bike Program Specialist with the Washington, D.C. District Department of Transportation to speak about the municipal process of street design; Michelle Danila, Director of Engineering Operations with Toole Design (a planning and design firm focused on people-centered streets) to speak about designing safer streets; and local educator and advocate Allyson McCalla, Director of Operations with Bike Newport and founder of Black Girls Do Bike: Newport to speak about ways to advocate and organize in support of more walkable and bikeable streets.
Directed by filmmaker Jennifer Boyd, The Street Project will screen at the JPT during a film series highlighting women filmmakers. Find out more at janepickens.com/news.
Bike Newport