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CDOT Awards

2011: ITS Video Challenge Winner

The US Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) announced that the Charlotte Department of Transportation submitted the winning entry for the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Video Challenge. The ITS Video Challenge was a national competition to highlight innovative ways that local communities use smart technology to improve safety, mobility and the environment for all transportation users.

There were a total of 24 entries representing 19 different state departments of transportation, local transportation agencies, universities, and private firms. CDOT’s winning video highlighted bicycle detection at signalized intersection. The CDOT team was featured during the Eighteenth World Congress event on Intelligent Transportation Systems in Orlando, Florida from October 16 – 20, 2011.

View all of the ITS Video entries now.

2011: Walk Friendly Community- Bronze Level Designation

Walk Friendly Community (WFC) is a national recognition program developed to encourage towns and cities across the United States to establish or recommit to a high priority for supporting safer walking environments. The WFC program recognizes communities that are working to improve a wide range of conditions related to walking, including safety, mobility, access and comfort. Charlotte was recognized for its many proactive efforts to enhance active transportation through:

Charlotte’s Complete Streets initiative, realized through the Urban Street Design Guidelines (USDG), is an excellent example of a successful policy to accommodate all users in the right of way.
A robust sidewalk policy, comprehensive connectivity policy, and supporting Mecklenburg County’s effort to complete its Greenways Master Plan.
The Safe Kids and other campaigns support walking in the city, which target both children and adults.
Charlotte’s comprehensive array of tours, guides, and maps that support walking in the city and creates a welcoming environment for any pedestrians visiting the city.
The award also acknowledges that Charlotte has exhibited a desire to become a community that supports active transportation.

For more information, go to: www.walkfriendly.org/

2010: EPA Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging – Achievement Award

The principal goal of the Building Healthy Communities for Active Aging Award program is to raise awareness across the nation about healthy synergies that can be achieved when communities combine and implement the principles of smart growth with the concepts of active aging. Charlotte was recognized at the “Achievement” level, the highest honor possible for this award. Mecklenburg County Status of Seniors Initiative (2005) makes a comprehensive set of recommendations to make Mecklenburg County more age-friendly by making improvements to the built environment. Over the past five years, Charlotte has used this adopted policy to organize and guide growth and development for the city. New growth has been concentrated in several key corridors and activity centers that have created higher densities, mixed use development and a more walkable community. Specifically, Charlotte has incorporated senior-friendly design into street improvements, including:

Building more than 100 miles of new sidewalks
Adding 88 miles of bike facilities
Retrofitting ADA ramps
Increasing the size of its signage (for increasing numbers of older drivers)
Increasing the number of crossing medians,
Providing longer and audible crossing areas
Focusing on the integration of transportation and land use
Integrating the principles of smart growth and active aging in its implementation of policies and practices to enhance the quality of life for older adults

For more information, go to: www.epa.gov/aging/bhc/awards/

Building Healthy Communities front page of Award Booklet.

2010: USDOT Transportation Planning Excellence Award – Honorable Mention for the Urban Street Design Guidelines (USDG)

The Transportation Planning Excellence Awards Program is a biennial awards program developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to recognize outstanding initiatives across the country to develop, plan and implement innovative transportation planning practices.

The award acknowledges that the application of the USDG is helping the City of Charlotte to better match street designs to the surrounding (existing and planned) land uses, thereby creating "complete" streets that improve the mobility, safety, and comfort of pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, and motorists. Continuing to apply the USDG will offer a greater variety of travel options to Charlotteans as the city continues to grow and intensify.

For more information, go to: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/tpea/

2009: National Award for Smart Growth Achievement – Policies and Regulations Category for the Urban Street Design Guidelines (USDG)

EPA created the National Award for Smart Growth Achievement to recognize exceptional approaches to development that respect the environment, foster economic vitality and enhance quality of life.

Charlotte was selected for this award because it is using street design to shape its development patterns and provide residents and visitors with viable choices for how they move about the city. The guidelines include innovative policies, implementation processes, and a variety of street types. Also included is a six-step planning and design process that matches each street to the existing and emerging land use context. The process helps planners design streets that are sized appropriately for their neighborhood context and select streetscape elements that create an appealing environment and keep pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and motorists safe.

For more information, go to: http://www.epa.gov/dced/awards/sg_awards_publication_2009.htm

2008: USDOT Transportation Planning Excellence Award – Transportation Action Plan (TAP)

The Transportation Planning Excellence Awards Program is a biennial awards program developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to recognize outstanding initiatives across the country to develop, plan and implement innovative transportation planning practices.

Charlotte was one of thirteen communities across the nation to receive this award. The City was acknowledged for its Transportation Action Plan (TAP). The TAP is a groundbreaking plan that sets a new benchmark for local government comprehensive transportation plans. Many plans profess to be “multi-modal” and to “integrate land use and transportation” but the TAP takes it to the next level through defined policies. As a result of the policies associated with the TAP, new programs have been funded to support the implementation of the plan and staff work programs have been reconfigured to associate with its objectives.

For more information, go to: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/tpea/awards2008.htm

2008: League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Community – Bronze Level Designation

BFC is a national recognition program that recognizes a community’s commitment to improving conditions for bicycling through investment in bicycling promotion, education programs, infrastructure, and pro‐bicycling policies.

Charlotte was recognized for its commitment to make Charlotte a better place for bicyclists through the Charlotte Bicycle Plan, seamless connections between transit and bikes, and Charlotte’s proactive expansion of the bike lane and path network.

For more information, go to: http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/bicyclefriendlyamerica/communities/