
NACTO and It's New Bikeway Design Guide w/ Executive Director Ryan Russo
03/14/25 โข 59 min
In this episode, you'll learn all about National Association for Transportation Officials (NACTO) and their new Urban Bikeway Design Guide from Executive Director, Ryan Russo.
Ryan starts by sharing his origin story working for NYC DOT doing bicycle and pedestrian planning and executing the PlaNYC vision for the better part of 14 years before leaving for Oakland, California to launch a new Department of Transportation Department, where he was for five years prior to returning to NYC to take the helm at NACTO.
NACTO is an association of North American cities and transit agencies formed to exchange transportation ideas, insights, and practices and cooperatively approach national transportation issues.
The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, Third Edition will help city leaders and street designers meet the needs of our time and sets a new standard for street design in North America. Developed for cities, by cities, the new guide is more than a permission slip for better street designโitโs a prescription for safe, connected, equitable bike networks. It captures lessons learned and emerging practices to set a new bar for the design of city streets. New topics address critical gaps, including planning and project development.
The guide includes information on advisory lanes or edge lane roads, protected bikeways and roundabouts, and various shared street designs.
We also discuss the Designing Cities Conference taking place in May of this year.
#streetsareforpeople #allagesandabilities #bicycleinfrastructure #bikewaydesigns
Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform. Also, don't forget to check out the Active Towns Channel for more video content.
Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
๐ NACTO website
๐ Purchase the Urban Bikeway Design Guide
๐ Transportation Alternatives
๐ Ep 158 with Warren Logan
๐ My episode with Wes Marshall - Killed By A Traffic Engineer
๐ Advisory Lanes (Edge Lanes Roads) episode with Michael Williams
If you are a fan of the Active Towns Podcast, please consider supporting the effort as an Active Towns Ambassador in the following ways:
1. Join our Patreon community. Contributions start at just $3 per month
2. If you enjoyed this episode, you can also "leave a tip" through "Buy Me a Coffee"
3. Make a donation to my non-profit, Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc., to help support my pro bono work with cities
Credits:
- Video and audio production by John Simmerman
- Music via Epidemic Sound
Resources used during the production of this video:
- My recording platform is Ecamm Live
- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
- Equipment: Contact me for a complete list
For more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:
- Active Towns Website
- Active Towns on Bluesky
- Weekly Update e-Newsletter
Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and Iโm a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.
Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."
The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.
Thanks once again for tuning in!...
In this episode, you'll learn all about National Association for Transportation Officials (NACTO) and their new Urban Bikeway Design Guide from Executive Director, Ryan Russo.
Ryan starts by sharing his origin story working for NYC DOT doing bicycle and pedestrian planning and executing the PlaNYC vision for the better part of 14 years before leaving for Oakland, California to launch a new Department of Transportation Department, where he was for five years prior to returning to NYC to take the helm at NACTO.
NACTO is an association of North American cities and transit agencies formed to exchange transportation ideas, insights, and practices and cooperatively approach national transportation issues.
The NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide, Third Edition will help city leaders and street designers meet the needs of our time and sets a new standard for street design in North America. Developed for cities, by cities, the new guide is more than a permission slip for better street designโitโs a prescription for safe, connected, equitable bike networks. It captures lessons learned and emerging practices to set a new bar for the design of city streets. New topics address critical gaps, including planning and project development.
The guide includes information on advisory lanes or edge lane roads, protected bikeways and roundabouts, and various shared street designs.
We also discuss the Designing Cities Conference taking place in May of this year.
#streetsareforpeople #allagesandabilities #bicycleinfrastructure #bikewaydesigns
Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform. Also, don't forget to check out the Active Towns Channel for more video content.
Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
๐ NACTO website
๐ Purchase the Urban Bikeway Design Guide
๐ Transportation Alternatives
๐ Ep 158 with Warren Logan
๐ My episode with Wes Marshall - Killed By A Traffic Engineer
๐ Advisory Lanes (Edge Lanes Roads) episode with Michael Williams
If you are a fan of the Active Towns Podcast, please consider supporting the effort as an Active Towns Ambassador in the following ways:
1. Join our Patreon community. Contributions start at just $3 per month
2. If you enjoyed this episode, you can also "leave a tip" through "Buy Me a Coffee"
3. Make a donation to my non-profit, Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc., to help support my pro bono work with cities
Credits:
- Video and audio production by John Simmerman
- Music via Epidemic Sound
Resources used during the production of this video:
- My recording platform is Ecamm Live
- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
- Equipment: Contact me for a complete list
For more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:
- Active Towns Website
- Active Towns on Bluesky
- Weekly Update e-Newsletter
Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and Iโm a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.
Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."
The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.
Thanks once again for tuning in!...
Previous Episode

Shoup's Legacy of Parking Reform w/ Tony Jordan
๐ ฟ๏ธ Parking Reform Network founder, Tony Jordan shares how PRN is continuing Prof Donald Shoup's work and more.
Cities around the globe, inspired by the ground-breaking work of Prof. Donald Shoup, who recently passed, are beginning to reform their parking codes, drop parking minimums, and address land use codes that perpetuate car dependency, and PRN helps support and track their efforts. Tony also shares how he discovered Shoup's seminal book The High Cost of Free Parking, got inspired to advocate change within Portland, OR, and eventually found the global initiative that is the Parking Reform Network.
Honorable Mentions in this episode include:
๐ Chuck Marohn, Strong Towns
๐ Doug Klotz a veteran Portland advocate
๐ Michael Anderson, Sightline Institute
๐ Lindsay Banks Bayley, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
๐ Jane Wilberding, HNTB
๐ Michael Kwan, WSP
๐ Catie Gould, Sightline Institute
๐ Daniel Herriges, Parking Reform Network
Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform. Also, don't forget to check out the Active Towns Channel for more video content.
Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
๐ Parking Reform Network website
๐ My most recent episode with Prof Donald Shoup
๐ Sightline Institute website
๐ Strong Towns website
๐ Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) website
๐ PDX Shoupistas - Portlanders for Parking Reform
If you are a fan of the Active Towns Podcast, please consider supporting the effort as an Active Towns Ambassador in the following ways:
1. Join our Patreon community. Contributions start at just $3 per month
2. If you enjoyed this episode, you can also "leave a tip" through "Buy Me a Coffee"
3. Make a donation to my non-profit, Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc., to help support my pro bono work with cities
Credits:
- Video and audio production by John Simmerman
- Music via Epidemic Sound
Resources used during the production of this video:
- My recording platform is Ecamm Live
- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
- Equipment: Contact me for a complete list
For more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:
- Active Towns Website
- Active Towns on Bluesky
- Weekly Update e-Newsletter
Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and Iโm a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.
Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."
The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.
Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.
Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2025
โ Support this podcast on Patreon โNext Episode

Building Optimism w/ Coby Lefkowitz
In this episode, I connect with Coby Lefkowitz, author of Building Optimism, for a conversation about creating people-oriented communities, some of the Dutch cities that inspire his work, and why places like Santa Barbara look the way they do.
#streetsareforpeople #allagesandabilities #bicycleinfrastructure #architecture #cityplanning
Thank you so much for tuning in! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform. Also, don't forget to check out the Active Towns Channel for more video content.
Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
๐ Coby's website
๐ Building Optimism book
๐ Strong Towns
๐ My Utrecht ride video I shared during this episode
If you are a fan of the Active Towns Podcast, please consider supporting the effort as an Active Towns Ambassador in the following ways:
1. Join our Patreon community. Contributions start at just $3 per month
2. If you enjoyed this episode, you can also "leave a tip" through "Buy Me a Coffee"
3. Make a donation to my non-profit, Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc., to help support my pro bono work with cities
Credits:
- Video and audio production by John Simmerman
- Music via Epidemic Sound
Resources used during the production of this video:
- My recording platform is Ecamm Live
- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite
- Equipment: Contact me for a complete list
For more information about the Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit our links below:
- Active Towns Website
- Active Towns on Bluesky
- Weekly Update e-Newsletter
Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and Iโm a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.
Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."
The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.
Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.
Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2025
โ Support this podcast on Patreon โIf you like this episode youโll love
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