Little Creek’s desire to become more walkable, bikeable and activity-oriented is shared by many municipalities across Delaware. They want to curb traffic issues. They know change is needed, but to pull it off, so is funding. Additionally, if local community members aren’t on board with proposed changes, a plan won’t receive the green light. 

Enter the University of Delaware Living Lab. From Laurel to Milford to New Castle to Wilmington, if you see a transportation demonstration pop up around the state of Delaware, there is a good chance that Living Lab is involved. Spearheaded by UD faculty members Jules Bruck and Nina David, the UD team works with the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) to plan, implement and evaluate the viability of built [human-made] environment road improvements for cities and towns across the state. The pair’s combination of urban planning and landscape architecture expertise is a recipe for cost-efficient, visually appealing transportation solutions.

To pull off significant roadway changes, a 200- to 300-page plan is a tedious part of the process. But, these text-heavy documents are difficult to read, let alone imagine how the policies will appear and function. 

“All planning problems are messy. Finding a large-scale solution could be great and comprehensive, but it could also be a colossal failure. Take I-95 being built through a city and cutting it into two,” said David, an associate professor in the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration. “These pop-up demonstrations allow us to translate policies from text onto the ground where people can actually experience the changes. They also allow us to test policy proposals to see if they work or not.”

Before the UD team dips into DelDOT’s stockpile of safety equipment for a physical demonstration on the roadway, the researchers survey community members to get their opinion on a street, inquiring about traffic issues, safety concerns and desired changes.

Installing bike lanes is an expensive endeavor, costing upwards of $50,000 and can take a year to install according to the Federal Highway Administration. So, in came the UD researchers with a bike lane proposal and a pop-up demonstration. To remedy the dangerous gap between the trail and downtown, UD proposed a protected bike lane. A successful pop-up demonstration allowed DelDOT to procure additional grant funding for permanent roadway changes, which is currently in-progress.

Living Lab identifies troubling traffic locations through both data analysis and word-of-mouth. The New Castle idea was the brainchild of New Castle resident and then UD plant science major Erin Fogarty. 

“With the advent of [GPS navigation software app] Waze, the intersection is a long line of cars at rush hour. As an avid biker, I’ve experienced a murky stop sign situation first-hand,” said Fogarty, now a student in the plant and soil science graduate program and Living Lab researcher.

Fogarty went to New Castle’s city manager and town council about the safety issue, who shared her concern. The group listened to locals’ wishes, overcame concerns and demonstrated the safety and effectiveness through a pop-up. 

For municipalities around Delaware, the word is spreading on Living Lab’s approach to assessing and resolving roadway issues. The UD group held a well-attended Fall 2020 webinar for civic leaders across Delaware.

“Whether it’s a safer walk for school kids, green space or making roads more bike and pedestrian-friendly, we want people to know that Living Lab is a resource for collaborative design,” said Bruck. “From this webinar, we ended up with several project requests. Given its successes, we are going to make this an annual occurrence.”