C. Develop the Implementation Plan

• Select appropriate evaluation objectives and performance metrics based on project goals, context and timeline
• Collect before data
• Project installation
• Collect during and/or after data
• Evaluate
• Share lessons learned

How will you know if your project was a success? With so much data available, it can be tempting to try collecting it all, but this can be counterproductive. Too much data generates noise that can obscure the answers to your key research question. A good evaluation plan driven by the project goals will help you focus your data collection on what you need to know. 

Some important questions an effective evaluation plan can help you answer include:

• How well did the project meet program goals?
• How effective were the design, project type, and materials? Should they be used in future development?
• What did you learn? What successes can be shared with community partners and the general public?

While measurable quantitative data is critical, remember that qualitative data can be just as useful, especially in identifying changes in perceived conditions. For example, what does the community perceive as a safety issue and what story does the data tell? How does the community feel about the comfort of a facility after quick build improvements are implemented?

Below are some of the most common objectives related to each of the program’s central goals along with metrics that might be used to measure how well a project serves that goal. These metrics are not all-inclusive; every project is unique and will require context-specific data points. 

Together, the project sponsor and the city project manager can use these suggestions to develop an evaluation plan specific to the location and scale of their particular quick build project.

Evaluation Objectives and Performance Metrics

Goals: Increase Safety | Invite Public Use | Improve Business | Improve Travel Options

Goal: Increase Safety

Reduce percentage of vehicles traveling over the speed limit

• Performance Measure: Percentage of vehicles speeding
• Metric: Percentage of vehicles traveling above the speed limit; based on 24-hour data with off-peak hours showing similar trends

Adhere to posted/target speed

• Performance Measure: Vehicle speeds
• Metric: Average and 85th percentile vehicle speeds along corridors; turning speed observations at intersections

Reduce number of crashes

• Performance Measure: Crashes resulting in serious injuries or fatalities
• Metric: Total number and frequency of crashes resulting in serious injuries or fatalities over at least one year, with particular attention to those involving non-motorists (only applicable for Pilot or RAPID quick build projects)

Reduce close calls

• Performance Measure: Observed close calls between motorists, people biking, and/or people walking.
• Metric: Total number and frequency of close calls during a set observation period

Increase number of drivers yielding to pedestrians

• Performance Measure: Driver yielding behavior
• Metric: Proportion of drivers yielding at intersection or mid-block crossings or in mixing zones

Increase user safety

• Performance Measure: Vehicle or bicyclist compliance
• Metric: Observations of compliance with signals or stop signs

Decrease vehicle blockage of bicycle lanes

• Performance Measure: Vehicles blocking bicycle lanes
• Metric: Observations of where and how often vehicles obstruct bicycle facilities for parking, pickup/drop-off, or commercial loading/unloading

Increase perceived safety

• Performance Measure: Public perception of safety
• Metric: Survey of neighborhood or businesses in project vicinity; direct feedback from community

Goal: Invite Public Use

Increase sense of place and user comfort; boost attractiveness of area 

• Performance Measure: Availability of public art
• Metric: Number of art installations as part of the project or inspired by the project
  
  
• Performance Measure: Streetscape elements
• Metric: Additional landscaping, signs, or other elements that increase sense of place and user comfort

Increase perception of pleasing aesthetics                                          

• Performance Measure: Public perception of community aesthetics      
• Metric: Survey of neighborhood or businesses in project vicinity; direct feedback from community

Goal: Improve Business

Increase vibrancy of commercial districts; increase success of local businesses

• Performance Measure: Parking utilization
• Metric: Vehicle, bicycle, and micromobility parking utilization (ratio of parking availability to use over the course of a 24-hour period during the life of the project)
  
  
• Performance Measure: Curb use
• Metric: Observations of curb utilization and potential conflicts related to curb use by delivery vehicles, Transportation Network Companies (TNCs, such as Uber or Lyft), other passenger vehicles, or outdoor dining areas
  
  
• Performance Measure: Commercial vibrancy                                       
• Metric: Commercial sales at businesses directly adjacent to project or in project vicinity; customer satisfaction
  
  
• Performance Measure: Resident engagement                                       
• Metric: Frequency of community events or programmed activities in the project vicinity

Increase perceived business success

• Performance Measure: Public perception of business improvement        
• Metric: Survey of neighborhood or businesses in project vicinity; direct feedback from community

Goal: Improve Travel Options

Increase availability of and access to bicycle facilities                           

• Performance Measure: Miles of bicycle facilities                                  
• Metric: Miles of new biking facilities

Increase availability of and access to pedestrian facilities                     

• Performance Measure: Miles of pedestrian facilities                            
• Metric: Miles of new pedestrian facilities or total miles of connectivity achieved

Increase access to community amenities                                             

• Performance Measure: Access to community destinations                   
• Metric: Proportion of households within a quarter mile walking distance of a comfortable walking or biking facility

Increase walking and biking trips in the community                             

• Performance Measure: Pedestrian and bicyclist volumes                      
• Metric: Pedestrian and bicyclist volumes for one or more peak periods; Walking and biking trips as a portion of total trips along the project corridor or through the project site

Safer positioning of bicyclists; reduced conflicts with motor vehicles and pedestrians      

• Performance Measure: Bicyclist positioning                                        
• Metric: Observations of location of bicyclists within the street - such as in a bike facility, in a vehicle lane, or on the sidewalk—or at intersections, such as within bike boxes or two-stage left-turn boxes

Decrease or maintain vehicle volumes                                                

• Performance Measure: Vehicle volumes                                              
• Metric: Vehicle volumes (passenger and freight) for one or more peak periods or for a full 24-hour period to calculate Average Daily Traffic (ADT)

Increase pedestrian access and comfort                                              

• Performance Measure: Presence of enhanced crossings                       
• Metric: Number of enhanced pedestrian crossings

Increase transit speed and reliability to improve transit rider experience and encourage transit use         

• Performance Measure: Transit speed and reliability                             
• Metric: Changes in headway or travel time along a corridor

Increase perceived accessibility      

• Performance Measure: Public perception of multimodal access            
• Metric: Survey of neighborhood or businesses in project vicinity; direct feedback from community

Adapted from SFMTA’s Safe Streets Evaluation Handbook

Evaluation Best Practices

Data should be collected both before and after project installation. This allows a direct comparison between pre-project conditions and the conditions created by the project. To ensure that data collected after the project can easily be compared to the baseline (before-project data) and doesn’t reflect outlier conditions, consider the following:

• Many data points require analysis of peak periods, which are often the morning and early evening rush hours. Plan data collection accordingly.
• Avoid collecting data during special events, holidays, construction, or other events that may impact typical travel behavior. For recurring events that may influence the use of the project space (such as farmer’s markets), it may be useful to collect data both during events and on non-event days. Ensure data is collected for each scenario during pre-project and project implementation conditions.
• Be aware of nearby school schedules, as arrival and dismissal times can have a significant influence on travel patterns.
• Be consistent! Data should be gathered at the same location, on the same day of the week, and at the same time (e.g., peak hour) when possible. Standard practice is to take traffic counts on a “normal weekday” (a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday).

• Ensure everyone is at the “table” (see Stakeholder Checklist)
• Establish weekly project team coordination meetings
• Establish project expectations, determine project team responsibilities, and seek feedback early and often
• Determine outreach methods, timeline, and messaging for communicating project information throughout the project’s lifespan
• Plan project programming (optional)

Early and frequent communication are the bedrock of a successful community partnership and project delivery. Outreach helps the project team communicate to community, agency, and internal stakeholders about the quick-build program and its goals, the benefits and intended impacts of quick-build designs, and successful projects.

Outreach should begin at the earliest stages of the quick build process and continue throughout the project life cycle. At each stage, it is important to consider who needs to be at the table driving decision-making and who is a key stakeholder for on-the-ground operations. The “table” may include, at any time, an interdepartmental team of City staff and key community stakeholders, including the community champion.

For all stages of outreach, consider strategies to mitigate real or perceived barriers to entry or obstacles for communities of concern. These communities may face additional barriers in sponsoring a project due to a lack of access to information, strains on human capital, or other hurdles. In addition, these communities may not respond to or have access to traditional outreach methods. Therefore, outreach must be tailored in such a way that information on all aspects of the quick build process reaches these communities appropriately.

When developing an outreach plan, consider the key outreach activities for each stage in the quick build project lifecycle.

Project Planning Outreach

Key Outreach Activities During Project Planning | Outreach Methods | Communication | Programming

As a project moves on to the planning stage, outreach will shift from understanding a community’s basic needs for a quick build intervention, to planning a project that can address those needs.

A collaborative quick build process between the city and community members is going to be most successful when communication and trust is meaningful and strong. To improve communication and reduce frustration, it’s important to ensure that everyone is speaking the same planning and design language. Take the time to define terms and educate stakeholders on the costs and benefits of different approaches to addressing needs—from project types to material selection.

Establishing a weekly recurring meeting between the city project manager, community champion, and other stakeholders may help develop these plans. The key outreach activities listed below can be used as a rough agenda for your weekly meetings.

Key Outreach Activities During Project Planning

• Establish expectations for timeline and budget.
• Determine community responsibility related to installation (volunteers), maintenance, or evaluation.
• Share if there is another project or projects planned that will permanently bridge the gap the quick build project addresses (e.g., if the pilot/demonstration is preceding a programmed capital project).
• Establish realistic aesthetic expectations. Quick build safety projects whose goals are not fundamentally placemaking often use low-cost, flexible materials which are not designed to be permanent community fixtures. Some materials, however, can be beautified with a little creativity.
• If necessary, seek feedback directly from stakeholders or the community pre-implementation via a survey. This can provide a baseline with which to compare future feedback (see evaluation).

Outreach Methods

There are many ways to conduct outreach. Each quick build project will likely require a unique combination of outreach methods.

Communication

Many avenues of communication can be used to share quick build project information and updates. When choosing how to communicate with project partners, community members, business owners, and other members of the public, consider the scale and duration of the project. Common communication methods include:

• Project website: Identify a point of contact that is actively monitoring for questions, feedback, or concerns; ArcGIS StoryMaps can be a dynamic and engaging online resource
• Laminated signs (posters, lawn signs)
• Aluminum signs
• Door hangers and flyers
• Postcards
• Business cards
• Brochures
• Press releases
• Social media posts
• Distribution through an existing newsletter or mailing list
• Packaged promotional or engagement kits (may include engagement materials to help partners solicit input or crowdsourced media—photos or videos of the existing or project conditions, survey responses, etc.)
• Surveys

Consider outreach methods that encourage crowd-sourced photos of how people are using the project or real-time feedback, such as QR codes that link to submission platforms, hashtags, or interactive maps. These photos or quotes can be featured on a live story map or in post-project reports. Even photos of violations, such as trash bins in a bike lane, can also help inform the city of necessary project design tweaks.

Programming

In-person and virtual programming is also a powerful outreach tool since it can introduce an element of fun and community. Programming options include:

• Project opening or inauguration event to celebrate or invite community members to assist with project installation
• Block party
• Recurring "office hours” held by the community champion or other members of the project team at a central neighborhood location
• Demonstration event (ahead of pilot project)