DEPARTMENT NAME HERE

East-West Gateway COG Performance Targets 

NOTEWORTHY PRACTICE 

FHWA-SA-19-017

The East-West Gateway 

(EWG) Council of 

Governments (COG) has set 

performance targets to 

reduce the number of nonmotorized fatalities and 

serious injuries and actively 

works to meet the targets. 

Fatal and Non-fatal Crashes in the St. Louis Region

(Source: https://www.ewgateway.org/transportation-planning/bicycle-pedestrian/)

Performance Measures and 

Target Setting

EWG is the St. Louis region’s federally 

designated metropolitan planning 

organization, covering counties and municipalities in Missouri and Illinois. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) 

Safety Office has designated St. Louis as a Bicycle/Pedestrian Safety Focus City, which provides St. Louis with additional 

opportunities for technical assistance from FHWA. This designation is reserved for cities with high numbers of bicycle 

and pedestrian fatalities. St. Louis had one of the highest numbers of bicycle and pedestrian fatalities in the nation 

based on a three-year average from 2011 to 2013. 

For 2018, EWG established a target of reducing the number of non-motorized fatalities by 2 percent for the 

metropolitan planning area, or a combined total of no more than 205.3 serious injuries and fatalities in non-motorized 

crashes.

1 The agency actively performs multiple initiatives to help meet the performance targets, with an emphasis on 

data-driven decision making.

Pedestrian-Bicycle Crash Locations.

(Source: https://www.ewgateway.org/transportation-planning/bicycle-pedestrian/)
Data-Driven Decision Making to Reach Targets 

To help achieve its targets, the EWG has initiated several 

initiatives to promote data-driven decision making, which is the 

basis for any performance-based safety program.

Comprehensive Bicycle and Pedestrian Crash Reports

In 2018, EWG published two documents—2018 Bicycle Crash 

Analysis1 and 2018 Pedestrian Crash Analysis2—which reviewed 

all reported crashes in the EWG region that involved a bicycle or a 

pedestrian. 

Crash Analysis Reports on Bicyclists and Pedestrians. 

The analyses included maps of the region, charts, graphs, 

strategies to prevent these crashes, and outside resources for 

local public agencies in the St. Louis metropolitan area. EWG designed the documents to encourage local partners to 

identify appropriate safety projects that could be eligible for federal funding through EWG or other sources. To help 

partners develop successful safety-related bicycle projects, EWG 

also released its Bicycle Planning Guide in 2018.

Bicycling and Walking Survey

To develop data-driven decision making, EWG initiated the 2017 

Bicycling and Walking Survey. Participants completed 883 surveys, 

with the survey results offering insight on the level of comfort of 

the users, motivational factors of walking/biking, and public 

sentiment about improvements to bicycling and walking facilities.

Bicycle Facilities Inventory

EWG maintains an inventory of existing on-street and off-street 

bicycle facilities in the St. Louis region. Engineers can use this 

inventory to evaluate the safety effects of bicycle facilities. 

Bicycle Facilities.

(Source: https://www.ewgateway.org/transportation-planning/bicycle-pedestrian/)

Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning Workshops

The data from the above sources is used to 

inform safety practitioners and stakeholders 

at various workshops in the region, which are 

designed to improve bicycle and pedestrian 

safety programs. EWG has hosted and will 

continue to organize bicycle and pedestrian 

planning workshops, including a National 

Association of City Transportation Officials

Bicycle Planning Workshop, Safe 

Transportation for Every Pedestrian 

Workshop, and Bikeable and Walkable 

Communities Workshop.

Contact Information

Peter Koeppel, Long-Range Transportation 

Planning Coordinator, EWG Council of Governments, peter.koeppel@ewgateway.org, (618) 274-2750.

References

1 East-West Gateway Council of Governments. 2018 Bicycle Crash Analysis. https://www.ewgateway.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/BicycleCrashAnalysis2018.pdf.

2 East-West Gateway Council of Governments. 2018 Pedestrian Crash Analysis. https://www.ewgateway.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/PedestrianCrashAnalysis2018.pdf.