Description:
Complete Streets are roads and routes that allow for multiple users to safely and pleasantly travel through a place. By investing in the dedicated infrastructure that allows for pedestrians, transit users, and people on bicycles to safely coexist in spaces that have traditionally prioritized cars, all users of a space, including motorists, can have a better experience. Complete Streets provide quality-of-life improvements as well as benefits to public health, public safety, recreation, and economic development.
- Understand the mobility challenges and opportunities in your community by studying traffic collision data, researching the nearest local and regional trail connections/gaps, understanding the transit routes that touch your municipality, mapping the existence of sidewalks and their condition, and speaking with residents and other community stakeholders (like local seniors, transit riders, children and teens, or bike/pedestrian groups) who can provide valuable feedback on the existing reality of mobility infrastructure in the municipality. Pay special attention to key destinations throughout the community that could benefit from being connected by multimodal routes.
- Explore sample Complete Streets policies passed by other municipalities to create a policy that works effectively toward the goals of your own community without overburdening the municipality with provisions it does not have the capacity to enforce. Give special consideration to enforcement opportunities in rehabilitation/retrofit projects as well as new construction, and discuss with other community stakeholders the boundaries for potential exceptions.
Pass a Complete Streets policy and prioritize specific projects and implementation steps that advance community mobility goals and educate the broader community about the goals and initiatives of the policy.