Complete Streets

The latest developments, events, and resources from the National Complete Streets Coalition:

Materials from the National Complete Streets Coalition's sessions at National Walking Summit 2013

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Complete Streets partners breakfast
At the National Complete Streets Coalition’s partner breakfast, part of the 2013 Every Body Walk conference last week.

The National Complete Streets Coalition had a whirlwind week last week at the first-ever National Walking Summit in Washington, DC. More than 300 participants came together to discuss ways to support walking through policy, design, advocacy, funding, organizing and engagement in communities large and small. The conference had great energy and enthusiasm for Complete Streets and how this approach supports safe, inviting and convenient places to walk.

With the help of the DowntownDC BID, the Coalition welcomed 15 Partners and Steering Committee members to Washington at its Partners breakfast. After catching up with one another, the Partners heard from Ellen Jones, Director of Infrastructure and Sustainability for the Downtown BID, about how downtown DC will begin to accommodate more pedestrians as travel demand increases.

Complete Streets

Join the advocates speaking out for the Safe Streets Act today

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Today, hundreds of advocates are in Washington, DC to ask Congress to make a Complete Streets approach the national standard.

We’re on Capitol Hill this morning speaking out for the Safe Streets Act of 2013, a bill introduced in the House of Representatives in June that would encourage communities to consider safety improvements in transportation project planning.

Join the advocates in Washington this morning: Tell your Representative you support the Safe Streets Act. 

Planning for safer streets saves lives. Safety improvements can often be made at little or no extra cost and without separate funding sources.

Perhaps most importantly, the bill does not trigger any new federal spending. 

Help make streets safer for everyone who uses them: Speak out for the Safe Streets Act today.

Despite the partisan gridlock Washington currently faces, making streets safer is an issue legislators on both sides of the aisle can get behind and the Safe Streets Act already has bipartisan support.

This is a bill that Congress can come together on: Speak out for the Safe Streets Act today.

Complete Streets

Completing Our Streets: A smart approach to the cost of Complete Streets

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Richfield, MN
In Richfield, Minnesota, a utility project led to the reconfiguration of 76th Street with sidewalks, a side path, and fewer lanes, saving $2 million from original projections. Residents to the east now want to extend the features further along the street. Image via the City of Richfield.

This post is the third in a twice-monthly series of excerpts from Completing Our Streets: The Transition to Safe and Inclusive Transportation Networks, the new book from Island Press by Barbara McCann, founder of the National Complete Streets Coalition. The book discusses the keys to the movement’s success, and how places and practitioners in the United States are tackling the challenges of putting a new transportation paradigm into daily practice.

Today’s excerpt addresses a common concern: costs. The National Complete Streets Coalition recently published a toolkit to help local supporters respond to cost concerns, with examples from across the country. The report is accompanied by PowerPoint slides that can be downloaded and selectively used in community meetings.

All National Complete Streets Coalition Platinum Partners and those who upgrade to the next Partnership level will receive a signed copy of Completing Our Streets. Become a Coalition Partner today!

Complete Streets

Spotlight on Sustainability: Maryland capitalizes on grant, plans growth around Metro stations

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The southern expansion of the Washington, D.C. Metro green line opened in 2001 – costing over $900 million. Prince Georges County, Maryland, seeking to capitalize on the existing transit system developed a corridor action plan that incorporates transit oriented development around four southern green line stations; Southern Ave, Suitland, Naylor Rd. and Branch Ave.

With an annual ridership of over 200 million trips the Metro system is an invaluable asset to spur future growth in the DC metropolitan region. Job and housing growth was higher in the area along the southern green line than it was along any other transit line in the DC metro system between 2000-2010.

The Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC) capitalized on the growth potential of the southern green line with an $800,000 Community Challenge grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to develop the corridor action plan.

Complete Streets

Learn about building walkable commercial districts at the National Walking Summit

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Decatur, GA
Downtown Decatur, GA, one example of a walkable commercial district.

The National Complete Streets Coalition, a program of Smart Growth America, will be at the first National Walking Summit in Washington, DC on October 1-3, highlighting how communities are using Complete Streets to pursue walkability and support their local economies. The three-day summit will convene business, civic and nonprofit leaders to develop strategies, increase momentum and showcase best practices to increase investments in walking and walkability in communities throughout the country.

The National Complete Streets Coalition will be leading a session at the Summit called “Walkable Commercial Districts: Making the Case and Design Principles,” at 2:30 PM on October 1. The session will include a panel of local leaders—elected and otherwise—who make or influence transportation decisions.

Complete Streets

Completing Our Streets: It takes more than facts to achieve the Complete Streets conversion

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Nashville, TN Mayor Karl Dean signed a Complete Streets Executive Order in 2010, joined by former Councilmember Erik Cole and former city staffers Toks Omishakin and Chris Bowles. Photo by Gary Layda, City of Nashville.

This post is the second in a twice-monthly series of excerpts from Completing Our Streets: The Transition to Safe and Inclusive Transportation Networks, the forthcoming book from Island Press by Barbara McCann, founder of the National Complete Streets Coalition. The book discusses the keys to the movement’s success, and how places and practitioners in the United States are tackling the challenges of putting a new transportation paradigm into daily practice. Look for the book out on October 14, 2013.

All National Complete Streets Coalition Platinum Partners and those who upgrade to the next Partnership level will receive a signed copy of Completing Our Streets. Become a Coalition Partner today!

From Chapter 6: Practitioners as Champions

After we started the National Complete Streets Coalition, I spent a lot of time developing a series of focused fact sheets that brought together the best and most specific answers we could find on every topic related to Complete Streets. The website was soon overflowing with reports and resources on every aspect of the benefits of Complete Streets. But somehow they were never enough. They never slaked the hunger from people around the country for very specific information about how to answer a challenging question with an indisputable fact. Over time, I realized I was learning how to overcome barriers not by regurgitating facts but by hearing stories about how others had made change happen.

Complete Streets

FHWA Supports Flexible Design Guides – Complete Streets News, September 2013

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Policy Adoption Deerfield Beach, Florida officially adopted Complete Streets Guidelines on August 20. With these Guidelines, city staff will be better prepared to plan and design streets that work for all users, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation. In 2012, the National Complete Streets Coalition facilitated a Complete Streets workshop with Deerfield Beach. … Continued

Complete Streets

Learn how Memphis, TN, is creating Complete Streets with new policy and implementation brief

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Broad Ave., Memphis, TN
The reconfigured Broad Avenue in Memphis. Photo by Justin Fox Burks.

Earlier this year Memphis, TN, passed the 500th Complete Streets policy in the United States. In a new policy and implementation brief, we detail how Memphis achieved its Complete Streets successes so far, the ongoing efforts in the region and the work that remains to be done.

Complete Streets

Completing Our Streets: Why do so many communities build incomplete streets?

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incomplete-street
An incomplete street. Photo via Flickr.

This post is the second in a twice-monthly series of excerpts from Completing Our Streets: The Transition to Safe and Inclusive Transportation Networks, the forthcoming book from Island Press by Barbara McCann, founder of the National Complete Streets Coalition. The book discusses the keys to the movement’s success, and how places and practitioners in the United States are tackling the challenges of putting a new transportation paradigm into daily practice. Look for the book out on October 14, 2013.

All National Complete Streets Coalition Platinum Partners and those who upgrade to the next Partnership level will receive a signed copy of Completing Our Streets. Become a Coalition Partner today!

From Chapter 1: Why We Build Incomplete Streets

The first chapter of Completing Our Streets outlines how the history, political standing, habits, and orientation of the transportation industry in the United States have made it difficult for any policy movement to shift the way transportation projects are planned and built. Undertaking a Complete Streets approach is a challenge because of long-standing divisions: between modes, governing structures, and people.

Complete Streets

Join the National Complete Streets Coalition at the 2013 National Walking Summit

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Walking Summit
Complete Streets features make this street in Bellingham, WA safer and more accessible for pedestrians. Photo by Walkable Communities, via Flickr.

In early October, the National Complete Streets Coalition, a program of Smart Growth America, will be at the National Walking Summit here in Washington, D.C., sharing information and skills for successful Complete Streets policy and implementation with the many other national and local leaders in attendance.

Walking is the most basic form of travel, an easy way to be physically active and a powerful tool for economic and social well-being of our communities. The Coalition works to improve safety and access to community destinations for people who travel by foot, as well as by wheelchair, bicycle, public transportation, or automobile.

On the Summit’s opening day, October 1, join our 4:00 PM session “Completing Our Streets: Policy and Advocacy Tools to Get You Moving.” Laura Searfoss, our Policy Associate, will open the session with the basics on Complete Streets policy: What makes a good Complete Streets policy? Who has one already? Why does any community even need one?

Complete Streets
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