A PLACE OF SENSE

The Urban Planning Scholar Series hosted a Complete Streets (also wikipedia entry) training session on June 29-30th in Indianapolis. The event was split into two parts: 1) the traditional 2 hour lecture, and 2) a full 1.5 day workshop on winning complete street policies in your local jurisdictions. Because AARP sponsored the event, admission was free. I only attended the first session, because work was slow in the office, but not that slow.

The lecture was given by Randy Neufeld, a complete streets strategic management consultant, who focused on the basics of complete streets and why it benefits so many people. He also discussed what the complete streets program is not attempting to do:

• put a prescriptive design manual in place
• put bike lanes on every street
• reduce traffic capacity

One concept of complete streets is that an optimized traffic system that considers only automobiles is actually not optimized at all. It forces everyone to drive, even for small trips. This results in more cars on the roadway thus increasing travel times. By designing the roadways for all users (especially those who don’t drive cars) the traffic load is reduced and other users of the road including pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit users have full access.

Perhaps the best argument I heard during the lecture was that Complete Streets policies encourage economic activity. Pedestrians and bicyclists can now access stores and shops that they would not have felt safe traveling to without the new policies. Also, because fewer parking spaces are necessary, the policies encourage denser development with less wasted space.

Complete street policies are based around the idea that there is no prescriptive solution that works in all situations. The street designers are tasked with a new policy that “ensures that transportation agencies routinely design and operate the entire right of way to enable safe access for all users”. For more examples go the the Complete Streets Flickr page.

One important item addressed by the complete streets policy is that of access to public transit options. I have often seen cities invest in buses with the capacity to handle disabled transit users. However, if the bus stops are not set up correctly, the system has failed. Just outside my office where I work there is a pitiful bus stop without a curb cut and with no sidewalks nearby. In combination with the narrow road and steep slopes on each side of the road the safety for pedestrians is reduced significantly. It is virtually impossible to use this road with a wheelchair.

A world class bus stop for our world class city

Not an inviting streetscape for pedestrians

This area provides a huge amount of jobs, but the message it sends is that only cars are welcome. Even when I attempt to cross the narrow street for lunch it is a risky procedure. There are absolutely no provisions for people in this commercial park. This is exactly the kind of thing that complete street policies are trying to avoid. It will be quite expensive to retrofit this area, but it could have been provided at little cost in the beginning. I imagine the city and the property owners will resist upgrades in this area for as long as possible, contributing to pedestrian risk and economic segregation.