AUTHORS:

Complete Street policies help make streets safe and comfortable for all users – motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians, including children, disabled and older persons and public transportation patrons. Other benefits of Complete Streets are that they promote healthy and active lifestyles and provide alternatives to driving, thus addresses climate change and reducing dependence on foreign oil. Such policies have already been adopted by more than 175 public agencies and 39 states throughout the United States, and legislation has been introduced in the US Congress to ensure that new federally-funded road projects must also take the needs of multiple users into account. This paper discusses the growth of the Complete Streets movement and its role in road design and planning processes, particularly in relation to Context Sensitive Solutions. We will then go on to describe how the geometric design of our urban arterials and collector streets can provide more room for nonmotorized travelers, make street crossings easier for pedestrians, and help to control traffic speeds, thus reducing pedestrian, bicycle and automobile crashes. Finally, we will show how this can be done within existing rights-of-way and within tight maintenance and construction budgets, thus making better use of taxpayer dollars. A discussion of cost considerations will conclude this paper. TRB 2011 Annual Meeting Paper revised from original submittal