Everyone benefits from safety over speed. Yes, even drivers.
When we design our roads for the speed of vehicles, we sacrifice safety and comfort for everyone, including people who primarily travel behind a wheel.
Complete Streets
The latest developments, events, and resources from the National Complete Streets Coalition:
How pedestrian crash data needs to change
We’ve always said that “you measure what you treasure” and the limited, incomplete data about the deaths of people walking suggest that it’s simply not a crisis that our nation cares about. But that doesn’t need to be the end of the story. Here are some specific recommendations to bring things out of the dark ages and into the modern age, while making it clear that reducing these deaths is a top priority for transportation agencies at all levels.
Congressional briefing illustrates the rising danger of roadway design for pedestrians
On July 9th, 2024, Smart Growth America and partners engaged the Future of Transportation Caucus and the Office of Senator John Fetterman on the importance of creating a transportation system that is safe for all users.
DOT Coordination Case Study: Kalamazoo and Michigan
Kalamazoo, Michigan, is dealing with a problem seen in a number of cities across the US: a state highway running through the downtown as a “couplet,” two parallel one-way streets. These two wide and fast state-owned routes cut through a downtown neighborhood full of parks, restaurants, and museums near Western Michigan University. Six lanes with … Continued
DOT Coordination Case Study: Seattle and Washington
The most dangerous road in Seattle, Washington, is State Route 99, Aurora Avenue N. 19 people were killed while walking on Aurora Ave N between 2008 and 2022, on just 7.6 miles of road. 14 of these deaths occurred between 2018 and 2022, which is 15% of all pedestrian fatalities in Seattle during that time. … Continued
Completing Rural Highways: Challenges and strategies for state agencies
From November 2022 to May 2023, Smart Growth America worked with the State Smart Transportation Initiative, a project of SGA and the High Road Strategy Center, to host a series of four virtual workshops for staff at state departments of transportation (DOTs) to discuss challenges and strategies for implementing Complete Streets on state-owned rural roads. The goals of these workshops were to 1) provide space for small teams from state DOTs to engage in peer-to-peer conversations, idea exchange, and problem-solving and 2) identify and uplift the approaches that are working for state DOTs at the national level. There were roughly 30 participants from nine states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Washington.
Completing Rural Highways: Maintaining assets in California and North Carolina
The state DOTs in California and North Carolina have found innovative ways to manage and maintain Complete Streets projects.
Completing Rural Highways: Managing and maintaining assets
Whenever an agency plans to develop new community assets—whether it is a road, utility, or sidewalk—they must have systems such as funding and coordination for regular maintenance in place to preserve them in the long term. Having those systems in place and a concrete plan to coordinate with local agencies can preemptively address unique challenges related to Complete Streets projects.
Completing Rural Highways: Funding Complete Streets
Even with a strong commitment to Complete Streets principles, many state agencies and their local partners lack dedicated and consistent funding streams to add the necessary elements to existing road projects. Rural infrastructure can be particularly difficult to fund, costing more per capita, so adding new elements is often seen by state and local agencies as a burden. Smart Growth America and the State Smart Transportation Initiative worked with practitioners to illustrate how their peers have found ways to overcome these obstacles.
Completing Rural Highways: Making the case in Massachusetts and Washington
State DOTs in Massachusetts and Washington used new tools and strong communication to make the case for Complete Streets projects.