Every child knows to look both ways before crossing the street. But in many places, looking both ways isn’t enough: almost 18,000 children are hospitalized each year for pedestrian injuries.
We can do more to keep kids safe while walking or biking. A Complete Streets approach is fundamental to make streets safer for everyone—of all ages—who uses them. But towns can’t do it without our help.
Bird’s eye view of downtown Hot Springs, AR. Photo by Samuel Grant via Wikipedia Commons.
Thanks to its thermal springs and mountainous setting, Hot Springs, AR, has long been a destination for health, wellness, and recreation. Over the years, however, the city has largely built a street network designed for the needs of automobiles—with little regard for the mobility of pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders. Now, local officials in Hot Springs are recognizing that prioritizing car and truck travel to the exclusion of these other users has had a significant impact on the health and well-being of its community—and they’re working to make a change.
On September 17 and 18, 2014, Smart Growth America visited Hot Springs for a two-day workshop on drafting a Complete Streets policy—a package of codes and laws ensuring that streets are designed for community members of all ages and abilities. Provided as part of a free, grant-funded technical assistance program, the workshop helped provide Hot Springs with the tools to write a comprehensive policy and develop a plan to implement it.
Photo by Michael Hicks, via Flickr
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Save the Date for our Annual Dinner — Join the National Complete Streets Coalition as we celebrate the successes of the Complete Streets movement at our fifth annual dinner! The dinner, an intimate event that brings together the top transportation minds for food and conversation, will be on Tuesday, January 13, during the Transportation Research Board’s 2015 meeting. Stay tuned for more information about this year’s featured speaker and how to purchase seats. Interested in sponsoring the event? Get in touch! Read more >>
Congratulations to Secretary Billy Hattaway! — Governing Magazine has named Florida Department of Transportation District 1 Secretary Hattaway one of its Public Officials of the Year. Governing focuses on Hattaway’s work to make Florida’s transportation network safer and friendlier for residents and visitors traveling by foot and bicycle. “Hattaway has traveled across the state, talking to staff and leading training sessions on road design and fixing problem areas…. Rather than issuing general guidelines, Hattaway is revising the technical documents used by engineers to incorporate updated requirements, such as increased sidewalk widths.” Read more >>
Photo by Rob Ketcherside, via Flickr
U.S. Department of Transportation announces major street safety initiative — Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx called it “the most innovative, forward-leaning” initiative “ever”, the department will be working toward safer places and safer policies for people on foot and bike, just as they do for people in cars, trucks, and airplanes. The initiative is heavy on changing the way we design our streets—the most important factor for improved safety—from start to finish. With new, research-based design guidance, partnerships with local, state, and national transportation staff and public interest groups, and a focus on interconnected networks, we expect big results. Read more >>
First-ever Puerto Rico Complete Streets Congress — Presented by AARP Puerto Rico on October 3, the Congress convened 160 transportation, public health, and other community leaders who wanted to elevate Complete Streets policies and strategies across the island. Participants focused on public health issues and implementation of the state’s 2010 Complete Streets law. Read more >>
José Acaron, director of AARP Puerto Rico, speaks before the Puerto Rico Complete Streets Congress. Photo by AARP Puerto Rico, via Facebook.
The first-ever Puerto Rico Complete Streets Congress for Professionals, presented by AARP Puerto Rico on October 3, convened 160 transportation, public health, and other community leaders who want to elevate Complete Streets policies and strategies across the island.
Covering topics ranging from the benefits of Complete Streets to best practices in implementation to design guidance, the event was featured insights from Complete Streets workshops instructor Paul Zykofsky; Ana Rius, Secretary of Health Department for Puerto Rico; Miguel Torres, Secretary of Transportation and Public Works for Puerto Rico; Zaki Mustafa, past present of Institute of Transportation Engineers, a National Complete Streets Coalition Steering Committee member; and long-time Complete Streets advocate Dan Burden.
Dahlonega, GA will use its TIGER grant to make streets safer and more accessible. Photo via the Dahlonega-Lumpkin County Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau.
Earlier this week the U.S. Department of Transportation announced the winners of the 2014 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants.
With an emphasis on getting the highest bang-for-the-buck and solid partnerships, it’s not surprising that many of the winning street projects and plans are those that take a Complete Streets approach. Here are some of our favorites.
Participants break into small groups to discuss local development issues at one of our past workshops.
Is your city interested in smart growth, but not sure how to make it happen? Bring in the development experts with one of Smart Growth America’s 2015 free technical assistance workshops.
Thunderbird Avenue in Phoenix, AZ. Photo via Ped/Bike Images.
Americans today are walking and bicycling for fun, for their health, and as a way to get where they need to go. But in too many communities, roads are unsafe for people traveling by foot or bike. Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced plans to help end this deadly problem.
At the Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place conference this morning in Pittsburgh, USDOT Secretary Anthony Foxx announced a new federal initiative to make roads safer for people bicycling and walking. According to a USDOT release, the 18-month campaign will begin with road safety assessments conducted by USDOT field offices in every state, and will produce multiple resources to help communities build streets that are safer for people walking, bicycling, and taking public transportation.
The 2014 Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place conference is coming to Pittsburgh, PA September 8-11. Smart Growth America staff will be there, and we want to see you!
Join us first on Wednesday at 3:00 PM for Complete Streets: The Return on Investment of Safe Street Design. The session will discuss new research by Smart Growth America’s National Complete Streets Coalition that examines the cost-effectiveness of Complete Streets, and how well the approach achieves transportation objectives while also supporting local economies. In this session, we will review both our challenges and findings.
Downtown Memphis from across the Mississippi River. Photo by Joel, via Flickr.
Like many large southern cities, Memphis, TN’s growth over the past few decades has been characterized largely by sprawl and a focus on automobile travel. Josh Whitehead, Planning Director for Memphis and unincorporated Shelby County, is working to promote development downtown through the use of the city’s new Unified Development Code (UDC), which gives more flexibility to developers in order to facilitate infill growth.
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