Weekly News – Action in the Empire, Mitten States
This week’s Complete Streets activities across the country, including a call to action on New York legislation, news from Michigan, the importance of planning transportation for all ages, and more.
Complete Streets
The latest developments, events, and resources from the National Complete Streets Coalition:
Complete Streets Lessons from Copenhagen
Freshly returned from the Velo-City conference in Copenhagen, Barbara McCann shares how our movement can learn from the Europeans – and it’s not simply importing their engineering. It’s building the consensus that roads serve purposes beyond moving vehicles quickly.
It's Official in the Gateway City
Last Thursday, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay signed complete streets into law. The city will now “consider complete street elements in the design, construction and maintenance of public transportation projects, improvements and facilities.”
Weekly News – Videos, Road Diets, and more!
This week, we link you to some great videos out of Dubuque and Charlotte; talk a little about road diets; see Hennepin County’s complete streets policy in action; give an update on Michigan’s pending legislation; and more!
Complete Streets on a Roll in Michigan
It’s hard to think of Michigan without thinking of the automobile, but the growing Michigan Complete Streets Coalition (now at 70+ members!) is working to change that. With two bills set for a Committee vote today and more and more communities adopting their own policies, the Coalition is helping Michigan be a safer, healthier, and stronger place to live.
Recovery Act's 10,000th Road Project is a Complete Street
In Columbus, OH – where complete streets has taken hold in many transportation agencies – President Obama and Secretary LaHood attended the groundbreaking of the 10,000th Recovery Act road project: a complete street.
Communities Putting Prevention to Work: by Completing Their Streets
While the U.S. Department of Transportation has gotten lots of attention for its efforts to promote livable communities, the Department of Health and Human Services is also determined to invest in livability – for health. They are directing $650 million to 44 communities through the Communities Putting Prevention to Work to institute policy and environmental changes that will help make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Complete Streets Bill Passes in Minnesota
Last month, the Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition celebrated the passage of a strong state law. They have kindly shared more information on the bill and how they did it, including lessons learned.
Kudos to LaHood and Support for a New Direction
Last Friday, the National Complete Streets Coalition joined our Coalition partners Transportation for America, America Bikes, and the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, along with dozens of other advocates, to personally thank Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood for his support for all modes of transportation. We’re also excited by a more mundane document: the U.S. DOT draft Strategic Plan, which makes adoption of state and local Complete Streets policies one of the Department’s Performance Measures.
Complete Streets Best Practices
A central strategy of the Complete Streets movement has been to learn from local success. We are proud to share a publication that takes this strategy to its highest level: Complete Streets: Best Policy and Implementation Practices, a joint project of the staff of the National Complete Streets Coalition and the American Planning Association.