The City of Chattanooga has taken steps in recent years to address the safety of all road users, but it sought to find a more nimble approach to addressing dangerous street design. Their participation in the Complete Streets Leadership Academy allowed them to deliver a quick-build demonstration project on a Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) … Continued
With a newly adopted Vision Zero plan in place, Metro Nashville joined the Complete Streets Leadership Academy to strengthen partnerships and test out new paths to achieving safer streets. Working together to improve crossings for people walking allowed them to strengthen their relationships with local partners and provide quick, tangible benefits to a community that … Continued
The City of San Leandro’s project was unique as they chose to demonstrate a small portion of an already approved county-led bike-lane project. The city leveraged this opportunity to host a pop-up event to unveil an art installation, build better partnerships, and engage the community on its plans and vision. Read the full case study … Continued
The City of Berkeley’s vision was to test an unconventional design to improve safety for cyclists navigating a non-linear intersection on San Pablo Avenue. Ultimately the project was not installed due to various capacity constraints, but nevertheless, going through the design iteration process within their team, discussing permitting with Caltrans, exploring contractor support options, and … Continued
While local and state participants had the desire to address safety and accessibility in Soldotna, they were unable to overcome a number of challenges that ultimately prevented the implementation of the quick-build project during the program. However, both Soldotna and the State of Alaska benefited from their efforts to make Sterling Highway safer. Read the … Continued
South San Francisco’s project had several challenges—from differences of opinion on site selection with the city council to additional costs for seeking consultant support, to design challenges with ADA accessibility ramps. However, the city staff and supporting partners were determined to find solutions, which resulted in a resounding success for the project. Read the full … Continued
The City of Memphis passed a Complete Streets plan in 2019 to make their streets safer, building on an earlier 2013 policy. But the plan’s non-binding nature combined with the lack of dedicated funding and support produced significant challenges in implementing the policy. Their participation in the Complete Streets Leadership Academy armed them with more … Continued
Smart Growth America, with support from CDC’s Active People, Healthy Nation initiative℠, launched the Complete Streets Leadership Academies in Alaska, California, Connecticut, and Tennessee to equip and train local agencies and state departments of transportation to collaborate, innovate, and commit to making changes together to address safety on these dangerous state-owned roads. Cohorts were selected … Continued
Smart Growth America is working with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (AKDOT&PF) to bring the Complete Streets approach to the 49th state. I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Alaska in my first month on the Thriving Communities team, where I joined colleagues and collaborators to participate in several events aimed … Continued
By Barbara McCann The term complete streets was coined 20 years ago on December 3rd, 2003. That’s when, working in the private sector, I wrote a memo to the bicycle community about a series of meetings I organized aimed at finding a better term for what was then called the “routine accommodation” of bicycles into … Continued