Complete Streets Policy

Introducing a brand new grading framework for Complete Streets policies

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To conclude Complete Streets month at Smart Growth America, we’re proud to publish the brand new policy grading framework and scoring methodology. These changes come after our Steering committee voted to approve the framework in 2017. For months a group of national stakeholders, consisting of engineers, planners, researchers, and advocates, worked to revise the policy elements and truly raise the bar for what Complete Streets look like in practice. So it is only right that we spent the past month highlighting each of these revised elements and gaining a deeper understanding of the essence of Complete Streets moving forward.

Complete Streets

Announcing the Best Complete Streets Policies of 2016

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As of the end of 2016, more than 1,000 jurisdictions in the United States have made formal commitments to streets that are safe and convenient for everyone—no matter their age, income, race, ethnicity, physical ability, or how they choose to travel—by passing a Complete Streets policy. Specifically, 13 communities led the nation in creating and adopting comprehensive Complete Streets policies last year.

Complete Streets

Announcing the best Complete Streets policies of 2015

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A call to action on the United States’ obesity epidemic, a challenge on safety from a federal cabinet secretary, new standards for transportation in Congress, and the first-ever perfect-scoring policy all made 2015 a banner year for the national movement for Complete Streets.

Local policies were a huge part of this momentum. In 2015, communities passed a total of 82 Complete Streets policies, and they are some of the strongest ever passed. In fact, in 2015 the city of Reading, PA adopted the first policy to ever score a perfect 100 in our analysis. 

The Best Complete Streets Policies of 2015, out today, highlights Complete Streets policies from across the country last year, including the 16 policies that were the nation’s best. Those communities were:

Complete Streets

FDOT’s new Complete Streets implementation plan will take policy into practice

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On December 7, 2015, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) released its Complete Streets Implementation Plan, an ambitious and comprehensive commitment to change the way roads are designed and built in Florida to make them safer for all types of travelers, while also promoting economic development and enhancing quality of life.

Complete Streets

New Senate bill would make America’s streets safer and more accessible

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Kailua, HIStudents in Kailua, HI, walk along a street with Complete Streets features. A new bill in the Senate would require Complete Streets considerations for federal projects. Photo via Charlier Associates.

Whether you walk, bike, drive or take transit, Complete Streets policies help make sure you travel safely and conveniently, and a new bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would encourage every community in the country to use these strategies.

On Friday, Senators Mark Begich (D-AK) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) introduced the Safe Streets Act of 2014 (S. 2004), which would require all new federally-funded transportation projects use a Complete Streets approach to planning, designing and building roads to accommodate the safety and convenience of all users.

Complete Streets

Top 10 of 2013: Over 550 communities are making streets safer and more convenient with Complete Streets policies

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This month, we’re looking back at some of Smart Growth America’s brightest moments and greatest accomplishments from 2013. First on the list? We’re celebrating the over 550 Complete Streets policies that have been enacted in the United States.

Complete Streets policies help create streets that are safe and convenient for everyone who uses them, and today over 550 communities across the country have enacted such policies. That’s a milestone worth celebrating.

In August the National Complete Streets Coalition, a program of Smart Growth America, brought together transportation officials and national smart growth experts in Washington, DC, to celebrate the accomplishment.

Complete Streets

Houston, TX, announces plans to adopt city-wide Complete Streets policy

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A Complete Streets approach in Houston
Bagby Street in Houston, TX used a Complete Streets approach, which will now be a new standard for the city. Photo courtesy of the City of Houston.

The city of Houston, TX, cast its vote for safer, more vibrant streets yesterday when Mayor Annise Parker announced her intention to sign an executive order creating a city-wide Complete Streets policy.

The mayor’s Complete Streets and Transportation Plan will make Houston’s streets safer, more accessible and more convenient for motorists, public transit riders, pedestrians, people of all abilities and bicyclists. The new policy, detailed in a draft executive order from the mayor, will be implemented over time as improvements to existing roadways and redevelopment occur.

Complete Streets Local Leaders Council
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