1. Complete Streets A roadmap for all 11.14.17
Intro –who I am, etc feel free to interrupt, ask questions, etc.
Coming from an advocates perspective…I’m going to talk about the basics of CS and a bit about our experience pushing for this policy in the City of Pittsburgh
A roadmap for all

2. What are Complete Streets?
Complete Streets are streets for everyone, no matter who they are or how they travel.
In the winter of 2016, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto turned the City’s planning and transportation world on its head when Council passed his Complete Streets Resolution. While the effects of the policy are not immediate, this path to incremental change will benefit generations to come. However, I still get the sense that many people that I talk to, even in our transportation and sustainability world, don’t really understand what CS means beyond a buzzword. I’ve heard a lot of misunderstandings and misinformation being spoken, even by those using the term. Hopefully, this presentation will clear things up, and turn you into Complete Streets advocates yourselves.
The streets of our towns are an important part of our communities, and are often the largest tract of publically owned land in any municipality. They allow children to get to school and parents to get to work. They bring together neighbors and draw visitors to businesses. These streets should to be designed for everyone – whether young or old, on foot or on bicycle, in a car or in a bus – but too often they are designed only for speeding cars or creeping traffic jams.
Basically: Everybody, regardless of who they are, where they live, or how they get around, should have the choice to travel in a safe and convenient manner. This simple vision will require those who are making decisions about our transportation network to plan ahead and put the policies in place to ensure it.

3. What are Complete Streets?
In communities across the country, a movement is growing to “complete” the streets. States, cities, and towns are asking their planners and engineers to build roads that are safer, more accessible, and easier for everyone. In the process, they are creating better communities for people to live, play, work, and shop.
Complete Streets are streets for everyone. They are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, public transportation users and delivery vehicles of all ages and abilities are able to safely move along and across a complete street corridor. Often, you may hear people refer to this as an 8-80 city, basically that our streets should be usable for 8 year olds and 80 year olds.
Safe Comfortable Convenient

4. What are Complete Streets?
Complete Streets make it easy to cross the street, walk to shops, and bicycle to work. They can help buses run on time and make it safe for people to walk to and from stops and stations.
Safe Comfortable Convenient

5. What are Complete Streets?
In contrast, “incomplete streets” – those designed with only cars in mind, limit transportation choices by making anything but the car inconvenient, unattractive, and, too often, straight up dangerous. Notice the goat path that leads to the bus stop on the side, clearly showing that there are people trying to walk along this road. In a study that we published earlier this year, we found that approximately 25% of all traffic fatalities inside Pittsburgh and about 16% in Allegheny County are pedestrians.
Saw Mill Run Blvd

6. Allegheny County residents want Choices
Pittsburgh
County
Workers who use transit, walking, or biking as the primary way to their job
31%
15%
13% 5%
Get to work by pedal or by foot
Pittsburghers want choices. Our county has good transportation bones. We have a large network of sidewalks, slow narrow streets, and density, resulting in a healthy mix of active transportation. However, pedestrian and bicycle injuries continue to climb, buses must still sit in traffic, our air quality is terrible, and there are major gaps in the network. Some new developments and road projects have the potential to exasperate these gaps. Here you can see some quick stats about Pittsburgh’s commuters. Despite the large number of people choosing active transportation…
25%
13%
Households with no car available
US Census’ American Community Survey (2016)

7. We still end up with places like this...
For example, the road design around the newish Target in East Liberty has been a sore spot within the community, that led to protests because neighbors feel that they can’t navigate the new intersection safely by foot, despite the transit station across the street. Now, the City must look for money to correct the problem that they could have solved with a fix it first approach, and getting it right from the start. Notice the bicyclist riding on the sidewalk. This, by the way is a promotional photo.

8. one Solution: Complete Streets Policies
Every project makes the street network better and safer for everyone.
This is what complete streets is about – making sure our transportation network works for all users every time there’s a new project, or regular maintenance. This means that every transportation project will make the street network better and safer for everyone. Complete Streets policies formalize a community’s vision to plan, design, operate and maintain streets so they are safe for all users of all ages and abilities. The way I like to put it, is that it puts the onus on these decision makers to show why all modes can’t be accommodated, as opposed to the community needing to prove why the accommodation is necessary. Additionally, many municipalities have PennDOT roads that often run through their Central Business Districts. Adopting a CS Policy will make sure that other agencies look into a community’s vision and plan. In other words, it can give a municipality a tool when dealing with an organization like PennDOT. Without a policy, bicycle, pedestrian, and public transportation accommodations are often debated too late in the design process and are considered a disruption rather than necessary and beneficial project features. This creates expensive design revisions, time delays, an erosion of public support, and possible last minute wrestling matches.

9. Complete Streets does not Mean
One ‘special’ street project
A design prescription
A mandate for immediate retrofit
A silver bullet; other issues must be addressed:
Land use (proximity, mixed-use)
Environmental concerns
Transportation Demand Management
To disspell some misinformation, I want to talk about what Complete Streets are not.
Complete Streets is not about special projects. It’s about changing the way we think about transportation projects
It’s not about specific design elements. This may be weird coming from a bike advocate, but not every Complete Street needs to have a bike lane, for instance. Implementation of Complete Streets is flexible and context-sensitive, and could include a corridor.
Adopting a policy doesn’t mean all roads have to be changed all at once. Changes can be made incrementally and done along with routine maintenance.
Complete Streets won’t address all concerns, which will still need attention. These policies are one important piece in ensuring our states are fiscally and physically healthy.

10. Policy adoption has escalated
Nationwide, more than 200 policies were in place by the end of 2010, with nearly 80 adopted that year alone. In 2013, the first time I gave this presentation, there were just over 600 policies. At the end of 2016,1,232 municipalities, states and planning agencies passed Complete Policies.
US Complete Streets policies over time,

11. Where are there complete streets policies?
Thirty-three state governments, 77 regional and metropolitan planning organizations, and 955 individual municipalities now have Complete Streets policies in place. These policies can take many forms, but more on that later. In many cases, full policy implementation requires changes and updates to plans, guides, zoning, and processes so that they are aligned with the high-level direction of the policy.

12. Where are there complete streets policies?
In the Northeast, Pennsylvania has been slow to adopt CS Policies. Philadelphia and Franklin, PA were the first municipalities, nearly a decade ago, with a very slow statewide growth since. The surrounding states have really taken a lead on this initiative, most notably New Jersey.

13. All types of communities
The movement is not limited to states or large cities; communities of all sizes find these policies valuable. More than one-third of all policies were adopted in suburban communities of fewer than 30,000 residents. Small towns, often in rural areas, are well represented, with nearly one in five of all Complete Streets policies being adopted in these jurisdictions. These policies are in place at nearly all levels of government.

14. What does a policy look like?
Policies take many forms, from simple resolutions to detailed Transportation Master Plans, changes in zoning, and design manuals. While there is no one way to create a “cookie cutter” policy, most cities start by framing “complete streets” through legal ordinance, resolution, and/or executive order. The day-to-day decisions that community leaders make in funding, planning, design, maintenance, and operations should be aligned to the goals of that adopted policy document. For instance, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto started with an executive order in 2015 directing his staff to think about CS as they do their work, then in 2016, was able to pass a resolution through Council to provide a policy with some teeth. These are living documents that can be added to as needed to improve the overall impact of the policy.

15. Good policy vs. bad policy
Sets a vision.
Includes all users and all modes.
Applies to all phases of all applicable projects.
Specifies and limits exceptions, with management approval required.
Emphasizes connectivity.
Is understood by all agencies to cover all roads.
Uses the best and latest design standards and is flexible.
Complements the community’s context.
Sets performance standards.
Includes implementation steps.
The concept of Complete Streets is simple and inspiring, but the best policies do more than simply affirm support for Complete Streets. Ideal policies refine a vision, provide clear direction and intent, complement community needs and grant flexibility in design.
There is a spectrum of good and bad complete streets policies. Some are simply a statement with no teeth, while others may change the zoning or tax code, or create an official advisory committee. Smart Growth America's National Complete Streets Coalition (NCSC) scores every Complete Streets policy enacted based on 10 technical policy elements. Policies are graded on a scale of 1-100, with Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and New Orleans serving as examples of high ranking large cities. Each year, they publish the best complete streets policies of the year, an important document to understand complete streets, find comparable municipalities, and study their policies.
The City of Pittsburgh’s 2016 Complete Streets Resolution scored a 92, one of the highest of any big city.