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This past weekend, 15 advocates gathered at the Alliance’s Winning Campaigns Training in Tucson, Ariz., to launch five new campaigns that will improve walking and biking in their communities.

The event was hosted by local advocacy organization Living Streets Alliance, who set a high mark by bringing 11 members to the training.  The training also served as a follow-up to the Action 2020 Workshop put on by Advocacy Advance in Tucson last September.

Not surprisingly, the majority of the campaigns created at the training will be carried out in Arizona. Living Streets Alliance launched three campaigns for Tucson, including:

• Expanding the city’s open streets initiative, Cyclovia
• Launching a Pedestrian Safety Campaign aimed at securing new funding and
• Creating a new regional master plan for biking and walking

A coalition of advocates from Phoenix launched a campaign to create a Ciclovia in their community, while the one out-of-state campaign came from the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, who created a complete streets campaign in DeKalb County, Georgia. Energy was high throughout the weekend, as participants were able to step back from the grind of day-to-day advocacy to plan out their campaigns.

The Alliance is hosting three more Winning Campaigns Trainings this year, in Boston, Houston and Kansas City. Learn more about these exciting weekends here.

Click here to check out photos from the training.

The California Bicycle Coalition (CBC), a recipient of a Fall 2010 Advocacy Advance Grant, completed its $30,000 “Leveraging the Bike Power of the Golden State” Start-up Grant proposal in December. The grant funds, which were matched three-fold, helped relaunch the organization, hire a second full-time staff, support key advocacy initiatives and explore membership models for a statewide organization in a state that has 15 professional-staffed bicycle advocacy groups.

CBC successfully advocated for a reform of the Caltrans California Traffic Controls Devices Committee – which controls what signs, signals, and stripes are allowed on California’s roads – to require two representatives of non-motorized transportation sit on the committee. This restructuring will help ensure that complete streets standards are upheld throughout the state.

Despite statewide outreach and advocacy for a three-foot passing bill that was passed through the legislature, the governor vetoed the bill this past fall. The California Bicycle Coalition plans to continue their Give Me 3 campaign and run the bill again this year to ensure that California drivers give bicyclists at least 3 feet of space when passing from behind. Additional ongoing CBC campaigns and projects include high-speed rail access for bikes, institutionalizing cycling education in California schools, and planning a social equity and bicycling summit in 2012.

In November, CBC organized the California Bike Summit in L.A. The summit brought together bike advocates from the nonprofit, public and private sectors to help set the statewide bicycling agenda for 2012 and beyond. The summit program also strengthened the capacity of participants through workshops devoted to sharing best practices, successes, and lessons learned.

California Bicycle Coalition joins more than two dozen other organizations that have used Advocacy Advance grant funding to spur development and carry out successful bicycle and pedestrian campaigns. Check back in coming weeks for information about this year’s funding cycle.

Now is our chance!

While we continue to work to preserve federal funding for bicycling and walking, there is an opportunity this week to ensure that federally funded transportation projects accommodate the needs and safety of all users—including pedestrians and bicyclists. This would be a real chance to see Complete Streets policies enacted in every state.

On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will consider an amendment offered by Alaska Senator Mark Begich to provide safe and adequate accommodations for all users in all federally-funded street projects. This means safer roads for everyone, including those who walk, bicycle, ride transit, or drive cars.

According to the National Complete Streets Coalition: “This important amendment would ensure that future transportation investments made by state Departments of Transportation improve safety for everyone… More than 300 communities — including states, MPOs, counties, and towns of all sizes — have already said they will plan their streets in this manner. With additional guidance and support for Complete Streets from the federal level, these localities will have an easier time building the roads they want - roads that make their communities healthier and wealthier.” (Click here for additional details on the amendment.)

We need you to voice your support TODAY for the Senator Begich amendment to S. 1950 on “safety for motorized and nonmotorized users.” Please visit the Safe Routes to School National Partnership’s online action center — and share the link with your members and supporters. If your Senator is on the Commerce Committee, you will see a letter asking them to vote for the Begich amendment. If your Senator is not a member of the Commerce Committee, you will instead see a letter asking them to cosponsor Complete Streets legislation.

This is the first time in more than six years that our federal representatives will take a vote on Complete Streets language — please, take action TODAY!

This past weekend, Alliance President/CEO Jeff Miller took a trip out West to participate in the California Bike Summit. The event was an energizing gathering of top talent from across the state, Jeff raved, including key leadership from Alliance organizations like the California Bicycle Coalition and the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.

Among the more than 140 attendees, Jeff had a chance to catch up with Ryan Snyder, president of Ryan Snyder Associates, a progressive transportation planning consulting firm in Los Angeles. Earlier this year, Ryan’s firm helped to convene a writing charrette that brought together national experts in engineering, transportation, health and advocacy. The result? The new Model Design Manual for Living Streets.

The Manual takes the concept of Complete Streets to the next level, addressing accommodations for pedestrian and bicyclists but also incorporating “features that make streets lively, beautiful, economically vibrant as well as environmentally sustainable.”

The Manual also addresses myths and misconceptions about the requirements of current road design guidance, like the MUTCD and AASHTO’s Green Book, and encourages cities to use the Model Street Design Manual “in any way that helps them update their current practices, including adopting the entire manual, adopting certain chapters in full or part, modifying or customizing chapters to suit each city’s needs.”

Of course, this new electronic publication comes on the heels of the print release of another great resource: The Urban Bikeway Design Guide from NACTO.

You can download the Living Streets Manual and the Bikeway Design Guide in the Alliance Resource Library.

Last week, America Walks released a document that represents its first steps toward making the United States a great place to be a pedestrian. For the national coalition, that journey will start with a strong presence in Washington, DC.

Based on the input of the organization’s steering committee and a group of 25 walking leaders, the new Federal Walking Policy Platform lays out three policy shifts that will make streets safer, healthier and more cost-effective for, not just walkers, but all roadway users.

• Core Policy 1: Improve pedestrian safety. To enhance walking safety, America Walks proposes changes to the Highway Safety Improvement Program and calls on the US DOT to “conduct a national campaign emphasizing the need to protect vulnerable road users… by reducing automobile speeds in high-crash corridors and special zones.”

• Core Policy 2: Develop performance measures and improve data collection related to walking. America Walks will push for performance measures and benchmarks for walking at the federal, state and local level; robust investments to collect and analyze walking trends, routes and issues; and traffic models that forecast and include the benefits of pedestrian travel in project planning.

• Core Policy 3: Incorporate health-related outcomes in transportation policy, planning and funding programs. America Walks will advocate for a clear, inter-agency alignment of health and transportation objectives, pushing for “public health criteria to be integrated into state and regional transportation planning and decision-making” and for federal agencies to set financial incentives for state DOTs to incorporate health planning in the development of new projects.

What do those broad goals mean for the near term? Most notably, America Walks will help lead the charge to protect dedicated federal funding for biking and walking programs, including Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School. The national coalition will also strongly support federal complete streets legislation and a “Fix-It First” approach to transportation spending.

Inspired? Read the full document.

Have the resume to help? America Walks is seeking a Campaign Director to lead its efforts to get this platform implemented. Click here for the full job description.

New York advocates celebrated last week as Complete Streets legislation passed the New York State Assembly.

Introduced by Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, Chairman of the NY Senate Transportation Committee, New York State bill S5411 amends current state highways law and requires transportation planners to consider bicycle and pedestrian friendly features when building and redesigning roadways that receive federal or state funding. This means that, in addition to including space for vehicles, planners will also need to consider additional elements like bike lanes, sidewalks, pedestrian islands, count-down crosswalk signals, and expanded curbs for pedestrians waiting to board a bus.

“Drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists all share the roads; we need to do everything we can to protect their safety,” Senator Fuschillo said. “Taking complete streets design principles into consideration on future road projects will help prevent deaths and injuries on our roads and make them safer for everyone.”

The Complete Streets legislation had a history of stalling in the New York Assembly and saw its share of pushback this year. Most recently, highway superintendents complained about the cost of adding bike lanes and similar bike/ped features, saying that these elements often caused the projects to be over budget.

According to Brian Kehoe, executive director of the New York Bicycling Coalition, the bill appeared to be dead as recently as a week prior to its passage because of this pushback. However, thanks to the tireless efforts of New York advocates and coalition partners like the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and AARP, lawmakers resolved this issue by changing the bill in late negotiations to require these features in the design phase only and to make implementation optional if it caused the project to go over budget.

The bill is now headed to Governor Cuomo’s desk for signature.

Read the full legislation and learn more about the NYBC.

Just hours after the Dangerous By Design report revealed an ongoing epidemic of pedestrian deaths on American roadways, 10 U.S. Senators introduced the Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011 yesterday. Led by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), the measure would direct states and regions to adopt policies to provide for the needs of all users of the transportation system, including people of all ages and abilities who are walking, bicycling, and taking the bus.

“In many places across the country, there is a complete lack of sidewalks and bike lanes,” Senator Tom Harkin said in a press release. “This not only makes our roadways more dangerous for pedestrians, it discourages people from being more active by walking or riding a bike. The legislation I am introducing today aims to address this issue by making streets safer for everyone and promoting healthier living. It is truly a double win for our communities.”

Thanks to the hard work of the National Complete Streets Coalition — and advocates at the state and local level — momentum is building in Congress. The Senate bill comes on the heels of a measure introduced in the House earlier this month by Representatives Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Steve LaTourette (R-OH). The Coalition’s Executive Director, Barbara McCann, highlighted those efforts in a story that aired on National Public Radio yesterday.

“Senator Harkin and the other sponsors of this measure recognize that we must do more than fix hazards after-the-fact,” McCann said in a press release. “Complete Streets policies at the state and local level are already proving that routinely providing for the needs of everyone using the roadway results in dramatic safety improvements. Our Coalition thanks Senator Harkin and all the co-sponsors for working to ensure that federal investments create safe streets for everyone.”

Read more about both bills on the Complete Streets blog.

From 2000 to 2009, more than 47,700 pedestrians were killed on American roadways. Another 688,000 were injured — the equivalent of a pedestrian being hit by a car or truck every seven minutes. Despite this preventable epidemic, few resources are dedicated and little attention is paid to making our streets safe for vulnerable users.

This disturbing trend is laid out in compelling and action-able fashion in Dangerous by Design 2011, released today by Transportation for America.

The update to a 2009 report by the same name uses a Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) to rank the country’s largest metropolitan areas according to their relative risk to walkers. Topping the list of most-dangerous communities for pedestrians: Orlando-Kissimmee, FL; Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL; Jacksonville, FL; Memphis, TN-MS-AR; Raleigh-Cary, NC; Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN; Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX; Birmingham-Hoover, AL; Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA.

Click here to find data for your state or community.

Overall, the report finds: “The roads have gotten somewhat safer, but pedestrian fatalities have fallen at only half the rate of motorist fatalities, dropping by just over 14 percent during the period, compared to 27 percent for motor vehicle fatalities. In many places, including 15 of the country’s largest metro areas, pedestrian fatalities have actually increased, even as overall traffic deaths fell.”

Dangerous by Design also highlights the critical role of the federal government in providing the funding and creating the policies to improve pedestrian safety.

According to the report: “[Pedestrian] deaths typically are labeled ‘accidents,’ and attributed to error on the part of motorist or pedestrian. In fact, however, the majority of these deaths share a common thread: they occurred along “arterial” roadways that were dangerous by design, streets engineered for speeding traffic with little or no provision for people on foot, in wheelchairs or on bicycles… 67 percent of all 47,000+ pedestrian fatalities from 2000 to 2009 occurred on federal-aid roadways — major roads eligible to receive federal funding for construction and improvements with federal guidelines or oversight for design.”

“Fortunately,” the report continues, “improving the pedestrian environment requires a relatively small public investment, one greatly outweighed by the cost savings that would result from reducing traffic-related fatalities and improving health. Congress has an opportunity to help communities fix past mistakes and make our streets safer – not just for people on foot, but for everyone who uses them.”

T4America suggests several key ways the next federal transportation bill can start to reverse this tragic trend, including:

• Retain dedicated federal funding for the safety of people on foot or on bicycle.
• Adopt a national complete streets policy. (Click here to learn more about the Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011 and contact your member of Congress.)
• Commit a fair share for safety. (Click here to read the latest Advocacy Advance report on winning funding for bike/ped projects from the Highway Safety Improvement Program.)

Download the full report, access the interactive map of pedestrian fatalities and see how your state ranks on the T4America website.

The Bike Month celebrations continued last week, as two more states adopted Complete Streets measures.

In Vermont, Alliance members Local Motion and the Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition worked to advance and win a measure that “ensure[s] the needs of all users of VT’s transportation system — including motorists, bicyclists, public transportation users, and pedestrians of all ages and abilities — are considered in all…transportation projects.” The bill was signed in to law by Governor Peter Shumlin on May 18 (pictured above) and advocates hope its passage will elevate the reputation of the Green Mountain State.

“Among other things, this should help reverse Vermont’s declining bike-friendliness ranking from the League of American Bicyclists,” Local Motion noted on its blog. “Among the 50 states, Vermont ranked 17th when the ranking started three years ago. In 2010, we fell to 34th. This bill, along with the Safe Passing Bill last session, should boost Vermont’s ranking.”

Out in the Midwest, Missouri added to its burgeoning reputation as a Complete Streets leader, too. Last month, the Show Me State had several policies highlighted as model measures in a new analysis from the National Complete Streets Coalition — and last week advocates celebrated a complete streets resolution at the state level, as well.

“The Complete Streets Resolution, HCR 23, passed and encourages agencies to build streets in Missouri that work for everyone — motorists, cyclists, walkers, runners and those who use public transit,” Brent Hugh, director of the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation, said in a press release. “We are extremely pleased with the passage of this resolution, which expresses the General Assembly’s support for Complete Streets and urges cities and agencies across Missouri to pass their own Complete Streets policies.”

That wasn’t the only progress in Missouri this session. Advocates also declared victory in long-running campaigns for:

• The Bicycle and Pedestrian Holiday Observances bill, SB 180, which officially adds Bike Week/Month and Walk to School Day/Week/Month to the state holidays calendar; and
• The educational “Same Roads-Same Rights” specialty bicycle license plate for automobile, which was given final approval by a legislative committee and should be on sale as early as this summer. (Speaking of which: Have you signed up for the Alliance Mutual Aid Call on “Fundraising with License Plates” on June 22? Register here!)

Congratulations to advocates in both states! Read more from Local Motion, VT Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition or the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation.

Last week, Congresswomen Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Congressman Steven LaTourette (R-OH) introduced HR 1780, the Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011, into the U.S. House of Representatives.

The measure would help ensure safe travel for millions of Americans by directing states and regions to adopt policies to provide for the needs of all users of the transportation system, including people of all ages and abilities who are walking, bicycling, and taking the bus. According to the National Complete Streets Coalition: “A federal provision would lead to policies in every state and every Metropolitan Planning Organization that will transform transportation planning practices to routinely provide for everyone using the roadway – whether they are walking, bicycling, driving, or catching the bus or train. It would likely be folded into the federal transportation authorization bill.”

“We are so pleased to have Congressional champions who are committed to creating safer streets,” Barbara McCann, Coalition Executive Director, said in the press release. “They are being responsive to communities across the country that are adopting state and local Complete Streets policies and want to see a consistent commitment to safety reflected in federal transportation investments as well.”

To move this important piece of legislation forward, though, our partners at the Coalition need your help.

Go to www.completestreets.org/takeaction to use the online form to email your member of Congress to let them know you support H.R. 1780. Visit the Coalition’s resources page for additional information and talking points about the bill.

Yesterday, the National Complete Streets Coalition released an inspiring and informative new report, examining and rating more than 200 local and state Complete Streets policies from across the country. “Complete Streets Policy Analysis 2010: A story of growing strength” underscores the tremendous growth of the movement and highlights exemplary policies as helpful guidance for policy makers and advocates working on complete streets in their communities.

Just a few hours after the report’s release, the Alliance hosted the first discussion of this important analysis on our Mutual Aid call “Complete Streets: What Makes a Model Policy?” Stefanie Seskin, local and state policy manager for the Coalition and author of the report, kicked off the discussion with an overview of the findings and some insight into what it means for the movement.

“It’s really exciting to see this movement take off and see so many policies adopted that hit the 10 elements of an ideal Complete Streets policy,” she said. “We have at least one policy in 47 states and a state-level policy in 24 states, plus Puerto Rico and DC. Most of the policies have been adopted at the city level — about two-thirds — and the most common have been in suburbs of 300,000 or fewer. Most of the major cities are either in the process of adopting Complete Streets policies or have adopted them in the past few years. But small towns are well represented, too. One in five policies are in rural or small towns.”

But while the quantity is impressive, the new report also analyzes the quality of the measures, based on the 10 elements of an ideal Complete Streets policy. According to Seskin, the trend is toward “more comprehensive policies with more accountability” and the analysis identifies model policies for each element and the top policies overall. (Kudos to advocates in Connecticut, Minnesota and Missouri, who had multiple policies make the top 15!)

You can still catch Stefanie’s entire presentation by listening to the call recording.  And, of course, check out the blog post and full report from the Coalition.

Members of Congress are in the thick of making important decisions that will affect billions of dollars in federal funding for biking and walking projects. The Alliance keeps you up-to-date on these critical developments through our monthly Federal Policy and Legislation Call. If you missed today’s session, with guests from America Bikes and NACTO, member services fellow Mike Samuelson has you covered with the following, detailed notes…

National Bike Summit Follow-up
Great job to everyone who came!  We held lots of productive meetings, including some with new members and with offices that we have not had access to in the past. We have been following up on Summit meetings, so it is very helpful when you complete your reports, which can be done on the League of American Bicyclists’ website. If you have not followed up to thank the Representative or staffers you met with, please do so ASAP. This is also a great time to invite them to an event in-district, like a large ride or ribbon cutting for a new facility. Representatives will be in-district during Bike to Work Day, so if you are participating in an event, invite your local Representative.

America Bikes: Report from Capitol Hill
We’re still waiting for Congress to pass a 2011 budget — that was the bill we saw a vote on in early February. We have already seen two short-term extensions and the current extension of the continuing resolution runs out on April 8.  Many members on both sides of the aisle say this will be the last extension. The bill will go back to both the House and Senate and rumor has it that transportation won’t be protected like it was previously, so we may see an amendment that goes after some of our programs. The fight is ongoing, but should be concluded by April 8.  If there are attacks on bike/ped funding, we will let you know.

The House is also working on reauthorization of the transportation bill. Mica is planning to write the bill in April and release it in late May or early June. It could look different from what we have seen before because the funding is so low: Mica is looking at each program to determine if it should stay, be cut or be consolidated. There’s a possibility that Transportation Enhancement could be moved out of the Highway Trust Fund, which would mean it would have guaranteed funding through the five- to six-year cycle of the transportation bill.  What we saw in February is that the programs that were not in the Highway Trust Fund were cut, so this is not a place we want TE to be. This would also make it tougher to have votes strictly on funding bike/ped, because it would require coming up with a funding source for the program, which, in turn, makes getting GOP support more difficult, because funding would come from the general fund.

In the Senate, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has been a supporter of biking before but is working with Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) who is not a supporter. The Senate is about a month behind the House in terms of when they introduce legislation. The chambers haven’t talked to each other about funding, so it will be very hard to pass a bill this year. But each battle is important in the grand scheme, so losing this year will make it tougher next year.

As for marker bills: We’re working to reintroduce the Complete Streets bill and trying to get more Republicans to co-sponsor the bill. Hopefully, Complete Streets will be introduced by April. Safe Routes to School will likely be the next bill to be introduced, and we should expect to see that introduced before the transportation bill. Next is the ACT (Active Community Transportation) Act, which will also likely happen in the next couple of months.

The current extension on SAFETEA-LU runs until September 30 and Rep. John Mica (R-FL), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is claiming that it is the last extension he’ll do. He is pushing to do a 6 year bill. However, he has an uphill battle given that the House and Senate will have to agree on funding for the bill.

Categorical Exclusions
The Obama administration, including the US Department of Transportation, is looking at regulations and how to make them more efficient. We are collecting examples of where categorical exclusions are being used well or poorly.  If you have an example, please contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Equity Caucus
The Equity Caucus — an initiative within Transportation for America — is proposing a National Conversation on Transportation Equity, with a series of local events to be held around the country in late April and May 2011.  Any groups interested in participating in one of these events should contact Erica Swanson: swanson@civilrights.org; (202) 263-2859.

NACTO Urban Bikeways Design Guide
This guide came from discussion among advocates, engineers and planners regarding what is needed to advance bicycling at the design level — given constraints posed by current design guides like the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). This NACTO guide takes the most innovative practices from the US and the world and puts them in one place. Currently it is only online, which allows people to post their projects and discuss the different techniques in the guide. NACTO is currently working on a print edition, which will allow engineers to use them in court, if needed. They hope to have that out this summer.

NACTO also worked closely with the Federal Highway Administration to try to get various designs accepted in the MUTCD. This can be a very long process, but since many of these techniques are already in use, we are hoping they can be expedited.  FHA went ahead and commented on most of these treatments to show that they can already be done.

How can advocates use this resource? This is a great resource to show local officials that these designs can be done and are being done legally in the US. With these tools, advocates can hopefully avoid applying for an exemption. This will be a resource for people in local DOTs, but will also help advocates push for separated cycle facilities. If people are claiming they can’t build a facility because it’s not in the AASHTO or MUTCD guides, this is something you can point them to. It is important to highlight that many of these items are not expensive and can be done in a very cost effective way.

Cities for Cycling, a NACTO program for politicians and officials to lend their expertise and also learn from others across the country, will be doing “road shows” in the coming months. Check out http://www.nacto.org for more information.

This month, many Alliance leaders traveled to Washington, DC, to lobby their members of Congress during the National Bike Summit. But the politicos on Capitol Hill aren’t the only ones making critical decisions about biking and walking funding, policies and programs. State legislatures are in full swing and member organizations are providing a strong, vocal presence for bicyclists and pedestrians in virtually every state across the nation.

One example comes from BikeTexas. Just this past Monday, more than three dozen members of the statewide organization traveled to Austin for the biennial “Cyclists in Suits Lobby Day.” With neon bike pins shining from their lapels, they educated their elected officials on important bills and showcased the large constituency for bicycling in the Lone Star State.

“Cyclists from all over Texas split into small teams and met individually with transportation staffers in every legislative office at the Capitol — all 181 of them — to discuss key pieces of bike-friendly legislation filed this session,” Emma Cravey reports on the BikeTexas blog. “Chief among the bills shared was HB 1105 / SB 513, the Complete Streets bill. This legislation would ensure that new road construction and reconstruction projects consider all road users in their design — meaning cyclists, pedestrians, bus riders and the disabled — not just motorists… Volunteers also shared information about HB 1943, which would provide utility right-of-way for bike trails in Houston and El Paso, and HB 1583, which would require cyclists to use a red rear light at night.”

According to BikeTexas, legislators and their staff were “receptive and interested,” and advocates celebrated their success with a happy hour after a productive day creating and cultivating relationships with their elected officials.

Click here to follow the progress of key bills in Texas or read more about BikeTexas’ campaigns.

Photo: Cyclists in Suits 2011 Lobby Day (BikeTexas)

Receiving an Alliance Advocacy Award in recognition of their tireless efforts for the Michigan Complete Streets Coalition has only increased the momentum of the League of Michigan Bicyclists.

Last week, the City of Ann Arbor and Burt Township adopted Complete Street Policies, increasing the count of Complete Street ordinances and resolutions in Michigan to 32. As noted on the Michigan Complete Street Coalition’s website, according to census data, Michigan’s 32 Complete Streets policies means that 24 percent of Michigan’s population will be living in a community that aims to be easily accessible by all modes of transportation. This number will surely continue to increase with LMB’s hard work. Just yesterday, Lathrup Village launched a Complete Streets program, with the ultimate goal of adopting a Complete Streets ordinance.

Shortly after the City of Ann Arbor’s adoption of its Complete Streets Policy, the city’s transportation program manager Eli Cooper explained the adoption of the policyamidst Ann Arbor’s on-going recognition from the state and national organizations for its biking and walking programs. “Ann Arbor has a ways to go to realize its vision of providing comfortable travel for all users regardless of age or ability level,” says Cooper.

Acknowledging this need for change just might help Michigan transform its current image as the automobile capital of the world to the active transportation capital of the world, and will certainly create an example for other communities looking to make a positive change for bike-ped transportation.

Photo: John Lindenmayer and Rory Neuner accepted the Alliance’s Winning Campaign of the Year award for their work with the Michigan Complete Streets Coalition.

This month we celebrated with the National Complete Streets Coalition, as they marked the passage of more than 200 complete streets policies across the U.S.

Well, add Kansas City, Missouri, to that quickly growing list.

This week, the Kansas City City Council passed a “Livable Streets” resolution that recognizes “streets and sidewalks are an important part of our community that serve transportation needs and are also a part of the public realm where people live, shop, interact, and travel” and resolves that “Kansas City supports the concept of Livable Streets as a means to promote great neighborhoods, healthy and active people, and a thriving community.” The Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation lauded the passage of the complete streets policy as a “a giant step forward.”

According to federation: “Kansas City is moving to the forefront of transportation parity in Missouri following the adoption of similar Complete Streets policies in Columbia, De Soto, Ferguson, Crystal City, Festus, Herculaneum, St. Louis, and Lee’s Summit.”

“The Livable Streets resolution is a sort of capstone to several different polices and plans that are already moving the city forward towards becoming safer and easier to navigate by whatever mode of transportation people choose,” Eric Rogers, the vice president of the MoBikeFed writes on KCBike.info. It builds on recent progress, including a Bike KC Master plan, a walkability plan and the reform of the development code and parking regulations.

“It’s great to see more Complete Streets policies being adopted in Missouri,” says Sarah Shipley, a KC resident and staffer at the MoBikeFed. “It means our roads and streets will be designed for everyone and safer for everyone — the old, the young, people with a disability, people who walk, bicycle, take the bus, or drive.”

Click here to read the full resolution.

It barely took one year for the number of complete streets policies to double in the U.S. Last week, the National Complete Streets Coalition celebrated the milestone, noting that, before the ball dropped on 2010, the number of complete streets policies hit 200. That’s up from 100 policies just 14 months ago.

Stefanie Seskin, state and local policy manager for the Coalition, notes on the organization’s blog that a growing number of people are recognizing “the increased choice and access available when streets are planned, designed, and constructed to allow safe travel for all, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation.”

“They notice how much more control they have over household spending — a significant portion of which is put into transportation — when their kids can walk or bicycle to school instead of being driven in the family car,” Stefanie writes. “And with the increasingly alarming statistics on obesity, diabetes, and heart disease making headlines, people are also recognizing that time spent idle in traffic could, at least in part, be replaced by a bike ride or a walk to the bus stop, if there were bike lanes or more crosswalks.”

Read more about the trend and get insight on the passage of a policy in Puerto Rico on the Coalition’s blog.

Chart: National Complete Streets Coalition

We’ve got a parade of new, but familiar, faces taking the helm of Alliance organizations in 2011. Many of you know Dave Snyder from his frequent role as the expert facilitator of our Winning Campaigns Trainings. But now that he’s the executive director of the revitalized California Bicycle Coalition, we wondered what he’s been up to in recent years and what winning ideas he has planned for the Golden State.

When and how did you first get involved in bike-ped issues way back in the day? 

I got involved on Earth Day 1990, when I decided that bicycling promotion was a good way to channel my activism. I published a newsletter (this was pre-world wide web) to facilitate communication among the various flavors of bicycle activists and coordinated them under the name of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, an organization that had gone legally defunct after its 1971 founding but was being maintained in name, at least, by one stalwart dedicated activist.

Anyone who’s been to an Alliance Winning Campaigns Training knows you’ve had many and varied successes in your long career; what was the very first campaign you worked on?

It was one I wouldn’t have worked on if I had had the training! Highway One between Stinson Beach and Mill Valley had closed due to mudslides. It became a beautiful bike ride: We fought to keep it closed to cars forever. It would have been amazing but utterly un-winnable and not exactly on message or mission in any case. We had fun, though!

You grew the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition into a powerhouse organization; what’s one of your best memories or biggest lessons learned from those years?

Turning out about 150 people to a hearing on the citywide bicycle network, and coordinating the testimony to make an incredibly strong statement about the need for the network.

I’m assuming you left SFBC to start Livable City? Why? What else have you been up to since SFBC?

Creating bicycle habitat by changing land use is equally, if not more, important than adding bike facilities to streets, as it also can make housing more affordable and therefore especially improve the lives of lower income people. After I passed Livable City on to another great leader I decided to work for the Alliance for Biking & Walking (then the Thunderhead Alliance) as the Director of Program Development. After that I served a stint as the Transportation Policy Director of a local think tank called San Francisco Planning & Urban Research, and most recently as the project director of yet another startup organization: the San Francisco Transit Riders Union.

What are some of the successes of the California Bicycle Coalition that you’ll be building on in 2011?

California started the Safe Routes to School movement and was the first large state to adopt a complete streets policy. We’ll build on that by working to ensure the complete streets policy is implemented, and that the California delegation to Congress voices strong support for the federal safe routes to school program.

California often pushes the envelope for the rest of the country on progressive issues like transportation and energy. Do you see CBC helping to advance that reputation on the bike-ped front?

I think that we can work with our new governor, Jerry Brown, to create a transportation policy for the state that can be a model for reauthorization of the federal bill. Brown is known as a frugal, practical leader, and California’s challenges in transportation policy — huge deficits coupled with extreme difficulty in raising taxes — call for creative solutions that the rest of the country can learn from.

You took the helm of the SFBC back in 1991; now you’re taking over the CBC in 2010. How has the national/state/local atmosphere change? How does this gig feel different?

I think that state level advocacy is so different from local advocacy that it’s hard to say what’s different. There are communities in California that are no more advanced than San Francisco was in 1991, so for those communities, there’s little difference. Except for this: There’s a general acceptance at all levels of government and among a majority of the population that bicycling is a realistic transportation option for some people. It used to never occur to policy makers that bicycling mattered. The implications of this are huge, because a supportive context can allow a community to become more bicycle-friendly in much less time than it took us in the early ‘90s. Fresno, California, has made as much progress in the past two years as San Francisco has made in a whole decade. Also, the example of New York City shows that supportive policy makers can utterly transform a city and do it quickly.

I look at this job from two perspectives. One, I’m going to simply try to do my job well and make sure the CBC plays its part as a player on the larger team: the federal effort, state efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and reform transportation policy, and strengthen local efforts. Second, I’m looking for the big win, but I’m not sure what that is, yet. Age has not made me more patient. If anything, it’s done the opposite, because I’ve seen 20 years of bicycle activism increase bike to work rates from about 1 percent to about 4 percent. I want to see 10 percent or 20 percent and I don’t want it to take another 20 years!

Excited to be back to bike-specific advocacy?

Heck yes.

Keep up with Snyder’s effort on the CBC website. Photo from Bike Commute Tips Blog.

Thanks in part to local advocates, Tennessee has a new, strengthened bike-ped policy that puts complete streets into practice.

Just this week, Gerald Nicely, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Transportation, signed the short but sweet directive that requires state officials “routinely integrate bicycling and walking facilities into the transportation system as a means to improve mobility, access and safety of non-motorized traffic.”

The folks at Bike Walk Tennessee were the first to cheer. Pat Clements, the group’s president, says advocates have been emphasizing that Tennessee’s previous, 2004 bike-ped policy was “too easy to ignore.” In announcing the good news about Nicely’s signature on the new policy statement, Jessica Wilson, the state’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, recognized the important role of advocates, who provided specific feedback and helped to spur the needed changes.

The timing was certainly fitting. The board of Bike Walk Tennessee had just gotten acquainted with some very high-ranking folks. “We met with Governor-elect Bill Haslam’s policy staff on Friday, as more or less an introduction,” Pat says. “Complete Streets policy was one of several items we communicated to them. A day later, this policy was signed.”

So what’s in there worth celebrating? “It’s a key change in Tennessee roadway policy,” Pat explains, highlighting the following five points.

• It requires not only Tennessee DOT to follow the policy, but contractors, consultants and local governments managing TDOT projects.
• It requires local, regional and state organizations implementing projects with state money to follow the policy.
• It requires the state to consider local bike/ped plans when resurfacing state roadways within their jurisdiction.
• It points to and requires design in accordance with national FHWA and AASHTO standards for bike/ped facility design.
• It specifies that road resurfacing shall not degrade current walking and biking levels.

Download the full policy or read more on Bike Walk Tennessee’s blog.

It’s been a pretty stellar week for proponents of Complete Streets.

As Stefanie Seskin notes on the National Complete Streets Coalition blog, a new round of grant funding announced yesterday by the U.S. Department of Transportation is dedicating millions to projects that advance complete streets policies. From Illinois to Georgia, TIGER II dollars will bolster projects that account for all road users, including cyclists, pedestrians and transit riders.

But DC isn’t just dishing it out. The nation’s capital inked its own complete streets policy this week, too.

In early October, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association started a petition campaign with a simple slogan: The District Deserves Complete Streets. As executive director Shane Farthing wrote on the Quick Release Blog, plenty of other jurisdictions — including the neighboring states of Maryland and Virginia — had already enacted complete streets.

“Despite its world-class Metro system, its renowned L’Enfant streetgrid, its forward-thinking transportation leadership, the District of Columbia has no such policy,” Farthing wrote. “In the District, there is no law, rule, or even publicly stated commitment to ensuring that our roadways and streetscapes — our most basic public spaces — serve all users… As new leadership comes to the District and we continue in our daily travels to see dangerous intersections, near-misses, and disconnected sidewalks and bike lanes, we need to show DDOT and the District’s leadership that while we appreciate the individual projects and upgrades, we believe this holistic change in approach is important and that public space should be serve the entire public — not just motorists or just cyclists or just the able-bodied. Everyone. That is why we at WABA are launching a campaign for Complete Streets in DC.”

Well, mission accomplished!

Yesterday, WABA members, like me, got a celebratory e-mail: “I am writing to you to share the exciting news that DDOT Director Gabe Klein has signed a Complete Streets Policy ensuring that both bicyclist and pedestrian level-of-service will be considered in every significant roadway project! This is a huge step forward for the District, and comes as a direct result of WABA’s campaign initiated several weeks ago. Thank you to the over 350 DC WABA members and supporters who signed our petition. Your voice was heard, and DDOT now has a policy mandating that the needs of cyclists, pedestrians, and all roadway users be balanced in their projects.”

Read more on the WABA blog — or click here to send a thank-you e-mail to DC officials.

Thanks, in part, to some dedicated advocates in Cleveland, the federal Complete Streets Act is now a bipartisan bill.

For many, the name Steve LaTourette is familiar. This spring, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood made headlines when he jumped on a table at the National Bike Summit in animated support for bicycling and walking. LaTourette caught some media attention too, when he jokingly quipped that LaHood must be on drugs to suggest cycling deserved significant federal funding.

While that off-the-cuff comment went viral on the internet, LaTourette quickly wrote a public clarification, noting his “ardent support” for bike facilities. Now, another story is spreading across the country. The Ohio Congressman is getting some deserved attention for putting that “ardent support” into action, leading his conservative colleagues and proving that complete streets is a concept that transcends politics.

Last week, LaTourette signed on to the Complete Streets Act — a bill now in Congress that would ensure that communities across America design, build and operate their roadways with all users in mind, including bicyclists, public transit users and pedestrians. Because of his position on the prestigious House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, LaTourette’s opinions on transportation policy and infrastructure spending are critical. Not to mention, the Congressman is the first Republican to join the growing ranks of lawmakers who support complete streets.

So what nudged LaTourette to add his name? Action from advocates at Walk+Roll Cleveland and local bike shop owners.

First, the Ohio advocates kickstarted communications and meetings between LaTourette and national organizations like Bikes Belong, the Alliance, the League of American Bicyclists and the National Complete Streets Coalition.

Next, they showed LaTourette the numbers. Walk+Roll’s founder, Lois Moss, and owners of Eddy’s Bike Shops and Solon Bicycle met personally with the Congressman’s staffers. They came prepared with copies of Minnesota Business magazine, which reported that bicycling has added millions to the state economy and that many thousands of Minnesotans use bicycles for transportation, despite the chilly climate. They also cited stats from the Outdoor Industry Association that show bicycle facilities create jobs — in fact, generating more jobs per million dollars spent than massive highway and bridge reconstruction projects.

Then, they rallied the community. On September 17th, more than 1,000 residents walked, rolled and bused to Cleveland’s Progressive Field for an “Access for All Party,” a festive event promoting complete streets. Lo and behold, a few days later, LaTourette was signing on as a Complete Streets co-sponsor.

“Congressman LaTourette has historically been generally supportive of recreational bicycling,” Moss said in today’s press release. “Agreeing to co-sponsor Complete Streets demonstrates an understanding that bicycling and walking can also be transportation.”

Check out the National Complete Streets Coalition to learn more about the federal bill.

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