Alliance > Media center > People Powered Blog

Entries tagged: National Complete Streets Coalition

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

The Alliance is a proud member of the steering committee for the National Complete Streets Coalition. Our friends at the Coalition asked us to summarize why the Alliance — and our more than 160 member organizations — support complete streets. Check out the Coalition’s blog for our post, or read it below! 

In 1996, two dozen bicycle and pedestrian advocacy leaders from across the nation met at the Thunderhead Ranch in Wyoming to share their experiences and strategize ways to build a powerful national movement.

From that small retreat, the Alliance for Biking & Walking was born (originally known as the Thunderhead Alliance).

It didn’t fit the standard mold. Inspired and empowered by their collective experiences as on-the-ground advocates, the founding group envisioned a new kind of organization — not one that lobbied Congress for federal funds or fought for bike lanes in specific communities, but one that existed solely to serve and strengthen grassroots leaders.

In its first year, the Alliance had just 12 member organizations, but the idea took off fast. By training, assisting, and funding grassroots advocates, the Alliance supported new organizations and spurred the growth of established groups. In little more than a decade, our ranks have swelled to more than 160 local, state, and provincial advocacy organizations across North America.

Now, nearly fifteen years since that gathering in Wyoming, bicycle and pedestrian advocacy is no longer a fringe issue advanced by a handful of activists scattered across the country. We’ve matured into a professional, engaged movement that speaks with authority and stretches from coast to coast.

Like the Alliance, the concept of Complete Streets was born and raised by grassroots leaders.

A decade ago, local advocates pressed their government officials and city planners for “routine accommodation” of cyclists and pedestrians. While it sounded somewhat clumsy, routine accommodation was a transformative idea. It represented a holistic approach, ensuring all transportation projects were built or redesigned with facilities for users of all ages and abilities. But the term was uninspiring to decision makers. Worse, it was stale jargon to community members. To make meaningful progress, everyone knew we needed a vibrant phrase that captured the spirit of our vision. Positive and pro-active, “complete streets” became the new rallying cry — and caught fire fast.

The Alliance is a proud partner of the National Complete Streets Coalition because we share a common vision — streets that invite active transportation because they are safe, accessible and enjoyable for bicyclists and pedestrians. We rely on the Coalition to highlight best practices, centralize key resources, and lead the charge for complete streets at a federal level. We work closely with the Coalition, because we recognize Complete Streets campaigns are one of the most powerful tools for grassroots advocates to transform their communities and build their organization’s capacity.

It may not be a silver bullet, but, simply put, a well-written and enforced Complete Streets policy makes the advocate’s job easier. Instead of fighting for accommodation on each and every road construction or redesign, grassroots leaders have an avenue to shape the vision for their community and partner with their transportation officials to make it a reality.

Complete streets help grassroots advocates build partnerships, too. Health care professionals and environmental activists recognize the role of incomplete streets in fueling climate change and feeding an epidemic of obesity. Groups that advocate for students, seniors, and those with disabilities understand that complete streets liberate and empower citizens of all ages and abilities.

So it’s no surprise that complete streets is often the hottest topic at the Alliance’s Winning Campaigns Trainings. Participants are eager to use the three-day workshop to jumpstart a complete streets campaign in their community. They’re fired up to make their streets safer, rally more members, and build new relationships. And, thanks to the National Complete Streets Coalition, they know they’re part of an exciting, growing movement that spans the globe.

The complete streets movement kicked off summer in sizzling fashion, with a handful of policies passing in places you might not imagine.

In recent weeks, measures to make roadways safe and accessible for all users, from cyclists to pedestrians to transit riders, won approval all over the map. A number of those victories are outlined in the latest newsletter from the National Complete Streets Coalition this week.

-  In Pascagoula, Mississippi, the city council passed a resolution on May 18 that “calls for the inclusion of bicycle and pedestrian ways in new construction and reconstruction projects undertaken by the city.” The resolution made Pascagoula the third city in the state to adopt complete streets language.

- The hard work of Alliance member Active Transportation Alliance paid off when the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission became the third, and largest, metropolitan planning organization in the state to adopt a complete streets policy on May 20.

- Also spurred by local advocates, Edmonton captured the distinction of being the first city in the state of Oklahoma to officially embrace complete streets. On May 24, the city council unanimously approved a resolution to provide accommodation for all users on the city’s roadways in a “balanced, responsible, and equitable way.”

- On May 25, the planning commission in Midland, Michigan, unanimously approved a complete streets policy that specifically calls for attention to safe, accessible intersection design and will apply to any new or reconstructed streets.

- In the Show-Me State, residents of St. Louis will be seeing better access for cyclists and pedestrians after the city council passed a complete streets policy on June 11. Chalk that up to the determined efforts of Trailnet, a group of advocates who pressed for the measure for several years.

- Just last week, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed a bill that added complete streets language to state statute. The Colorado Department of Transportation already had an internal policy of “accommodating bicycle and pedestrian use of the highways in a safe and reliable manner for all highway users.” But the new measure puts that policy into law.

- And finally, a group of advocates in Alaska kicked off a new complete streets campaign in the city of Spenard by drumming up more than 100 supporters on Facebook in advance of their first meeting with city officials last week.

For more information about the movement, visit the National Complete Streets Coalition.

On Friday, the Alliance staff joined several dozen advocates who pedaled a poster-sized thank-you card to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The letter, expressing support for LaHood’s recent policy statement on biking and walking, was signed by organizations in all 50 states — including many Alliance members.

Our arrival wasn’t without some fanfare: each of our bikes had to get the all-clear from drug- and bomb-sniffing dogs. But once our rides passed the canine inspection, we didn’t have to wait long for LaHood.

As he sauntered over to the crowd outside DOT, he asked us what we thought of the recently striped bike lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue. Jeremy Grandstaff, our members services director, was quick to pipe up. “They’re fantastic,” he told the Secretary. “And they should stay.” Mugging for the cameras, LaHood (pictured) pinned a hot-pink bicycle button on his lapel, grabbed a bike and hopped aboard.

When the cameras started rolling, Randy Neufeld — president of America Bikes and director of the SRAM Cycling Fund — was among the advocates to applaud LaHood’s vision for complete streets and safe routes to school. But, when the Secretary took the podium, he turned the tables. He wanted to say thank you to all the bike-ped organizations that, he said, are changing opinions on the Hill.

Here’s what he told us:

“I go to these meetings around the country and people say to me, ‘I’ve been reading about your goals and reading about what your priorities are and it looks like you care more about bikers than do about truckers; you care more about bikers than you do people who drive on the roads.’ And I tell people, the truth is that Americans want to get outdoors. They want to ride their bikes. They want to walk to work. They want the opportunity to get out of congestion and get out of their cars and have the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors… If you have ideas about this, I know you won’t be bashful about sharing those, because I know you’re not bashful people. But we think it’s important to promote the idea of biking and walking and using these kinds of opportunities, whether it’s on the streets or on abandoned rail lines or some of the examples you’ve used. We’re grateful to you for your support, because what you have done, in terms of your blogs, in terms of what you’ve done using our blog and getting the message out, is really beginning to change attitudes on Capitol Hill. [Applause and bell ringing.] You know what a few members of Congress said about us when we stood on that table and applauded biking and put out our new biking policy. Well, a couple now have signed a letter of support for what we’re trying to do. You all made a difference and we appreciate that. And I know bikers all over America appreciate that, too. You’re going to have full partners here at DOT and we’re going to continue to do what we can and continue to take cues from all of you and whatever suggestions and ideas that you have for other things we ought to be doing. But biking is now part of DOT’s top policies and you all deserve a lot of credit for that .You have a lot of friends around here and we’re going to continue to partner with you and, in doing that, we’ll really make a difference.”

To see pictures of the event, visit the Alliance Flickr page.