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National Complete Streets Coalition

Complete Streets Policies Growing Strong
By Barbara McCann, on April 27th, 2011

Today we are releasing a comprehensive report documenting that states and local governments in every quadrant of the nation are adopting strong Complete Streets policies. The new report, Complete Streets Policy Analysis 2010: A story of growing strength, rates the strength of written policies that are designed to ensure that future transportation infrastructure investments provide safe options for everyone using the roadways.

The report provides dozens of examples of strong language from actual policies adopted communities in all corners of the United States. It will serve as a resource to continue the expansion of the Complete Streets movement.

The number of new Complete Streets policies came close to doubling in each of the last three years. Twenty-three states (and Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia) and more than 200 regional and local jurisdictions now have Complete Streets policies, ensuring that future transportation investments provide safe options for everyone using our roadways. To date, forty-seven states are home to at least one Complete Streets policy, and suburban communities of fewer than 30,000 people make up the largest percentage of adopters by size and location.

Recent polls (.pdf) show that voters’ top priority for infrastructure investments are safer streets for our communities and children. Our report shows that this commitment is not only wide, but deep: community leaders and transportation practitioners are rolling up their sleeves and working together in small towns and big cities, in almost every state in the nation, to develop policies that will ensure future transportation projects result in complete streets for everyone. You can get a sense of that commitment from the quotes that appear almost every month (.pdf) in our newsletter.

The report, authored by State and Local Policy Manager Stefanie Seskin, rates more than 200 state and local written policies according to the established ten elements of ideal Complete Streets policies.

Among the top scoring policies are state laws and policies in the deep South and Midwest, county council-approved policies in Florida and the Mountain West, and city ordinances and design guidance in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast.

Fifteen top-rated policies:
New Jersey Department of Transportation – Policy No. 703
Louisiana Department of Transportation – Complete Streets Policy
State of Minnesota – Statutes 174.75
State of Connecticut – Public Act 09-154
Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission – Complete Streets Policy
Bloomington/Monroe County, IN Metropolitan Planning Organization – Complete Streets Policy
Hennepin County, MN – Complete Streets Policy
Lee County, FL – Resolution No. 09-11-13
Salt Lake County, UT – Ordinance No. 1672
Crystal City, MO – Ordinance
Roanoke, VA – Complete Streets Policy
Missoula, MT – Resolution No. 7473
Herculaneum, MO – Ordinance No. 33-2010
New Haven, CT – Complete Streets Design Manual
Tacoma, WA – Complete Streets Design Guidelines
The report also highlights policies that do a particularly good job covering individual policy elements.

This report looked only at the strength of the written policy language. The Coalition recognizes that the best measure of success is change inside transportation agencies and on our streets. Stay tuned to hear more on our efforts to evaluate how communities are implementing policies.

In the meantime, we hope that this report will help communities seeking to adopt compelling Complete Streets policies of their own better understand how to incorporate the elements of an ideal policy, using examples from their own region or state as models.

# For "Complete Streets Policy Analysis 2010: A story of growing strength" Report
go to: http://www.completestreets.org/resources/complete-streets-policies-growing-strong/

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