Missouri Bicycle News

This monthly newsletter issued by the National Complete Streets Coalition provides a roundup of news related to complete streets policies --- policies to ensure that the entire right of way is routinely designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Please pass it around!

COMPLETE STREETS POLICY PROGRESS
• Illinois Governor unexpectedly vetoes Complete Streets Bill
• California Complete Streets Bill lives on
• Redmond, Washington adopts Complete Streets

CAMPAIGN NEWS
• AARP promotes complete streets
• Federal Policy on the move
• California conference features complete streets
• Thunderhead Alliance releases benchmarking report
• Coalition members promote trainings, manual, presentations
• Complete Streets intern ready to make a difference

COMPLETE STREETS NEWS
• Portland’s Multi-Modal Streets Saves $2.6 Billion Annually!
• Minnesota Governor now supports light-rail transit on new I-35W bridge
• Oregon updates their ‘first of its kind’ bike/ped plan
• Louisiana Smart Growth Conference emphasizes walkability
• Seattle aims to become America’s best walking city

RESOURCES
• Easter Seals Project Action Institute
• Walk Score gets attention – But are the streets complete?
• How Far, By Which Routes, and Why? – the walk to Transit
• Safe Routes Partnership launches new website
• New report on designing accessible public rights of way
• Sustainable Streets Sought

COMPLETE STREETS QUOTES

COMPLETE STREETS POLICY PROGRESS

Illinois Governor unexpectedly vetoes Complete Streets Bill
On September 5th Illinois Governor Ron Blagojevich used an amendatory veto to gut SB 314, the Complete Streets Act, on the final day before it became law. The bill would have required accommodation of bicycles and pedestrians on Illinois DOT facilities, but the amendatory veto turned all the ‘shalls’ in the bill into ‘mays.’ The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation (CBF) learned later that an Illinois DOT memo was circulated that raised cost concerns. “We’re disappointed that the cost issue came up at the last minute, without any discussion, as we had extensive negotiations with both the Governor’s people and Illinois DOT and had come to an agreement that there was not a cost issue,” said Randy Neufeld of CBF. The bill was one of many vetoed following an unusually long and contentious legislative session marked by a transit funding crisis. A special veto override session is scheduled for November, and the bill has one more chance there. The bill had been passed 113-2 by the State House, and unanimously by the Senate. For more information, visit the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation website.

California Complete Streets Bill lives on
The California Bicycle Coalition was successful in lobbying the State Legislature to advance AB 1358, the Complete Streets Act of 2007, pulling it out of a committee ‘hold’ and onto the floor of the California Senate. The CBC met this goal just prior to the legislatures’ adjournment. “Moving the bill to the floor was crucial for the complete streets movement in California,” said KC Butler, Executive Director of the California Bicycle Coalition and Chair of the California Complete Streets Committee. “We’re now in prime position to move the bill to the Governor’s desk in January when the legislature returns for the second year of the session.” AB 1358 has already passed the State Assembly and requires that local General Plans include “Complete Streets” policies in their circulation element of the plan. For information, see this fact sheet on AB 1358.

Redmond, Washington adopts Complete Streets
The City Council of Redmond, Washington unanimously approved a complete streets ordinance on September 4th, becoming the third jurisdiction in the Puget Sound region to adopt a complete streets measure. The measure was the result of hard work by the Cascade Bicycle Club and the Transportation Choices Coalition. The main body of the ordinance reads, “The City of Redmond will plan for, design and construct all new transportation projects to provide appropriate accommodation for bicyclists, pedestrians, transit users and persons of all abilities in comprehensive and connected networks.” Read the full text (pdf) of the ordinance and background on CBC’s complete streets campaign.

CAMPAIGN NEWS

AARP promotes complete streets
The September edition of the AARP Bulletin includes a two-page spread on complete streets, with a detailed illustration and a sidebar about a complete streets battle launched by disabled Californians. The on-line version includes a narrated video with NCBW’s Bob Chauncey! The Bulletin reaches 22 million homes in the U.S. Thanks AARP for helping us spread the word!

Federal Policy on the move
Coalition members are meeting with members of Congress on both the House and Senate side in pursuit of a federal complete streets bill. The National Coalition continues to meet with Senator Tom Harkin’s staff on bill language. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, is a complete streets supporter, but her support would be strengthened if she hears from her constituents about the need for a federal law (Californians, please take note!). The Thunderhead Alliance is holding a campaign training session with complete streets Hill visits October 5-7. See this flyer (pdf) for more information.

California conference features complete streets
On September 12th, the California Bicycle Coalition honored Assemblyman Mark Leno with its ‘Legislator of the Year’ award for his work as author and champion of AB 1358, the California Complete Streets Act. “In both local and state elected office, I have been a vocal advocate for bicycle transportation,” said Leno. “It is truly an honor to receive the ‘Legislator of the Year’ award from the California Bicycle Coalition and I look forward to working with the Coalition and the many groups involved in the complete streets movement on the passage of AB 1358 next year.”

The award was given as part of a complete streets plenary session at the combined statewide Walk/Bike conference and the national Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) Professional Development Seminar, held in Davis, California. APBP also presented Michael Ronkin with a Lifetime Achievement award. Michael was responsible for implementation of Oregon’s early complete streets law and recently has been working with the Coalition to develop Complete Streets Implementation Workshops. Conference sessions featured National Coalition Coordinator Barbara McCann, Thunderhead Complete Streets Campaign Coordinator Dominic Liberatore, and Gregg Albright of Caltrans, as well as planners and advocates from Sacramento, Alameda County, and other parts of California. For more on the conference, visit www.walkbikecalifornia.org.

Thunderhead Alliance releases benchmarking report
According to the first benchmarking study from Thunderhead Alliance, a surge in obesity among adults and children has coincided with a decline in walking and biking since the 1960s. The report includes a section on complete streets policies showing all the jurisdictions, cities, and states that have implemented a Thunderhead-endorsed policy. The report also showcases model policies ranging from Oregon’s bike bill and Florida’s bicycle and pedestrian ways statue to San Francisco’s “Transit First” policy and Chicago’s Complete Streets policy.
Download the full report

Coalition members promote trainings, manual, presentations
Kit Keller and Michael Ronkin of the Association of Bicycle and Pedestrian Professionals (APBP) are working with Coalition Coordinator Barbara McCann to explore development of a curriculum and instructor training for one-day Complete Streets Implementation Workshops. The Workshop prototype has already been a hit in Virginia.

Carrie Fesperman of the American Planning Association is helping find support for the Complete Streets Best Practices Manual, to be published by APA. Rich Weaver of the American Public Transportation Association continues to line up complete streets sessions at upcoming transit conferences, notably the APTA annual meeting in Charlotte and Rail-Volution in Miami. The APTA meeting session will be supported by the FTA’s Transportation Planning Capacity Building Program.

Complete Streets intern ready to make a difference
The National Coalition is benefiting from the work of intern Jesse Fonner, a Stanford University graduate with a strong interest in mobility issues. “As a dedicated walker and bicyclist who is profoundly deaf, I’m affected by incomplete streets on a daily basis. I’m thrilled to be part of the National Complete Streets Coalition. It is my hope that all cities, counties, and states will pass policies to ensure all of their roads provide safe and equal access to pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit riders, children the elderly, and the disabled.” Jesse is working on fact sheets detailing the economic and climate benefits of complete streets; send him your ideas at jfonner@completestreets.org.

COMPLETE STREETS NEWS

Portland’s Multi-Modal Streets Saves $2.6 Billion Annually!
A recent study titled, “Portland’s Green Dividend” by Joe Cortright of CEOs for Cities demonstrates that there are economic benefits to reducing automobile dependence. In the case of Portland, Oregon, which has a strong pedestrian and bicycle network complemented by attractive public transit, reducing automobile dependence saves $2.6 billion annually. All that money goes into the region’s economy, stimulating growth in housing, entertainment, and food industries. Critics have long argued that land-use policies restricting access to resources impede growth and lower household income, but Cortright’s study found that assumption to be false. There is, in fact, a positive economic impact to restricting urban sprawl, shortening automobile commutes, and facilitating walking, bicycle, and transit usage.
Download the 5-page “CEOs for Cities” study (pdf)
Read about the study in The Oregonian

Minnesota Governor now supports light-rail transit on new I-35W bridge
In response to pressure from city officials and residents of Minneapolis and St. Louis, Governor Tim Pawlenty has changed course and now backs plans for light-rail transit on the new bridge that will replace the collapsed automobile-only I-35W span. Such plans would require an extra $20-30 million and the Governor says that it would be worthwhile to invest the extra money in alternative transportation over the new bridge span. Read more here.

Oregon updates their ‘first of its kind’ bike/ped plan
The Oregon Department of Transportation is preparing to update its bicycle and pedestrian plan, which has gained popularity outside the state as a model for developing complete streets. Bill Wilkinson, of the National Center for Bicycling and Walking commented on the usefulness of the plan, "It is probably the most widely borrowed-from state DOT bike-ped report ever. The logic was clear and sound, and the graphics were excellent." Read more in The Register-Guard.

Louisiana Smart Growth Conference emphasizes walkability
The need for complete streets was the main message of Tim Church, Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center Professor, at a recent Smart Growth Summit in Baton Rouge. Church emphasized the need for walkable communities in order to get people active and out of their cars, especially considering the high obesity rates in the area. Read more at Smart Growth Online.

Seattle aims to become America’s best walking city
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced an ambitious initiative to transform Seattle into America’s best walking city. Under Nickel’s “Keeping Pace” legislation, development rules would now require all private developers to provide full sidewalks in their projects. The legislation would also eliminate a loophole that currently allows developers to avoid installing sidewalks if they build less than ten residential units. Seattle, which also recently adopted a complete streets ordinance, will embark on a long-term campaign to retrofit older neighborhoods with new sidewalks. Because the yearly budget for sidewalks is limited to $1 million, progress is expected to be slow.
Read about it in the Seattle Times (also links to two older stories) or on the City of Seattle website.

RESOURCES

Easter Seals Project Action Institute
Easter Seals Project ACTION’s renowned Mobility Planning Services Institute brings together regional teams of disability advocates and transportation providers to overcome barriers to full mobility in their community. The Institute isn’t until next April, but applications are due Dec. 21, so now is the time to organize a team and begin developing an application. Twenty teams, selected from across the U.S. will convene in Washington, D.C., to begin to share information and strategies to improve access to transportation services in their communities. Details, including the online application form and instructions, are on the ESPA website. Project ACTION is also soliciting research ‘statements of need.’

Walk Score gets attention – But are the streets complete?
The new website, WalkScore.com has created a stir by letting everyone in the United States measure the variety of destinations within walking distance of their home. It is a great resource – but because of a lack of available data on the completeness of the street network, it is unable to inform you if locations nearby are truly walkable – or are out of reach due to hazardous or disconnected streets. See this recent post on Smart Growth America website for more.

How Far, By Which Routes, and Why? – the walk to Transit
This new report on pedestrian preferences from TRB examines the distance pedestrians walk to rail transit stations and the environmental factors that influence their route choice. Findings from the report suggest that “transportation planners and traffic engineers wanting to encourage walking should pay particular attention to ensuring that pedestrians feel safe crossing streets by keeping traffic to safe speeds and having traffic control devices present to help pedestrians cross intersections. Other transportation infrastructure issues to address are sidewalk availability and the length of time pedestrians must wait at traffic lights.”
Download the report
from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking

Safe Routes Partnership launches new website
The Safe Routes to School National Partnership launched a new website to help parents, schools, local and state governments, and advocacy groups implement programs that will encourage more kids to walk and bike to and from school.

“We created this website [www.saferoutespartnership.org] to help people take action now to bring SRTS programs to their communities,” said SRTS National Partnership Director Deb Hubsmith. “The potential benefits of SRTS programs include healthier children, reduced congestion around schools, less pollution, and safer streets.” Complete Streets is one of eight policy areas receiving focus by the 10 states in the SRTS State Network Project. Both the Partnership and the National Complete Streets Coalition receive funding from the Bikes Belong Coalition.

New report on designing accessible public rights of way
The Public Rights-of-Way Access Advisory Committee recently completed their technical assistance guide, “Accessible Public Rights-of-Way Planning and Design for Alterations for the Institution of Traffic Engineers. The report includes great photos and case studies to illustrate necessary accessibility features.
Download or view the report online

Sustainable Streets Sought
Ellen Greenberg, AICP and Visiting Practitioner at the Sustainable Transportation Center at UC Davis’ Institute of Transportation Studies, is exploring the contribution of street design to sustainability. The project will define and illustrate ways that the design of the public right of way is helping to achieve sustainability objectives in different urban contexts. You are invited to contribute by referring “sustainable streets” to the project team. To obtain a copy of the referral form, email SustainableStreets@SmartSite.UCDavis.edu.

COMPLETE STREETS QUOTES

“Seniors, children, users of public transit, pedestrians, bicyclists, and the disabled all deserve a transportation network that is built from the ground up for everyone. AB 1358 would do that by requiring city planners to consider the circulation of all users of the road, not just cars and trucks. Establishing Complete Streets policies gives people choices that will reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. I am proud to be a part of this movement.”

--California Assemblyman Mark Leno, addressing the CBC walk/bike conference in Davis, Sept 12th

SUBSCRIBING

Please pass this newsletter on to others who may be interested. New subscribers can sign up by emailing newsletter@completestreets.org with 'SUBSCRIBE' as the subject line. You can also unsubscribe by sending a message to the same address with 'UNSUBSCRIBE' as the subject line.

Newsletter contributions made by: Jesse Fonner, Stephanie Potts, Justin Fanslau, and Dominic Liberatore.

Related:

News: Complete Streets bill--MoDOT response

News: 2008 Missouri legislative roundup for bicycling and walking

permanent link to article: "Complete the Streets News for Sept 2007"
posted by Brent Hugh at 9/21/2007 08:31:00 PM |comment on this article