Complete Streets: Best Policy and Implementation Practices. Barbara McCann and Suzanne Rynne, Editors. American Planning Association

Transcription

1 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice Barbara McCann and Suzanne Rynne, Editor American Planning Aociation Planning Adviory Service Report Number 559

2 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice i the reult of a collaborative partnerhip among the American Planning Aociation (APA), the National Complete Street Coalition (NCSC), and the National Policy and Legal Analyi Network to Prevent Childhood Obeity (NPLAN). Funding wa provided by the Federal Highway Adminitration, the National Aociation of Realtor, Blue Cro Blue Shield of Minneota, the Ruth Mott Foundation, and NPLAN, a project of the Robert Wood Johnon Foundation. The report wa developed under the aupice of the Green Communitie Reearch Center, one of APA National Center for Planning. The Center engage in reearch, policy, outreach, and education that advance green communitie through planning. For more information, viit nationalcenter/green/index.htm. APA National Center for Planning conduct policy-relevant reearch and education involving community health, natural and man-made hazard, and green communitie. For more detail, viit Suzanne Rynne, aicp, erved a the project manager and co-principal invetigator. She i the manager of APA Green Communitie Reearch Center, a enior reearch aociate, and co-editor of PAS Memo. Barbara McCann wa co-principal invetigator and managed NCSC work on the project. She i the executive director of NCSC and run McCann Conulting. The chapter in thi report were written primarily by Barbara McCann; Suzanne Rynne; Stefanie Sekin, tate and local policy aociate at NCSC, and Kimberley Hodgon, manager of APA Planning and Community Health Reearch Center. Lead author of the deign technique ection of Chapter 7 were Michael Ronkin of Deigning Street for Pedetrian and Bicyclit and Lynn Weigand, director of the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedetrian Innovation at Portland State Univerity. Suan Handy, director of the Sutainable Tranportation Center at the Univerity of California Davi, contributed to the performance meaure ection of Chapter 5. John LaPlante, director of traffic engineering at T. Y. Lin International, wrote the low-cot idea idebar for Chapter 6. The cae tudie were authored by Stefanie Sekin; David Morley, aicp, reearch aociate and PAS coordinator at APA; Ann Dillemuth, reearch aociate and co-editor of PAS Memo at APA; Barbara McCann; Suzanne Rynne; Kimberley Hodgon; and Rachel Mai, a graduate tudent at UC Davi. The bibliography in the appendix wa compiled by Rana Salzmann, librarian and education aociate at APA, with contribution from other team member. Sara Zimmerman, enior taff attorney at NPLAN, drafted the model policie in the appendix. The author thank the many other individual who contributed to or upported thi project, particularly the planner, engineer, elected official, and citizen in the cae-tudy communitie who participated in interview, hared document and image, and reviewed draft of the cae tudie. Special thank alo goe to the report reviewer, Michael Ronkin, Lynn Weigand, Suan Handy, John LaPlante, and Hugh Morri, aicp, mart growth program repreentative at the National Aociation of Realtor, a well a the coping ympoium participant: Suan Handy; Randy Kline, taff attorney at NPLAN; John LaPlante; Jana Lynott, aicp, trategic policy advior at AARP; Michael Ronkin; Lynn Weigand; and Paul Zykofky, aicp, director of land ue and tranportation program at the Local Government Commiion. Thank alo to Michael Huber of the Center for Prevention of Blue Cro Blue Shield of Minneota for hi help with the coping ympoium; Bill Klein, aicp, director of reearch at APA, who provided valuable input and leaderhip throughout the project; Ann Dillemuth, who took the lead on the copyediting; Lia Jacobon, fellow at NCSC, who helped coordinate the coping ympoium and did policy reearch; NCSC taff member Stephanie Pott and Randy Neufeld, for their contribution; and NPLAN taff member and outide reviewer who provided input and review of the model policie, particularly Marice Ahe, executive director; Manel Kappagoda, deputy director; and Heather Wooten, planning and policy aociate. Cover deign by Lia Barton Cover photo: Ninth Avenue in Manhattan, after complete treet improvement; image courtey New York City Department of Tranportation The Planning Adviory Service i a ubcription ervice offered by the Reearch Department of the American Planning Aociation. Four report are produced each year. Subcriber alo receive PAS Memo and PAS QuickNote, and they have acce to the Inquiry Anwering Service and other valuable benefit. W. Paul Farmer, faicp, Executive Director and CEO; Sylvia Lewi, Director of Publication; William R. Klein, aicp, Director of Reearch. Planning Adviory Service Report are produced in the Reearch Department of APA. Timothy Mennel, Editor; Lia Barton, Deign Aociate March 2010 by the American Planning Aociation. APA publication office i at 122 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600, Chicago, IL APA headquarter office i at 1776 Maachuett Ave., NW, Suite 400, Wahington, DC pareport@planning.org

3 COMPLETE STREETS: BEST POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION PRACTICES Barbara McCann and Suzanne Rynne, aicp, Editor table of content Chapter 1: Introduction...1 Chapter 2: Adopting a Policy and Building Support...9 Cae Studie Pierce County, Wahington Columbia, Miouri Rocheter, Minneota Kirkland, Wahington Columbu, Ohio Eat-Wet Gateway Council of Government, Miouri Chapter 3: Element of a Complete Street Policy...23 Cae Studie Decatur, Georgia Oregon Virginia Department of Tranportation Arlington County, Virginia Roanoke, Virginia Chapter 4: Integration and Intitutionalization: The Strategic Point of Intervention...35 Cae Studie Univerity Place, Wahington Santa Barbara, California Wahtenaw County, Michigan Fort Collin, Colorado Sacramento, California... 41

4 Chapter 5: Making the Tranition: Planning for Change and Addreing Problem...45 Cae Studie New Haven, Connecticut Chicago Charlotte, North Carolina Pennylvania Department of Tranportation Metropolitan Tranportation Commiion, California Redmond, Wahington Seattle Chapter 6: Handling Cot...65 Cae Studie New York City Colorado Spring, Colorado Florida Boulder, Colorado San Diego County, California Chapter 7: Creating Complete Street: Deign Principle and Feature...79 Cae Studie Louiville, Kentucky Maachuett Department of Tranportation Chapter 8: Leon Learned from the Cae Studie Reference Appendix A: Complete Street Bibliography Appendix B: Model Complete Street Policie...117

5 CHAPTER 3 Element of a Complete Street Policy Complete treet policie come in many hape and ize. City council have quickly paed imple reolution directing their tranportation agencie to conider the need of all uer. State department of tranportation have gone through extenive public input procee to rewrite their deign manual. Planning department have worked with community member to include complete treet goal in comprehenive plan. Director of tranportation agencie have written internal memorandum outlining policy change and implementation tep. And policy maker at both the tate and local level have paed complete treet law and ordinance. 23

6 24 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice Some policie have been developed very quickly, often uing the reource of the National Complete Street Coalition or the U.S. DOT Guidance on Accommodating Bicycle and Pedetrian Travel. In other cae, communitie have engaged in an extenive development proce (ee Rocheter, Minneota, idebar, p. 15). In many cae, policy development may involve many tep beyond the initial adoption of a reolution or viion tatement. For example, in Maachuett, a two-entence law eventually led the tate highway department to create an award-winning new deign manual that firmly entrenche complete treet into project development and deign (ee idebar, p. 83). In Seattle, the initial incluion of a complete treet requirement in a bond meaure led to a well-crafted ordinance, followed by the formation of a teering committee to further define what the ordinance mean. Such gradual procee allow communitie to create policie that work in their particular context. Taking into conideration all of thee permutation, the National Complete Street Coalition ha identified 10 element that hould appear in a comprehenive complete treet policy document. A good complete treet policy: Include a viion for how and why the community want to complete it treet. Specifie that all uer include pedetrian, bicyclit, and tranit paenger of all age and abilitie, a well a automobile driver and tranit-vehicle operator. Encourage treet connectivity and aim to create a comprehenive, integrated, connected network for all mode. I adoptable by all relevant agencie to cover all road. Applie to both new and retrofit project, including deign, planning, maintenance, and operation, for the entire right-of-way. Make any exception pecific and et a clear procedure that require high-level approval of exception. Direct the ue of the latet and bet deign tandard while recognizing the need for flexibility in balancing uer need. Direct that complete treet olution will complement the context of the community. Etablihe performance tandard with meaurable outcome. Include pecific next tep for implementing the policy. SET A VISION A trong viion tatement can keep a community focued on it purpoe in calling for complete treet and that purpoe can vary coniderably. Some communitie, epecially thoe that pa reolution, may lit many reaon for complete treet policy adoption, but it i helpful to be clear about the primary purpoe. For example, Rocheter, Minneota, included no le than four wherea claue clearly deignating active living a the primary reaon behind it policy adoption. In all cae, the viion tatement can help guide the inevitable difficult choice that mut be made in triking a balance that provide for the need of a variety of uer along a ingle rightof-way. For more information about developing a complete treet viion, ee Chapter 4.

7 Chapter 3. Element of a Complete Street Policy 25 INCLUDE ALL USERS The complete treet movement initially aroe within the bicycle advocacy community a a repone to the abence of pace for bicyclit and pedetrian along too many road. But a idewalk without curb ramp i uele to omeone who ue a wheelchair (and i difficult to ue for parent with troller and traveler with uitcae). An awkwardly placed bu top that doe not provide a afe and convenient way to cro the treet can endanger tranit rider. A true complete treet policy doe not imply call for the addition of bicycle and pedetrian facilitie but rather inpire a careful conideration of the need of all traveler. I there a enior center along the road? A chool? A heavily ued bu route? The conideration of uch feature and facilitie can help identify the tranportation need of road uer and the deign element that will be mot ueful to complete thoe treet. The Maachuett Project Development and Deign Guide give an almot comprehenive lit, going beyond pedetrian and bicyclit to pecify people requiring mobility aid, driver and paenger of tranit vehicle, truck, automobile and motorcycle. However, it leave out concern for age. Thi i a common omiion, but it i particularly important to conider the mobility need of older adult and children. Thee population are more likely to be killed or injured in a crah, and children and many older people do not have the option to drive. The Community Tranportation Plan of Decatur, Georgia, doe make pecific mention of age, tating that the complete treet policy i epecially beneficial to the City mot vulnerable population uch a low income houehold, children and older adult, all of who experience differing phyical, mental and financial challenge to mobility. The plan goe on to dicu complete treet in the context of Univeral Deign principle the idea that home and other place hould be deigned for univeral ue, not jut for able-bodied people. The AARP haping complete treet through a community tranportation plan: decatur, Georgia The City of Decatur, Georgia, ha long been intereted in providing travel choice, epecially for pedetrian. Inpired by recent tudie demontrating the link between the built environment and health, Decatur ha committed itelf to active living by increaing opportunitie for nonmotorized mode of tranportation for people of all age and abilitie. The city interet in promoting active living through good tranportation deign i embodied in the 2008 Community Tranportation Plan (CTP). Community input haped the CTP goal, etting a clear viion and enuring that the plan would be widely upported. Over a period of eight month, the project team held two general public meeting; four group meeting for audience including older adult, local intitution, and low-income population; and four workhop on topic uch a traffic calming and health. A telephone urvey developed by project taff, and a private firm wa ued to eek public input on a variety of tranportation iue and gauge upport for a complete treet policy. The urvey finding howed that 61 percent of repondent upported a complete treet policy. Figure 3.1. A midblock croing in downtown Decatur Throughout the planning proce, more than 700 public comment were collected through formal meeting and via letter or . Thee comment emphaized the importance of walking and bicycling and the need to accommodate all uer, epecially vulnerable group uch a older adult and thoe with diabilitie. To help identify the tranportation network for variou travel mode, the city conducted four technical tudie: latent demand core (LDS), level of ervice (LOS), treet typology, and policy and regulatory audit. The LDS predicted citywide bicyclit and pedetrian demand if facilitie for thoe uer exited near detination, uch a chool, public tranportation top, and employment center. The reult will allow deciion maker to better prioritize project baed on the demand for bike and pedetrian trip, a well a have a better undertanding of the type of facilitie neceary. Decatur ued traditional meaure to evaluate LOS for automobile but alo baed it approach on National Cooperative Highway Reearch Program Report 616 (TRB NCHRP 2008), which will be included in the 2010 edition of the Highway Capacity Manual. Thi method meaure the quality of travel for pedetrian and bicyclit, accounting for comfort, ene of afety, and adjacent land ue, rather than throughput and peed. (continued on page 26) City of Decatur, Georgia

8 26 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice (continued from page 25) The treet typology tudy ued a new claification ytem that added land-ue relationhip to typical functional claification. With thi ytem, future roadway deign can better match the ue of the treet. Each new type cater to different level of need for variou traveler, by foot, bike, or car. The typology can better guide invetment deciion when balancing the need of all uer in contruction and recontruction project. Lat, Decatur exiting plan, policie, code, and practice were audited to identify potential challenge when implementing the CTP. Recommendation included updating city code and landcaping ordinance to incorporate more pecific detail and deign for complete treet, a well a adding tandard for minimum and maximum parking requirement. Given the largely upportive community and a hitory of invetment in multiple mode of tranportation, city taff had few barrier to overcome. In addition to extenive public upport, elected official have tood olidly behind the CTP. A built-out community, Decatur did not look to acquire or contruct new right-of-way but intead focued on reallocating exiting roadway more efficiently. Mot important, following the clear community goal meant changing the planning approach: taking a comprehenive look at all uer of the road rather than focuing on moving automobile. The project team wa able to create a comprehenive package of deign and recommendation that promote health, afety, mobility, and acce. Following adoption of the CTP, Planning Director Amanda Thompon report that Decatur i thinking beyond pedetrian and automobile. Before, the city alway thought about building idewalk and adding treet tree but gave little conideration to bike lane or bike rack. Depite having olid public tranportation within the city, taff did not alway conider how better bu top or improving acce to train tation could improve the treet environment. We truly cover all mode now, he ay. The CTP include detailed plan for five interection and even corridor, choen for their key location, the public input, and their impact on health. Thee deign involve a variety of approache, including narrowed and reduced travel lane, widened idewalk, and improved croing. They alo include idea on how to make room for public tranportation uer and vehicle on the right-of-way. The broad definition of complete treet allow them to remain adaptable to the local context. By firt etablihing network, the project team had coniderable flexibility in treet deign. Each of the elected area i given a ection in the CTP where opportunitie, need, and challenge are addreed. Conceptual drawing of the pecific recommendation accompany each interection and new croection are hown for each corridor. Such detail allow the city to better enviion it tranportation goal and enure that all future project, regardle of ize or cope, contribute to the viion pecified by the CTP. Thu, the complete treet goal can be implemented in phae and a funding allow. Decatur ha taken the CTP implementation tep to heart. The city recreation department now ha a full-time taff dedicated to adminitering the Safe Route to School program and an Active Living Adviory Board. Some front-yard parking for downtown buinee ha been replaced with pedetrian eating. Nearby buinee initially reited the lo of parking but now ee the improved treet life. Several of the plan project have been funded, including two interection improvement, a bicycle lane, and treetcape improvement. The city alo adopted a bicycle parking ordinance. Decatur doe face everal hurdle in implementing the CTP. Thi mall city doe not directly conduct any tranportation work beyond regular maintenance and repair; it ue Georgia Department of Tranportation (GDOT) grant funding for all larger project. Decatur complete treet viion i in conflict with GDOT tandard, and therefore every project, from treet tree to bike lane, require variance. GDOT alo control the main route connecting the city to the urrounding Atlanta region, and becaue GDOT rarely conider context Decatur main road are addreed in the ame manner a road through any other community. Decatur work through thi ituation by ubmitting variance and working to educate GDOT taff on Decatur viion and reaoning. City taff alo try to influence tate policy by working with elected official. Depite thee challenge, Thompon firmly believe their approach i great for mall government often at the mercy of larger agencie. The CTP i a communication tool to build what the community want. Final deign of the CTP concept can alo be troubleome. Working within exiting right-of-way contrain Decatur ability to provide all the facilitie it might. But by depending on the bicycle and pedetrian network etablihed through the planning proce, taff i better able to balance need acro the ytem. They can determine the type of facility that i mot important in each location and enure it incluion, then dicu additional feature. Determining the right type of facility i alo a challenge. Thi i epecially true for bicycle facilitie, where deciding among bike lane, off-treet path, and hare the road marking can be difficult. Tranportation project cot i often a barrier. Decatur tranportation funding ha not increaed appreciably ince adopting the CTP, and o plan implementation i a reflection of what the city can afford each year. To make the mot of thoe fund, the city trie to be creative in puruing low-cot option and prioritize project to reflect the network need etablihed in the CTP. The general feeling in Decatur, ay Thompon, i that inveting public fund into utainable tranportation, rather than the tatu quo, i a better invetment of thoe fund. To aid in addreing thee iue, the city held a complete treet workhop in April Nationally known expert pent a day with elected official, planner, and engineer, building a bae of upport for the CTP a well a determining how bet to tackle it goal. The community, city commiioner, and city employee agree that Decatur ha much reaon to be proud of CTP implementation and progre toward complete treet. The CTP i at tranportationplan.apx.

9 Chapter 3. Element of a Complete Street Policy 27 report Planning Complete Street for an Aging America i a good ource of trategie to integrate the need of older adult into treet planning. Automobile driver are alo an important part of the equation. Maintaining acceptable vehicle movement will be a primary concern of many of thoe charged with implementing complete treet policie, and traffic volume will influence what treatment are ued for other tranportation mode. For example, a major debate during the development of Seattle complete treet ordinance concerned the treatment of freight. The final policy read, Becaue freight i important to the baic economy of the City and ha unique right-of-way need to upport that role, freight will be the major priority on treet claified a Major Truck Street. Complete Street improvement that are conitent with freight mobility but alo upport other mode may be conidered on thee treet. Pedetrian and bicycle advocate are till not happy with the claue, but the city felt uch language wa neceary to gain the upport of the freight community. When preparing to undertake treet deign change to better accommodate other mode, planner need to meaure the impact on driver, decide what to do, and communicate the change. In ome communitie, the viion for complete treet deemphaize automobility, o explaining to the public the change and new mobility option available i important. In other cae, the change may actually improve traffic flow, but thi may often be counterintuitive and hould be communicated clearly. See Chapter 5 for a dicuion of balancing the need of automobile with other uer. CREATE A NETWORK The ultimate intent of a complete treet policy i to enure that roadway provide complete tranportation network for all mode. Often the fatet way to make progre i to focu on opportunitie to cloe gap: filling in miing idewalk egment or finding a good way for bicyclit to negotiate a narrow bottleneck. The connectivity of the roadway network i an epecially important feature for pedetrian, who are much more reluctant to take indirect route. The tranportation plan of Champaign, Illinoi, contain a uccinct phraing of thi objective: Provide a dene, interconnected network of local and collector treet that upport walking, bicycling, and tranit ue, while avoiding exceive traffic in reidential neighborhood. A network orientation i alo helpful in balancing tranportation need. Trying to accommodate every traveler on every treet i a feat that phyical contraint can make nearly impoible. Intead, planner and engineer can provide high-quality acce for everyone through the creation of interwoven network in which certain treet emphaize different mode. For example, bicycle boulevard in Portland, Oregon, allow bicyclit to travel along lower-traffic treet, avoiding arterial deigned primarily for car. In it new Urban Street Deign Guideline, Charlotte, North Carolina, ha created a treet claification ytem in which parkway are deigned primarily for car, main treet emphaize buine ue, and avenue erve divere need. See Chapter 7 for more information on deign approache. In uch ytem, it i till important to provide a baic level of afe acce on all treet, and no uer hould be required to take long detour. COVER ALL ROADS Creating network of complete treet i difficult becaue treet are not controlled by a ingle agency. Road are built and maintained by a patchwork of tate, county, and city agencie, with private developer often reponible for building road in new development. Typically, complete treet policie cover a ingle juridiction; example include an internal policy adopted by a tate DOT or a goal or policy in a city comprehenive plan. One notable

10 28 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice paving the way for a comprehenive complete treet network: oregon When the Oregon State Legilature paed the bike bill (ORS ) in 1971, no one wa uing the phrae complete treet. Now, after nearly four decade on the book, thi trailblazing tate law i acknowledged a a primary inpiration for the complete treet movement. Section of the Oregon State Statute require that all roadway contruction and recontruction mut include bicycle and pedetrian facilitie. Additionally, at leat 1 percent of all tate funding received by local government mut be pent on bicycle and pedetrian improvement. The bike bill became law around the ame time that Oregon innovative land-ue planning law were taking hape. Don Statho, a conervative legilator from outhern Oregon, ecured approval for the meaure by a ingle vote, uing the argument that bicycle and pedetrian facilitie were neceary to enure that choolchildren had afe route to chool. According to Michael Ronkin, former pedetrian and bicycle program manager for Oregon Department of Tranportation, for the firt 20 year local tranportation department applied the law unevenly. Although there wa nothing in the meaure that pecifically limited the requirement to ODOT road, the bill had been codified in a chapter dealing with highway fund. A a conequence, many local government imply ignored the requirement. The real turning point for the bike bill came when advocate from the Bicycle Tranportation Alliance ued the City of Portland for noncompliance in The court deciion upheld Statho original idea that the law applied to all road project. Ronkin and hi colleague wrote an official interpretation of the bike bill, clarifying that all contruction and recontruction mut accommodate bicyclit and pedetrian. Although opponent of the law often pointed to cot a a barrier for compliance, Ronkin contend that the battle over cot wa more hype than ubtance. The bike bill doe not ay how road builder hould pay for bicycle and pedetrian facilitie. Intead, the meaure aume that tranportation authoritie and developer will plan for neceary improvement upfront and pay for them out of the ame pot of money ued for all urface tranportation facilitie. Adding the required improvement up front i much cheaper than a retrofit. Ronkin explain that jut a people undertand that inulation i a neceary component of any houing project, tranportation authoritie and developer in Oregon undertand that the up-front cot of compliance with the bike bill are jut a normal part of the road building proce. For additional information about Oregon Bicycle and Pedetrian Program and to read the text of ODOT bike bill interpretation, ee hwy/bikeped. Dan Burden, the Walkable and Livable Communitie Intitute, Inc. Figure 3.2. Oregon tate law mandate bicycle and pedetrian accommodation, a evidenced by thi Portland interection. exception i Oregon tate law, which tate that footpath and bicycle trail hall be provided wherever a highway, road or treet i being contructed, recontructed, or relocated. In 1992, the Oregon Court of Appeal ruled that thi law applied to all road in public ue, and therefore tate and municipal government, a well a private entitie building road in new development, are ubject to it proviion (ee idebar). Complete treet element hould ideally extend to ubdiviion regulation governing treet built by private developer. See Chapter 4 for more information on thi. INCLUDE ALL PROJECTS For many year in mot communitie, multimodal treet have been treated a pecial project requiring extra planning, funding, and effort. The complete treet approach i different. It i perhap bet tated in the updated policy adopted by Caltran, California DOT: The Department view all tranportation improvement a opportunitie to improve afety, acce, and mobility for all traveler in California and recognize bicycle, pedetrian, and tranit mode a integral element of the tranportation ytem. Under thi approach, even repaving project can be an opportunity to make mall adjutment to better accommodate all traveler, uch a hifting tripe to provide more room for bicyclit. A trong complete treet policy will integrate complete treet planning into all phae of all type of project, including new contruction, recontruction, rehabilitation, repair, and maintenance. See Chapter 5 and 6 for uggetion on integration of complete treet into all project. SPECIFY EXCEPTIONS An important element of practical policy implementation i the creation of a proce for handling exception to requirement that all

11 Chapter 3. Element of a Complete Street Policy 29 mode be accommodated in all project. The FHWA guidance on accommodating bicycle and pedetrian travel, iued in 2000, lited three exception, which have become commonly ued in complete treet policie. The firt tate that accommodation i not neceary on corridor where nonmotorized ue i prohibited, uch a a freeway. The econd exception involve project cot. The FHWA Guidance recommend that exception be allowed when the cot of accommodation... i exceively diproportionate to the need or probable ue. The FHWA Guidance include a et percentage threhold for diproportionate cot, but ome communitie have dicarded thi a arbitrary and make deciion on a cae-by-cae bai. See Chapter 6 for dicuion of thi proviion. The third exception i a documented abence of need now and in the future. The future claue i important. Many corridor are unfriendly to pedetrian travel becaue pat development ha dicouraged walking, but redevelopment under new tandard could change that. Alo, the increaing mobility of people with diabilitie mean that people who ue wheelchair or have viual impairment will need more treet network conducive to their afe travel. Many communitie have included additional exception. One of the mot common except ordinary maintenance and repair, which reaure planner and engineer that baic maintenance work will not trigger a full recontruction. A few policie, uch a the law paed by the Illinoi legilature in 2007, make exception for repaving project. But the law alo include a claue to help agencie take advantage of repaving opportunitie when appropriate: Bicycle and pedetrian way may be included in pavement reurfacing project when local upport i evident or bicycling and walking accommodation can be added within the overall cope of the original roadwork. Another relatively common exception i for afety. Thi hould be defined very carefully. A common reaction to an unafe environment for nonmotorized uer i to prohibit bicycling or walking along the corridor. But path beaten into the gra along arterial how that pedetrian travel i often not optional. High-peed, high-traffic road that preent the greatet danger to nonmotorized uer may be the road that mot deperately need facilitie. Figure 3.3. Beaten path are often indicator of route that pedetrian find convenient to ue depite their lack of afety. Barbara McCann

12 30 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice changing buine a uual: virginia department of tranportation Since 2004, Virginia Department of Tranportation (VDOT) ha had a policy for routine conideration of the need for accommodating bicyclit and pedetrian in all tate- and federally funded tranportation project. The policy repreent a major ea change in the commonwealth, and it impact are mot profound in VDOT day-to-day operation. In mot of the commonwealth, countie are the default unit of local government. Becaue only two countie in Virginia operate and maintain their own road, VDOT maintain the third mot mile of road of any tate in the country. Conequently, it i the ingle mot important entity for implementing complete treet in rural and uburban area tatewide. Changing the coure of an agency a large a VDOT ha not been eay. For year, VDOT wa low to react to changing development pattern. The agency had traditionally focued on building road to carry vehicular traffic at high peed over long ditance, but a previouly rural part of the commonwealth became more urbanized, communitie acro Virginia a well a voice within the tranportation agency itelf called for reform. Virginia Department of Tranportation Figure 3.4. VDOT deign manual include intruction for bicycle facilitie. In 2004, the Commonwealth Tranportation Board, which overee tranportation policie in Virginia, promulgated the Policy for Integrating Bicycle and Pedetrian Accommodation. Thi internal policy tatement outline a baic deciion-making proce to enure that appropriate accommodation are conidered for all VDOT project. The policy require all tate- and federally funded project to accommodate pedetrian and bicyclit except when bike and pedetrian are not allowed by law, when there i a carcity of population, when there are environmental or ocial impact that dicourage accommodation, when the total cot of accommodation i diproportionate to the benefit, or when the project purpoe i in conflict with accommodation. (continued on page 31) Many policie make the head of the tranportation department reponible for approving exception, while other require approval by an elected body, uch a the city council. In Rocheter, Minneota, the final reponibility for deciding exception i divided among the city council and the head of the planning and public work department, depending on the type of exception. Becaue an exception proce can be complex, another trategy i to ue broad exception language in the policy and then allow the tranportation agency to deign an exception approval proce a part of the implementation plan. See Chapter 5 for more information about creating an effective exception proce. ADDRESS DESIGN STANDARDS When the ubject of complete treet come up, the converation often head traight to deign tandard. Engineer in particular are likely to view the creation of treet for all uer a primarily an iue of modifying tandard; they aume that a complete treet policy will include uch pecific modification. However, deign pecific are often le important at firt than the political will to chooe different prioritie in tranportation planning and the leaderhip and confidence to move away from rigid adherence to doing thing by the book. Some communitie have pecified new deign tandard, uch a Louiville, Kentucky, or Fort Collin, Colorado. Another approach i to make reference within the policy to exiting deign guidance while emphaizing flexibility. Thi i the cae with the State of Virginia policy: The accommodation will be deigned and built, or intalled, uing guidance from VDOT and AASHTO publication, the MUTCD, and the American with Diabilitie Act Acceibility Guideline (ADAAG). Method for providing flexibility within afe deign parameter, uch a context enitive olution and deign, will be conidered.

13 Chapter 3. Element of a Complete Street Policy 31 COMPLEMENT CONTEXT Senitivity to the community context i eential to an effective complete treet policy. Being clear about thi in the initial policy tatement can allay common fear that a complete treet policy will require inappropriately wide road in quiet neighborhood or mile of little-ued idewalk in rural area. The Context Senitive Solution movement ha been moving highway deign in thi direction for well over a decade. A trong tatement about context can alo help bridge the traditional divide between tranportation and land-ue planning. The bet example of context tatement can be found in tranportation mater plan. Charlotte plan tate, The City will promote context-enitive treet (i.e., by deigning tranportation project within the context of adjacent land ue to improve afety and neighborhood livability, promote tranportation choice and meet land ue objective), conitent with the City Urban Street Deign Guideline. The guideline include a ix-tep proce for deigning complete treet and the firt tep i determining the land-ue context. Arlington County, Virginia, et out three component of a complete treet, and the firt i context (ee idebar on p. 32). The treet element of the mater tranportation plan include thi definition: The context of a treet include the building and ite adjacent to the treet, or right-of-way. Thi area i decribed in term of land ue reidential, commercial, and indutrial. It i alo decribed in term of phyical form uch a office building, ingle-family detached home, and townhoue. Intenity (low-, medium- or high-denity development) alo affect how an area i decribed. A treet urrounding are the major factor that define the character of the corridor. ESTABLISH PERFORMANCE MEASURES The traditional performance meaure for tranportation planning ha been vehicular level of ervice a meaure (continued from page 30) Perhap the mot important tool for battling buine a uual at VDOT have been the agency new project coping form and deciion tree. In 2006, VDOT added a new ection to it coping form for new contruction and maintenance activitie to enure that the tate accommodation policy wa conidered for each project. According to Jakob Helmboldt, aicp, VDOT bicycle and pedetrian program coordinator, the coping form follow the Federal Highway Adminitration approach of maintreaming the accommodation policy. Enuring that each project contain appropriate bicycle and pedetrian facilitie ha become a routine element to check off in the coping proce. To upplement the form, VDOT ha alo created a imple flowchart that help individual in charge of coping ee whether or not each project i exempted for any of the reaon outlined in the policy tatement. Helmboldt ay that maintreaming the policy ha kept VDOT from getting too caught up in budgeting for bicycle and pedetrian improvement. The policy ha a built-in afety valve in the form of a cot diproportionate to the need exemption. If the cot of accommodation i more than 10 percent of the total project and if the project i not on a deignated bike/ped plan, the project i exempt from compliance. If the project i on a plan, the cot threhold for exemption goe up to 20 percent. In Helmboldt view, project cot can be a red herring. Overengineering lead to cot problem, he ay. Sometime cot balloon when omeone want to make change that may repreent the gold tandard in accommodation but ignore other lower-cot alternative. Aide from new project, VDOT nine highway contruction ditrict each have a goal of uing 2 percent of maintenance fund for houlder paving in rural area to improve bicycling condition. Becaue paved houlder tabilize the pavement edge and reduce crahe, adding the extra pavement ha not faced much reitance in area not traditionally thought of a bike friendly. Cro-juridictional cooperation in Virginia took a major leap forward in 2006 with the enactment of new legilation that require more VDOT involvement in local land-ue deciion. Section require VDOT to review all new or amended local comprehenive plan and traffic impact tatement for activitie that will ubtantially affect tranportation on tate road. The legilation enure that VDOT i aware of new plan for bicycle and pedetrian improvement. Recognizing that private developer have a major impact on road network in Virginia, the commonwealth adopted new econdary-treet acceptance requirement in According to Nick Donohue, Virginia aitant ecretary of tranportation, the new requirement were an outgrowth of the governor initiative to improve the coordination of tranportation and land ue. Prior to that policy, VDOT accepted treet for perpetual public maintenance without conidering the overall public benefit the new road provided. Developer built the road, and the tate accepted maintenance reponibilitie a long a the road were built to adequate geometric tandard. Travel ditance, which i influenced by treet connectivity, ha a big impact on whether you decide to walk or not, ay Donohue. For that reaon, the new acceptance requirement require greater connectivity of the treet network along with idewalk or other pedetrian feature and narrower treet to help reduce vehicle peed. In Donohue view, the requirement work hand-in-glove with VDOT accommodation policy. While the latter applie to all VDOT project (new road, road expanion, or maintenance) a well a any locally adminitered project uing tate or federal money, the new acceptance tandard deal excluively with local treet built by private developer. VDOT Bicycling and Walking in Virginia page, available at contain link to the accommodation policy, the project coping form, and the deciion tree. For Virginia Secondary Street Acceptance Requirement, ee default.ap.

14 32 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice tying together a legacy of innovative planning policie: arlington county, virginia Though Arlington County, Virginia, ha only recently adopted an official complete treet policy, thee principle are nothing new. For more than 30 year, thi municipality of nearly 210,000 people and 26 quare mile in the metropolitan Wahington, D.C., area ha been a leader in mart growth, tranit-oriented development (TOD), and innovative pedetrian, bicycle, and tranit policie. [Complete treet] had been the policy, before it had officially been adopted. Over the pat 10 year we ve been moving toward complete treet without calling it that, ay Richard Viola, county planning upervior for tranportation planning. Implementation of complete treet wa called out a one of the mot important guiding theme for Arlington County in the 2007 update to it Mater Tranportation Plan. During the reviion proce, a group of local cutting-edge tranportationplanning leader met and decided to draft a complete treet policy that would formalize 10 year of pedetrian, bicycle, and tranit planning effort in the county. The complete treet concept give good tranportation planning an identity. While Arlington County ha received a lot of attention for TOD, the complete treet policy olidifie and formalize the county multimodal commitment and bring attention to it many bicycle and pedetrian improvement, campaign, and other promotional activitie. Furthermore, the complete treet policy provide the county with a more ytematic approach to tranportation and development project. It require any development project that ha an impact on tranportation infratructure to conider all neceary tranportation mode needed to accommodate all uer. The reviion of the Mater Tranportation Plan and the adoption of it complete treet policy wa a reult of a community planning proce which included the county board, elected official, a plenary group, two dozen citizen repreenting variou committee and adviory group from acro the county, and tranportation planning taff. According to Viola, the county board and the community have been very upportive of the complete treet policy, largely becaue of Arlington County legacy of TOD and managed growth. Depite thi legacy, a car-dominated infratructure i till preent in much of the county. But ince the official adoption of the policy in November 2007, limited retrofit to exiting treet are occurring a financial and taff reource permit, and complete treet principle are being addreed more ytematically in the conception or initial deign of a development project rather than during later review tage. The policy ha contributed to more cot-effective invetment of public fund. Some challenge faced by the county include community parking demand and tate deign control. In ome neighborhood, the demand for on-treet parking can preent a ignificant barrier to implementing innovative ue of limited rightof-way on arterial and neighborhood treet. Reident are Arlington County Figure 3.5. Pedetrian afety i emphaized in Arlington County Mater Tranportation Plan. reluctant to give up their free curbide parking. Thi tranlate into fewer tree, fewer bike lane, etc., and ultimately limit choice, ay David Patton, bicycle and pedetrian planner for the county. In addition, change to many arterial treet in the county require explicit approval from the Virginia Department of Tranportation (VDOT). VDOT deign tandard have often prioritized the need of the automobile, above the need of other treet uer, and have frutrated county intention for greater multimodalim. However, a VDOT work to better implement it own bicycle and pedetrian accommodation policy (ee p. 30), uch conflict hould eae. On July 1, 2008, the county implemented a 0.12 percent property tax on commercial property for tranportation improvement. Thi extra revenue ha allowed the county to update treetcape and tranit tation and purchae new bue, among other thing. Arlington County i a model example of how tranportation planner can ue the complete treet concept to highlight ynergie among multiple planning effort and outcome, including TOD, mart growth, bicycle and pedetrian improvement, improved property value, and more tranportation option. For more information about the county complete treet policy, viit EnvironmentalService/dot/planning/mplan/mtp/MTP_Draft.apx. For more information about the tranportation planning in the county, viit ment/environmentalservice/dot/planning/environ mentalserviceplanning.apx.

15 Chapter 3. Element of a Complete Street Policy 33 of automobile congetion. Complete treet planning require taking a broader look at how the ytem i erving all uer. Some communitie, uch a Louiville, Kentucky, have gone o far a to create their own metric that meaure tranportation performance in term of bicycle or pedetrian friendline. Few policie have etablihed performance meaure within the original policy document; in mot cae, performance meaure are dealt with a a later implementation tep. An exception i Roanoke, Virginia, which lit a erie of imple performance meaure a part of it three-page complete treet policy: Total mile of on-treet bicycle route defined by treet with clearly marked or igned bicycle accommodation Linear feet of new pedetrian accommodation Number of new curb ramp intalled along city treet Number of new treet tree planted along city treet Such imple quantitative performance meaure can be a powerful way to communicate the intent of the new policy to the community, but in the workhop offered by the National Complete Street Coalition it ha become clear that people want to alo meaure qualitative outcome. Health, afety, the economy, and uer atifaction are mentioned mot often. The performance meaure developed by a community may alo refer back to the viion tatement included in the policy document. For more information on performance meaure, ee Chapter 5. Ian Shaw, City of Roanoke Creating complete treet through new treet deign guideline: Roanoke, virginia Thank to new treet deign guideline and a collaborative approach to project coping, Roanoke, Virginia, i putting it recent commitment to complete treet into action. In 2001 even year before the city adopted a formal complete treet policy Roanoke comprehenive plan et a goal of creating an integrated, multimodal tranportation ytem for automobile, bicycle, pedetrian, and tranit. The plan called for new treet deign guideline baed on a claification ytem that would balance the purpoe of the roadway with the impact on urrounding area. To implement thi directive, the city formed an interdiciplinary team to draft the guideline. Participant included taff from the city planning, engineering, and tranportation department, a well a an urban foreter, a park planner, and a repreentative from the local MPO. Eventually, after many draft and multiple review, the city planning commiion adopted new treet deign guideline in 2007 a an internal guidance document. According to Critina Finch, the manager of the project team, the guideline take a different approach to treet deign. In Virginia, every area ha a treet claification ytem determined by the tate DOT. Finch and her colleague took thi preexiting treet hierarchy and then implified it. Intead of being claified a major or minor, road were imply arterial, collector, or local treet. The bulk of the guideline look at how thee treet type relate to different character ditrict. For example, Finch ay her team looked at what a collector treet would look like a it went through a uburban neighborhood veru in a traditional neighborhood veru in a downtown. The guideline preent example of croection for variou treet type baed on the character of the area they are in. The illutration depict different width and facilitie for even ditinct roadway zone (travel, parking, gutter/drainage, curb, planter/utilitie, pedetrian, and right-of-way edge), depending on where the local or collector treet ection i located. The city council iued a formal endorement of the treet deign guideline with it Complete Street Reolution in Thi reolution recommend that the guideline developed by Finch team be ued in the planning, funding, deign, operation, and maintenance of new and modified treet. The new policy alo require a written explanation to the city manager if accommodation cannot be made. Figure 3.6. Roanoke treet deign To help implement the new complete treet guideline call for bicycle accommodation. policy, Roanoke formed a treet deign team to make ure that new project contain the appropriate pedetrian, bicycle, and tranit accommodation. The interdepartmental team ha repreentative from the department of planning, building, and development, park and recreation, and neighborhood ervice, a well a from the tranportation and engineering diviion of the public work department. I think that the complete treet policy ha helped unify the city in term of viioning and it communication about treet, ay Finch. With the treet deign team we now have folk regularly talking about our treet, wherea before, for example, the Tranportation Diviion would previouly work with the tate DOT, but other diviion weren t necearily being coordinated with to give input. (continued on page 34)

16 34 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice (continued from page 33) Having a treet deign team enure that repaving and retriping project are now routinely conidered a a method for providing accommodation. Becaue Roanoke i a builtout city where major treet project are rare, thi deign input into routine maintenance activitie i important. Redeign of exiting treet (uch a reallocation of exiting pavement with triping) i where Roanoke ha the mot impact on accommodating all treet uer. According to Senior Planner Ian Shaw, hi department ha alo brought the complete treet approach into the neighborhood planning proce. Shaw and hi colleague have developed a coring ytem for major treet in each neighborhood. The ytem look firt at afety and then at connectivity and deign. The coring alo conider whether or not the available right-of-way can accommodate a complete treet, the ability to locate treet tree within the right-of-way, and the potential for tormwater and drainage iue. So far, the city ha cored 30 treet and hope to have all major treet cored with each neighborhood plan update. Roanoke Street Deign Guideline and the city complete treet policy are both available at PROVIDE IMPLEMENTATION STEPS Taking a complete treet policy from paper to practice i not eay, but providing ome pecific implementation tep can help build momentum. For example, Seattle complete treet ordinance made clear that a ytematic review of the city practice wa in order. Section 2 tate: SDOT will incorporate Complete Street principle into: the Department Tranportation Strategic Plan; Seattle Tranit Plan; Pedetrian and Bicycle Mater Plan; Intelligent Tranportation Sytem Strategic Plan; and other SDOT plan, manual, rule, regulation and program a appropriate. The internal policy updated by Caltran in 2008 take a different approach. It pecifie the reponibilitie of each poition in the agency in implementing the plan from the chief deputy director down to the diviion chief and general employee. Other communitie have etablihed tak force or commiion to work toward policy implementation. For more information, ee Chapter 5.

17 of pecial interet Integrating Planning and Public Health PAS 539/540. Marya Morri, ed pp. $60. I the form of American citie to blame for the hape of American? With obeity rate climbing ever higher, planner are reconidering how the built environment affect public health not only obeity, but alo athma, cardiovacular dieae, water quality, air pollution, pedetrian afety, and mental health. Thi report examine collaboration between planner and public-health profeional committed to building healthy communitie. It outline the five trategic point of intervention at which planner and publichealth profeional can coordinate their effort: viioning and goal etting, plan and planning, implementation tool, ite deign and development, and public facility iting and capital pending. Cae tudie illutrate the pecific tool including health impact aement ued in uch collaboration. It alo examine the role of univeral deign in creating healthy communitie. Planning for Street Connectivity PAS 515. Suan Handy, Robert G. Patteron, and Kent Butler pp. $48. The author provide an overview of effort by communitie acro the U.S. to increae treet connectivity. They look at the motivation behind uch effort, the wide variety of iue thee effort have raied, and the different approache that communitie have taken to reolve them. Planner, deciion maker, and reident will gain a better undertanding of the concept of connectivity a well a idea on how bet to addre the goal of connectivity in their own communitie. The Tranportation/Land Ue Connection PAS 546/547. Terry Moore and Paul Thorne, with Bruce Appleyard pp. $60. Communitie that integrate tranportation and land-ue policie are better able to manage growth, improve the efficiency of travel, and contain infratructure cot. Highway have haped America growth, but they have a big problem: congetion. Building more road doen t olve thi problem for long, but change in the way we approach tranportation and land-ue planning might. Thi report examine the need for public-ector invetment in land-ue and tranportation development and preent the tool and technique planner can ue to integrate tranportation and land ue. Tranportation Infratructure PAS 557. Marlon G. Boarnet, ed pp. $60. Tranportation infratructure i one of the mot preing iue for planner and communitie today. In the hort term, timulu funding i being ued to create job and fix critical ytem; in the long run, communitie are truggling to determine how bet to retructure tranport network to encourage better land ue and to foter reduction in greenhoue ga emiion. Thi report wa compiled with an eye to the urgency and everity of the challenge that we now face. Some of the leading reearcher, cholar, and practitioner in tranportation planning put forth freh bet practice and viionary idea.

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