Real-Life Cost of Incomplete Streets Presented by: Sheree Davis New Jersey Department of Transportation State Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator 609.530.6551 sheree.davis@dot.state.nj.us 2011 New Jersey Safety Forum
What are Complete Streets? Complete Streets are roadways designed and operated to enable safe, attractive, and comfortable access and travel for all users of all ages and abilities, including Pedestrians Bicyclists Motorists Transit Users Photo source: VTC Photo source: RBA Group Photo source: VTC Photo source: VTC
Urban Example of a Complete Street in NJ Photo source: VTC
Suburban Example of a Complete Street in NJ Photo source: RBA Group
Rural Example of a Complete Street in NJ Photo source: RBA Group
What are Incomplete Streets? Incomplete Streets do not comfortably and safely accommodate all users. Photo source: flickr/complete Streets Photo source: flickr/richard Masoner/Cyclelicious Photo source: flickr/complete Streets
Examples of Incomplete Streets in NJ Photo source: RBA Group
Examples of Incomplete Streets in NJ Photo source: NJ Future
Examples of Incomplete Streets in NJ Photo source: RBA Group
Cost of Incomplete Streets: Safety 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Persons Killed in NJ, 2000-2010 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Drivers & Passengers Pedestrians & Bicyclists Source: NHTSA and NJ State Police Fatal Accident Unit 2000-2010 7,520 total traffic fatalities 1,566 pedestrian fatalities 168 bicyclist fatalities Pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities have not fallen at the same rate as motorist fatalities Nearly 60% of pedestrian fatalities in NJ occurred on roads with speed limits of 40 mph or greater
Cost of Incomplete Streets: Safety Findings from Dangerous by Design 2011 by Transportation for America The 1,514 people killed between 2000-2009 while walking in NJ cost the state $6.51 billion. Reducing pedestrian fatalities just10% would have saved NJ $651 million over 10 years.
Cost of Incomplete Streets: Safety Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) NJ has an overall PDI of 53.2, ranking 21st nationally for relative risk to pedestrians Source: Dangerous by Design 2011, Transportation for America
Cost of Incomplete Streets: Safety Minorities and Seniors at Greater Risk Source: Dangerous by Design, Transportation for America
Benefits of Complete Streets: Safety Complete Streets improve safety: Directly, by reducing crashes through comprehensive safety improvements Indirectly, by encouraging nonmotorized travel and increasing the number of people bicycling and walking Photo source: RBA Group Photo source: VTC
Benefits of Complete Streets: Safety Raised Medians & Pedestrian Refuge Areas 46% reduction in pedestrian crashes at marked crosswalks 39% reduction in pedestrian crashes at unmarked crosswalk locations Installing raised pedestrian refuge islands on the approaches to unsignalized intersections has had the most impact reducing pedestrian crashes Source: FHWA Source: flickr/complete Streets NCDOT
Costs of Incomplete Streets: Construction/Maintenance & Operation Failure to accommodate all users can trigger an expensive retrofit at a later date Before After Source: National Complete Streets Coalition
Costs of Incomplete Streets: Construction/Maintenance & Operation Incomplete Street Costs State of MD $3.3 mil. in lawsuit
Benefits of Complete Streets: Construction/Maintenance & Operation Medians The cost of landscaping over 20 years is the same as repaving. Snow removal is better because the median provides some place to put the snow. Photo source: RBA Group
Benefits of Complete Streets: Construction/Maintenance & Operation Runoff Many public utility systems in NJ are old, and many municipalities spend lots of money to prevent runoff from flowing into and polluting nearby bodies of water A complete streets design with vegetation to absorb runoff would take more storm water out of the sewer systems. Photo source: RBA Group
Costs of Incomplete Streets: Economic Congestion Photo source: wikipedia New Jerseyans waste more than 52 hours per year stuck in traffic The average annual cost of congestion for NJ is $1,465 per licensed driver NJ has the third longest commute time in the nation Data source: NJDOT, New Jersey Traffic Congestion: A Growing Crisis, January 2008
Costs of Incomplete Streets: Economic Individual Transportation Costs 2 nd largest expense for American households, costing more than food, clothing, and health care Data source: National Complete Streets Coalition
Benefits of Complete Streets: Economic Location Efficiency Access to public transit, and rates of vehicle ownership are key to predicting mortgage performance. More available alternatives to car ownership = more flexibility when it comes to managing transportation costs, making them less likely to default on a mortgage. Data source: NRDC, 2010
Benefits of Complete Streets: Economic Location Efficiency Households located near transit drive an avg. 16 fewer miles/day compared to a household without access to public transit, saving thousands of dollars each year. $6,251 Estimated savings of a 2 person household that uses public transportation compared to a household with 2 cars and no public transportation accessibility. Data source: National Complete Streets Coalition Photo source: RBA Group
Benefits of Complete Streets: Economic Designing roads to make them safer for all users can increase overall capacity and efficiency without a negative impact on automobile travel. Designing wider roads means more time for pedestrians to cross, which in turn means more wait times for cars. Designing more wait times for pedestrians means most cars will go 45 mph on major thoroughfares and stop for 2 minutes instead of going along at 30 mph with less stopping time. In scenarios with narrower streets engineers can actually increase car capacity because there is less time for pedestrians to cross the street. Mid-block crossings are safer for pedestrians because there is traffic coming from 2 directions instead of 4 at intersections. Source: John LaPlante, PE, PTOE Director of Traffic Engineering for TY Lin, from ITE Annual Meeting www.cnu.org/node/4493
VMT (in billions) Costs of Incomplete Streets: Environmental 80 Vehicle Miles Traveled in NJ (1994-2008) 75 70 65 60 55 50 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 Transportation represents the largest sector of New Jersey s GHG emissions and the fastest growing sector On-road gasoline consumption representing the vast majority of those emissions. Source: Meeting New Jersey s 2020 Greenhouse Gas Limit: New Jersey s Global Warming Response Act Recommendations Report
Benefits of Complete Streets: Environmental Reduction in VMT Photo source: Jeremiah Cox/subwaynut.com The Hudson Bergen Light Rail saves more than 3.4 million gallons of gas a year the amount consumed by 6,000 cars and reduced carbon dioxide pollution by more than 37,000 tons in 2008. Data Source: Transformation through Transportation By James Greller, Hudson County Improvement Authority, http://www.njtransactionconf.com/2011%20transaction%20info/greller%20ta.pdf
Costs of Incomplete Streets: Health Health Problems Include: Obesity NJ obesity rate is 24.1% More than 3 in 5 New Jersey adults are overweight or obese Estimated Annual Medical Costs of Obesity in NJ is $2.3 billion Diabetes 8.4% of adults diagnosed (2009) Data sources: Trust for America s Health, National Conference of State Legislatures, CDC
Benefits of Complete Streets: Health Connectivity and Walkability
Benefits of Complete Streets: Health Photo source: RBA Group 43% of people with safe places to walk within 10 minutes of home met recommended activity levels Among those without safe places to walk just 27% met the recommendation. Residents are 65% more likely to walk in a neighborhood with sidewalks. Data source: National Complete Streets Coalition
Transforming Incomplete Streets
Transforming Incomplete Streets Photos source: Parsons Brinckerhoff
Transforming Incomplete Streets Photos source: NJDOT
NJDOT Complete Streets Projects Route 36 Highlands Bridge Photo sources: RBA Group
NJDOT Complete Streets Projects Route 52 Causeway Recent pictures?
What Can We do? Adopt Complete Streets Policies! Complete Streets Policies: Ensure early multi-modal scoping, saving money by avoiding costly project delays Reverse the burden of proof. Makes the needs of all users the default. You need to justify not building for all users. Policy Adoption Acceleration Source: National Complete Streets Coalition
Complete Streets Policies in NJ New Jersey Department of Transportation (December 3, 2009) New Jersey Counties Monmouth County (July 22, 2010) New Jersey Municipalities 1. Township of Bloomfield (March 7, 2011) 2. Township of Denville (November 24, 2010) 3. Borough of Emerson (August 17, 2010) 4. City of Hoboken (November 15, 2010) 5. City of Jersey City (May 25, 2011) 6. Township of Lawrence (September 21, 2010) 7. City of Linwood (February 23, 2011) 8. Borough of Maywood (June 16, 2011) 9. Township of Montclair (October 6, 2009) 10. Borough of Netcong (August 12, 2010) 11. Borough of Red Bank (August 9, 2010) 12. Village of Ridgewood (June 8, 2011) 13. Township of West Windsor (July 19, 2010) 14. Borough of Point Pleasant (June 21, 2011) (not shown on map) Source: VTC
NJDOT s Complete Streets Policy NJDOT's Policy received the highest ranking from the National Complete Streets Coalition among the more than 210 communities and states that have adopted formal Complete Streets policies.
NJDOT s Complete Streets Policy Steps taken to implement the policy internally and externally: 1. Trained all in-house NJDOT engineering and planning on complete streets 2. Subject Matter Experts review as part of the Pipeline process. 3. Change to guidelines for pipeline process to Photo source: RBA Group include Complete Streets.
NJDOT s Complete Streets Policy Steps taken to implement the policy internally and externally: 4. Developed checklist for CPM to ensure Complete Streets inclusion in all department projects. 5. Incentive to Municipalities for Local Aid programs 6. Conducting regional workshops on policy and design for complete streets
Benefits of Complete Streets Safety Economic Photo source: flickr/richarddrdul Photo source: RBA Group
Benefits of Complete Streets Environment Health Photo source: VTC Photo source: RBA Group
Sheree J. Davis New Jersey Department of Transportation State Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator 609.530.6551 sheree.davis@dot.state.nj.us