FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

A movement is growing to Complete the Streets -- to fundamentally change the way most streets and roads are designed in the United States.

What are complete streets, and complete streets policies?

Complete streets are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities must be able to safely move along and across a complete street.

Creating complete streets means transportation agencies must change their orientation toward building primarily for cars. Instituting a complete streets policy ensures that transportation agencies routinely design and operate the entire right of way to enable safe access for all users. Places with complete streets policies are making sure that their streets and roads work for drivers, transit users, pedestrians, and bicyclists, as well as for older people, children, and people with disabilities.

What does a complete street look like?

Since each complete street is unique, it is impossible to give a single description. But ingredients that may be found on a complete street include: sidewalks, bike lanes, plenty of crosswalks, wide shoulders, medians, bus pullouts, special bus lanes, raised crosswalks, audible pedestrian signals, sidewalk bulb-outs, and more. A complete street in a rural area will look quite different from a complete street in a highly urban area. But both are designed to balance safety and convenience for everyone using the road.

Why do we need complete streets policies?

Americans want to walk and bicycle more. Recent opinion polls found that 52 percent of Americans want to bicycle more, and 55% would prefer to drive less and walk more.

Many streets where people bicycle or walk are incomplete. Our states, cities, counties and towns have built many miles of streets and roads that are safe and comfortable only for travel by motor vehicle. These roadways often lack sidewalks or crosswalks, have lanes too narrow to share with bicyclists, and make no room for transit riders and no accommodation for people with disabilities. A recent federal survey found that about one-quarter of walking trips take place on roads without sidewalks or shoulders, and bike lanes are available for only about 5 percent of bicycle trips . Another national survey of pedestrians and bicyclists found that the top complaints were the lack of sidewalks and bikeways – essentially, incomplete streets.

Few laws require states to build roads as complete transportation corridors. In 2000, the US Department of Transportation advised states receiving federal funds that “bicycling and walking facilities will be incorporated into all transportation projects unless exceptional circumstances exist.” But by their own admission, fewer than half the states follow this federal guidance. Many highway improvements add automobile capacity and increase vehicle speeds, but do nothing to mitigate the negative impact this usually has on bicycling and walking.

Streets without safe places to walk and bicycle put people at risk. While nine percent of all trips are made by foot or bicycle, more than 13 percent of all traffic fatalities are bicyclists or pedestrians . More than 5,000 pedestrians and bicyclists die each year on U.S. roads. The most dangerous places to walk and bicycle are sprawling communities with streets built for driving only.

Roads without safe access for non-drivers become barriers. About one-third of Americans do not drive , so complete streets are essential for children and older Americans, as well as people who use wheelchairs, have vision impairments, or simply cannot afford a car.

Where are complete streets being built?

Many states and cities have adopted bike plans or pedestrian plans that designate some streets as corridors for improvements for bicycling and walking. But a few places have gone beyond this to ensure that every street project takes all road users into account.

Among the places with some form of complete streets policy are the states of Oregon, California, South Carolina, and Florida. The city of Santa Barbara, California calls for “achieving equality of convenience and choice” for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, and drivers. Columbia Missouri adopted new street standards to encourage healthy bicycling and walking. And the regional body that allocates federal transportation dollars around Columbus, Ohio has determined that all projects must provide for people on foot and bicycle. See the ‘existing policies’ chart for more information.

What are some of the benefits of complete streets?

Complete streets improve safety. They reduce crashes through safety improvements. A FHWA review of the effectiveness of a wide variety of measures to improve pedestrian safety found that the practice of simply painting crosswalks on high-speed roads designed for automobile travel does not reduce pedestrian crashes. But measures that design the street with pedestrians in mind -- sidewalks, raised medians, better bus stop placement, traffic-calming measures, and treatments for disabled travelers -- all improve pedestrian safety.
One study found that designing for pedestrian travel by installing raised medians and redesigning intersections and sidewalks reduced pedestrian risk by 28%. Complete streets also improve safety indirectly, by increasing the number of people bicycling and walking. A recently published international study found that as the number and portion of people bicycling and walking increases, deaths and injuries decline.

Complete streets encourage more walking and bicycling. Public health experts are encouraging walking and bicycling as a response to the obesity epidemic, and complete streets can help. One study found that 43 percent of people with safe places to walk within 10 minutes of home met recommended activity levels, while just 27% of those without safe places to walk were active enough. Residents are 65% more likely to walk in a neighborhood with sidewalks. A study in Toronto documented a 23% increase in bicycle traffic after the installation of a bicycle lane .

Complete streets can help ease transportation woes. Streets that provide travel choices can give people the option to avoid traffic jams, and increase the overall capacity of the transportation network. Several smaller cities have adopted complete streets policies as one strategy to increase the overall capacity of their transportation network and reduce congestion. An analysis by the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute found that non-motorized transportation options can replace some vehicle trips, and in urban areas where more people commute by foot or bicycle, people drive fewer miles overall. In Portland, Oregon, a complete streets approach has resulted in a 74 percent increase in bicycle commuting in the 1990s .

Complete streets help children. Streets that provide room for bicycling and walking help children get physical activity and gain independence. More children walk to school where there are sidewalks. And children who have and use safe walking and bicycling routes have a more positive view of their neighborhood. Safe Routes to School programs, gaining in popularity across the country, will benefit from complete streets policies that help turn all routes into safe routes.

Complete Streets are good for air quality. Air quality in our urban areas is poor and linked to increases in asthma and other illnesses. Yet if each resident of an American community of 100,000 replaced one car trip with one bike trip just once a month, it would cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 3,764 tons of per year in the community. Complete streets allow this to happen more easily.

Complete streets make fiscal sense. Integrating sidewalks, bike lanes, transit amenities, and safe crossings into the initial design of a project spares the expense of retrofits later. Jeff Morales, the Director of Caltrans when the state of California adopted its complete streets policy in 2001, said, "By fully considering the needs of all non-motorized travelers (pedestrians, bicyclists, and persons with disabilities) early in the life of a project, the costs associated with including facilities for these travelers are minimized.”

Find more information on benefits, including printable factsheets on the 'Benefits' page.

How can I get a complete streets policy adopted in my community?

This website has many resources. See the ‘How to Get' to Complete Streets' tab

How do I implement a complete streets policy?

View our Frequently Asked Questions: Implementation page.