Before we dive deeper into posts about carbon content or green construction alternatives, there should be a post about an absolutely beautiful concept called “Complete Streets,” as it is a pillar of sustainable urban development. For what good is a green road if its part a wholly detrimental urban space? This is a post about the real, immediate, and quantifiable benefits of rethinking the way urban areas are designed
Complete Streets
For decades now, it has been painfully obvious that many urban areas are built around the concept of the car as the sole form of transportation. With urban sprawl moving further and further out, walking has become outmoded and the idea of using a bicycle became a quaint, leisurely activity rather than a common-sense method short-distance transportation. Suburban communities are built around hierarchical networks of streets from residential cul-de-sacs to minor collector to major arterials, almost all unfriendly to public transport, and urban residents from Las Vegas to Dallas are stuck living in circumstances better suited for gas guzzling mounds of metal and rubber than flesh and blood. This is the where the idea of a complete street comes in.
What is a “complete street?” As defined by the National Complete Streets Coalition, it is a concept by which 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.” In a dense urban area, this would be a street that contains: wide sidewalks with frequent crossing opportunities and pedestrian signals; easy access to public transportation; lanes for cars, busses, and bicycles; and potentially median islands and curb extensions on roads more than 2 lanes wide in each direction. [i]
An area built around multi-modal transportation methods allows districts to develop into communities. It is a wholehearted push away from endless miles of road and thousand-car parking lots and toward lively, vibrant business districts. Frankly put, it is an attempt to bring some humanity back to our cities.
Why do we need Complete Streets?
Some interesting facts to note:
Bicycles: In Portland, Oregon, from 1991 to 2008, the bicycle network was expanded from 79 to 275 miles. The end result is that ridership along the city’s four main bridges increased by 490%. And despite the thousands of new riders, with all these new bike lanes, there were only 30 more crashes in 2007 versus 1991.[ii] New York City is already home to 120,000 cyclists per day, but has yet to build some 800 of its proposed 900 mile bicycle network.[iii] The benefits of a complete bicycle path system combined with its already massive public transportation system would be incredible, producing a potential annual savings of $1,100 per motorist, along with substantial health benefits. [iv]
Pedestrian access: The statistics for walking in America are just ludicrous. The federal National Household Transportation Survey found that despite the fact that 28% of all metropolitan trips are less than one mile long, 65% of are made by automobile. Americans have come to rely on 3500 pounds of metal and glass to replace what should be a 15 minute walk. Could this be in some way related to the fact that the country’s fastest growing cities are in the South West?[v] With the average summer temperature in Dallas is 96° F, and a 105° F in Phoenix, walking even a mile can pose a serious health risk. [vi], [vii]
And of course research confirms the obvious – that a greater ability to walk down streets would lead more people to lead their cars behind. In one Transportation Research Board study, in areas with sidewalks, safe crossings, and reduced vehicle speeds, more children are likely to walk to school. Unsurprisingly, “the proportion of arterials and collectors with sidewalks along them proved to have the most significant influence on walking.” [viii]
Access to public transportation: Like walking and cycling, along with reducing overall pollution rates (by cutting annual oil consumption by 1.4 billion gallons), access to public transit also improves traffic conditions and decreases economic losses. The Texas Transportation Institute concluded that of the top 85 cities in the country, “congestion caused 3.7 billion hours of travel delay and 2.3 billion gallons of wasted fuel, for a total cost of $63 billion … In New York, where public transportation is widely available, only 14.0 percent of consumer expenditures are for transportation. In contrast, in the Phoenix area … consumer expenditures for transportation are 21.5 percent.”[ix]
So what does a complete street do?
- So what exactly happens when populations have greater access to all modes of transportation?
- Healthy activities like walking and cycling are promoted
- Heavier pedestrian and public transportation traffic creates new, denser commercial areas, creating vibrant, healthy communities
- Excessive consumption of fossil fuels for transportation is discouraged
- Traffic on major arteries is relieved
- The environment becomes safer as cars slow down and crossing the street becomes safer
- Environmental conditions improve as less energy is wasted on driving cars longer distances
Wonderful before & after photos of complete streets can be found on the National Complete Street Coalition’s Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/completestreets/
What do we see? Shaky dirt paths have turned into safer and wider paved streets; bus stops exist where there was no access to public transportation; there bike lanes and safe crosswalks. What exists is neighborhood revitalization.
But a complete street, focused on creating environmentally sustainable urban areas should also be made of environmentally sound materials, to be discussed in future posts.
*Many thanks to the National Complete Streets Coalition for much of the reference data used in this post.
The coalition also accepts donations.
[i] http://www.completestreets.org/complete-streets-fundamentals/complete-streets-faq/
[ii] http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=217489 [11mb PDF]
[iii] http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/transportation/20060718/16/1910/
[iv] http://nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/bike/home.shtml
[v] http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/26/real_estate/Metropolitan_Population/index.htm
[vi] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas#Climate
[vii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix,_Arizona#Climate
[viii] Ewing, R. Will Schroeer, William Greene. “School Location and Student Travel: Analysis of Factors Affecting Mode Choice.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1895, TRB, 2004, pp 55–63. [http://www.icfi.com/Markets/Transportation/doc_files/school-location.pdf]
[ix] http://www.apta.com/resources/reportsandpublications/Documents/congestion.pdf
