Complete Street policies are a component of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) transportation recommendations. The focus of road design is no longer about auto-mobility, but creating an overall network that serves all users (LaPlante, McCann, 2011). Shifts towards using Complete Streets provide a measure of how approaches to planning and engineering are shifting over time. Additionally, the Coalition is privately run and there is no federal clearinghouse of policies, plans, or programs. This data source is limited in that it relies on communities to self-report policies in addition to identifying potential policies through internet and social media searches. A chart listing all of the policies is updated bi-monthly.
The interactive map marks the policies and identifies the different levels: laws and ordinances, resolutions, tax ordinances, internal policies or executive policies, plans, design manuals or guides, or policies adopted by elected boards (Smart Growth America). The National Complete Streets Coalition Policy Atlas is a collection of the Complete Street policies from across the country that has been used to identify the presence and robustness of Complete Streets policies at the state and regional levels to develop this indicator. Complete Streets also promote increased roadway connectivity, which has been shown to reduce VMT per capita (Moreland-Russell et al., 2013), and they have been found to improve safety and mobility for pedestrians and bicyclists (U.S. Additionally, Healthy People 2020 listed “increased legislative policies for the built environment that enhance access to and availability of physical activity opportunities” as a specific travel and transportation policy.Īctive transportation and physical activity is more likely to occur in places with a variety of land uses, a comprehensive network of pedestrian, bicycle, and public transportation facilities, inviting street design for all users, and safety measures and Complete Streets policies address all four of those factors (Fenton, 2012). Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Active transportation, or trips made by walking or bicycling, was identified by Healthy People 2020 as a target for measuring progress for healthier people (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996).
Research suggests that physically active adults “have lower rates of all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, colon cancer, breast cancer, and depression” than their physically inactive peers (U.S. The connections between physical activity and public health have been widely documented. Complete Streets policies can support planners and engineers in developing roadway designs that improve the safety of all users and provide additional opportunities for physical activity from transportation. A personal vehicle-centric design approach potentially could pose barriers to use by pedestrians, bicyclists and public transportation users, thus limiting active transportation opportunities and potential resulting health benefits. Roadways traditionally have been designed primarily for motor vehicles.