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 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

3 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

4 CHAPTER 5 Making the Tranition: Planning for Change and Addreing Problem It hould be clear that complete treet policie can and hould lead to change in tranportation planning, deign, and contruction procee. But how do communitie make the tranition from traditional, automobile-baed tranportation planning to a more incluive and multimodal proce? What are the bigget iue they mut reolve? And how do they meaure the ucce of their new way of doing buine? 45

5 46 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice afety and comfort for all treet uer: new Haven, connecticut In the city of New Haven, Connecticut, a variety of local factor mobilized member of the community to encourage the adoption of a complete treet policy in the fall of Thee factor included (1) a very high proportion of worker commuting on foot or by bike, carpool, or public tranit; (2) two high-profile pedetrian fatalitie; (3) data indicating a diproportionate rate of pediatric injury; and (4) the elevation of local treet a public place that define quality of life and the overall image of the city. Activit in the area made it a priority to rally public upport for a comprehenive policy to make the treet of New Haven afer and more comfortable for all uer. Activit, city official, and aldermen worked together to draft and adopt a et of goal and develop an implementation program. The reulting policy explicitly outline comprehenive tep to make ure that complete treet implementation will be a community effort. A teering committee ha been taked with developing a deign manual, enuring that engineer key player in implementation are not left out of the proce. Further, the committee mut develop a proce to involve the general public in the planning and deign of complete treet in their neighborhood. Although the city doe not have the public fund available to upport project olely dedicated to completing the treet, a tremendou amount of private invetment i available to the city depite the challenging economic time. Thu, the city ha been uing fund from private invetor to develop it bikeway ytem and enhance bicycle and pedetrian acce to tranit hub. Ethan Hutching, City of New Haven Figure 5.1. Concern for pedetrian afety have helped fuel New Haven complete treet movement. Bureaucratic procedure have tood in the way of complete treet implementation in New Haven; however, the policy addree thi iue. According to Mike Picitelli, aicp, city tranportation director, Thi policy wa more about how to organize ourelve for the longer term. How do we create a lating ytem? City official have found that the policy ha created a more comprehenive and ytematic approach a it coordinate the effort of taff, who previouly had worked in unrelated ilo, to promote imilar goal. The policy focue on changing the way the adminitration doe buine o a to provide a utainable, reliable tranportation ytem for all roadway uer well into the future. Finally, the policy emphaize the importance of public education campaign to promote complete treet principle. One campaign that tand out i the award-winning Street Smart, in which driver take a pledge to be cognizant and repectful of other roadway uer. In New Haven, citizen can receive training to become a Smart Driver ; all city and chool bu driver go through thi program. The city ha emphaized the relation of the Street Smart campaign to the complete treet legilation. According to Picitelli, Intead of focuing olely on regulation, we are addreing human behavior a the central focu of the afety campaign and then complementing education with phyical improvement. Thi i one unique and, according to Picitelli, ucceful apect of the ytematic change taking place in New Haven. The New Haven Street Smart program webite can be found at Read about the New Haven Safe Street Coalition local advocacy at Thi chapter addree thee iue. It explore implementation planning, training, performance meaure, and exception procedure. It alo examine how ome juridiction have hifted their tranportation prioritie and what that ha meant for their relationhip with other agencie that control road in their community. IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING It i too eay to adopt a trongly worded complete treet reolution or even a law and then let it it, unimplemented. Many communitie have taken year to move their policie from paper into practice, with fit and tart along the way. For example, Oregon 1971 bike bill wa ignored by many local government until a 1992 lawuit led to a court deciion confirming that the law mut be applied to all road project. (See idebar, p. 28.) In Maachuett, the 1996 bicycle and pedetrian accommodation law call for reaonable proviion for bicyclit and pedetrian, but the Maachuett Highway Department truggled to undertand what that meant ubtantively, and tranportation mode other than automobile remained an afterthought. A full complete treet implementation proce wa not born in the tate until the tate highway deign manual wa rewritten in One way to get thing moving i to create an implementation plan or to charge a committee with doing o. An implementation plan can identify document and procee that need to be changed, aign reponibility for who will be making uch change, and name pecific document or procee that hould be created a part of complete treet implementation. Thi wa the cae in New Haven, Connecticut. In order to back

6 Chapter 5. Making the Tranition: Planning for Change and Addreing Problem 47 up it complete treet policy with action, the city etablihed a teering committee to focu on policy development, etablih a complete treet deign manual, encourage community involvement, pearhead an educational campaign, and work with city police officer to enure that traffic enforcement i in alignment with the policy goal. Seattle and Chicago have focued on a ytematic review of all document that need to be updated to implement the policy. Seattle alo etablihed an internal complete treet teering committee to help clarify and define the daily operational practice that the Department of Tranportation would take to implement the policy. The California DOT, Caltran, adopted a limited policy in 2001 and expanded it in 2008 to include tranit and apply to enior and people with diabilitie. Following the update, Caltran decided to create an implementation plan, overeen by a high-level teering committee, that engaged all 12 of the department ditrict and created pecific next tep. Among other item, the plan called for a review of all relevant tranportation document and for report on pecific topic uch a workzone iue and how to incorporate change into repaving and maintenance project. Such formal implementation plan are the exception rather than the rule. The place that have moved beyond the initial policy tatement have uually done o by creating a more detailed tranportation plan, deign manual, or deign tandard, often while working to apply complete treet principle to pecific project. Other place have been content to take a more ad hoc approach, learning from the experience of pilot project, with the intent to codify new tandard and procedure later. CHANGING EVERYDAY TRANSPORTATION PLANNING PROCESSES Traditionally, engineer and planner in tranportation agencie and public work department have made their day-to-day deciion on the bai of the demand for roadway capacity expanion and repair. One of the bigget challenge for complete treet advocate i changing buine a uual. New planning procee can help guide planner and engineer through new procedure and way of thinking. One of the mot ytematic change to date ha occurred in Charlotte, North Carolina. Prior istockphoto.com/chritopher Arndt complete treet training and implementation in chicago Figure 5.2. Car hare the treet with bicyclit in downtown Chicago. The City of Chicago adopted a complete treet policy in October The policy tate, The afety and convenience of all uer of the tranportation ytem including pedetrian, bicyclit, tranit uer, freight, and motor vehicle driver hall be accommodated and balanced in all type of tranportation and development project and through all phae of a project o that even the mot vulnerable children, elderly, and peron with diabilitie can operate afely within the public right of way. In order to help taff undertand and implement the policy, the Chicago Department of Tranportation worked with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning to ponor a erie of training eion for city planner, engineer, and project manager. Several hundred people participated in four two-day workhop. The workhop reulted in a greater awarene of complete treet iue and helped to increae undertanding of potential deign conideration. While the city ha taken tep over the lat few year to implement the policy, it i now comprehenively aeing the tatu of complete treet implementation and how it can be improved. According to Kierten Grove, pedetrian program coordinator, the project aim to identify opportunitie and challenge in exiting city policie and practice and to create a erie of recommendation to addre thee. Grove anticipate that in addition to the recommendation, a project checklit will be developed to ae the degree to which complete treet are realized in project development. The city hope to operationalize complete treet in all phae of a project including planning, deign, contruction, and maintenance. The implementation project i engaging a divere et of takeholder including multiple city department, tate agencie, and repreentative from the local advocacy community in order to include a broad range of dicipline in creating olution and building awarene. Information about Chicago complete treet policy and it broader Safe Street for Chicago initiative i available at Chicago_programheet.pdf.

7 48 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice,, planning and deigning for complete treet: Charlotte, North Carolina After decade of rapid growth, Charlotte, North Carolina, wa becoming dependent on thoroughfare and cul-de-ac; the city had no bicycling route and an incomplete idewalk network. In the early 2000, however, planner and engineer at the Charlotte Department of Tranportation (CDOT) began to create a treet network deigned and operated for people, whether in car or bue, on bike, or on foot. Today, armed with new guideline and a new approach to treet deign, Charlotte i completing it treet. The 2006 Tranportation Action Plan (TAP), the city firt comprehenive tranportation plan, ha played a major role in achieving Charlotte goal to integrate land-ue and tranportation choice. The TAP decribe policie, project, and program that upport continued growth while making the bet ue of exiting infratructure and tranportation reource and preerving a high quality of life. Among it goal i the promotion of a balanced, multi-modal tranportation ytem that erve the mobility need of all egment of the population, accommodate all travel mode, and promote community economic development need. It alo aim for context-baed treet deign, expanded public tranportation ervice, improved afety for all uer, and improved connectivity of the tranportation network. treetcape in Charlotte. Many of thee goal are being implemented through Charlotte Urban Street Deign Guideline (USDG), adopted in October To create the USDG, developer, interet group, city taff, and reident were interviewed to enure their concern were addreed. While conultant were hired for ome tak, taff remained at the forefront, enuring true ownerhip of the reult. The USDG focue on providing the bet poible treet to accommodate growth, create tranportation choice, and maintain Charlotte livability. Tranportation choice are created both through providing more connection acro the network and by building complete treet that make other mode viable. By providing a better treet network, Charlotte hope to increae it overall tranportation capacity and improve air quality, while upporting the land-ue deciion needed for Charlotte future growth, including more compact development. Street identified a favorite by reident in urvey tend to be found in older neighborhood, are cloer to the city core, and feature treettree canopie and pedetrian amenitie. The city aim to build more treet that have thee characteritic. City of Charlotte Figure 5.3. New urban treet-deign guideline are improving local To meet thee goal, a new treet claification ytem wa developed a an overlay to tandard federal claification. Staff believed that the bet way to balance modal need wa to develop a proce for deigning treet wherein the varying interet and need of all uer and variou land ue were conidered and the deign trade-off were examined. Five new treet type emerged, falling along a continuum ranging from mot pedetrian friendly to mot auto oriented. There i an explicit undertanding that all treet type along thi range will be deigned with all potential uer in mind. Once a treet or portion of a treet i claified, both treet deign and future land-ue deciion will reflect that claification. The emerging treet network i alo context baed. Preferred and maximum block length baed on land ue are pecified for new public or private development project, encouraging a dene, well-connected network of treet. Intentionally and inherently, treet deign i tied to intenity and denity of development, ay Norm Steinman, planning and deign diviion manager. We made it very clear that where there will be more denity, we expect more treet and more block. Typical cro ection for each treet type were developed to encourage planner and engineer to think about each project and fully conider it context and ue both now and in the future. There i no one-ize-fit-all approach; Charlotte deliberately choe not to include dimenion on many cro ection, which would be too precriptive. The exception i for local treet, where a tricter approach i preferred. Even there, however, everal option are provided to enure a good match between each treet and the adjacent land ue. For nonprecriptive (thoroughfare) treet type, the cro-ection deign i intended to be the final tep of a more comprehenive equence of fact-finding and deciion making. A part of the USDG, CDOT created new methodologie for determining multimodal level-of-ervice (LOS). The new method look imilar to automotive LOS, allowing a comparion for evaluating trade-off and helping to convince engineer that complete treet deign can be baed on analyi. LOS meaure for pedetrian and cyclit are applied in conjunction with traditional vehicular LOS. The new meaure identify and evaluate roadway feature that influence the afety and comfort of pedetrian and bicyclit, uch a croing ditance, crowalk, bike lane, corner radii, and traffic-ignal timing and placement. (continued on page 49)

8 Chapter 5. Making the Tranition: Planning for Change and Addreing Problem 49 (continued from page 48) CDOT added to thi innovation by uing a two-hour peak congetion analyi, rather than the traditional one-hour look. When uing the tandard 60-minute interval, engineer might be more likely to add additional turn lane at interection. Thi i logical for 30 or 45 minute, ay Tranportation Planner Tracy Newome, but what about the ret of the day? Pedetrian would face longer croing ditance all day to accommodate a potentially brief period of vehicular congetion. The duration of congetion i crucial in determining the need for roadway change. All of thi doe not mean that CDOT i unconcerned about congetion and travel delay. On road diet project, for example, CDOT undertake careful analye to enure that vehicular flow ha not been worened. A range of meaure are ued, including crahe, peed, and volume at peak period, both before and after the converion. The extra analyi now ued throughout CDOT i credited by Newome and Steinman a a key reaon the USDG work and i upported by taff. We re not eliminating analyi but intead doing more of it, ay Steinman. The reult, once thought counterintuitive, are proven through logic and methodology. A a reult, engineer are more likely to be on board. At firt, ome deign engineer wondered how the new analytical procee would work, ay Newome, becaue they did not eem like traditional traffic analye. However, after working through the new method and uing a ix-tep proce, former keptic have become advocate for the change. They appreciate the additional technical analyi, which i blended with meaningful public participation to identify logical option and to create better treet. Engineer were not the only one with doubt the public had to ee the proce work a well. CDOT ha been incremental in it approach, applying the new deign on their own project. Thi ha created real-world example of how the proce and treet deign look and function. CDOT ue thee project to demontrate how all the element work together. Thi make communicating the many benefit of complete treet to the community far eaier. Charlotte i now working to integrate the USDG into zoning and ubdiviion code, which would require developer to follow the guideline. Becaue private developer contruct the vat majority of new treet in the city, the updated code will aure an integrated, connected ytem of complete treet neceary for mobility and growth. Over the pat few year, CDOT ha been informally applying the USDG proce when reviewing conditional rezoning application. During thee review, CDOT ha aked for condition or modification that reflect their treet deign goal, like planting trip and bike lane. Several recent large-cale development have agreed to follow the USDG, including the planned redevelopment of the 90-acre ite of the old Charlotte Colieum. Eight recent area plan have applied USDG guidance a well. Charlotte, unlike many juridiction in North Carolina, i reponible for maintaining mot of it local road and many of it thoroughfare. However, the North Carolina Department of Tranportation control everal major thoroughfare and the city extraterritorial juridiction (ETJ), unincorporated area within Charlotte growth boundary. All road in the ETJ are contructed to the tandard of NCDOT, which are quite different from, and ometime contradictory to, the USDG ued within the city. According to Steinman and Newome, thi ha ometime been an iue. Many of their negotiation have been over lane width; where Charlotte would allow, 11- or 10-foot lane, NCDOT require 12-foot lane. Other element turn lane, curb radii, bike lane, on-treet parking have alo been contentiou. However, a complete treet policy adopted by the NCDOT in mid-2009, which drew on the experience in Charlotte, i expected to help the two agencie align their viion. Charlotte TAP alo addree the cot of maintaining a good quality of life and mobility. Some cot have increaed, a CDOT i intalling more idewalk, planting trip, and bike lane; ometime thi can mean increaed cot in acquiring right-of-way. However, after going through the ix-tep proce, the city ha concluded that the cot in widening the right-of-way for idewalk and bike lane will pay off in future mobility. With ome interection project, CDOT ave by not adding a many lane a they would have under a different proce. Other change to the treet to make them more functional for all uer have little to do with contruction and cot very little. For example, Charlotte ha changed it operation approach, epecially in prioritization and tyle of croing. They have added countdown pedetrian ignal, increaed the viibility crowalk marking, and reduced mot traffic ignal cycle to no more than two minute to minimize the time pedetrian pend waiting to cro. Overall, Charlotte i on a teady path to implementing it policy. A of the end of 2009, the city had completed 16 project to create complete treet, and 18 more are in the work. Eleven interection have been modified, with 10 more project planned. Fifteen project have added new idewalk, and 40 more are planned. The city now ha more than 50 mile of bike lane, up from almot zero 10 year ago. In ome way, Charlotte guiding viion i not really new. A Steinman put it, We re going back to what ha worked in the pat, and trying to create the type of community that ha utained itelf for decade. The ix-tep proce i imply a good planning proce that i well defined, and new treet deign reflect thoe built in the early 20th century that have tood the tet of time. We re only innovative in that we are forcing ourelve to think, ay Newome. I the additional left-turn lane really needed to relieve congetion that exit for jut 45 minute at the expene of pedetrian and bicyclit uing that treet all day? Armed with trong policie, good deign tandard, and a context-enitive outlook, CDOT planner and engineer fully own their viion and take pride in their work, allowing them to create better treet not jut for motorit but for pedetrian, bicyclit, and other working and living in Charlotte. Charlotte Urban Street Deign Guideline, along with policy ummary and implementation proce document, can be acceed at Urban+Street+Deign+Guideline.htm.

9 50 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice Moving toward complete treet: Pennylvania department of tranportation PennDOT i working to change it traditional automobile-oriented approach. It ha emphaized context-enitive olution ince 2001, and the agency compliance with federal ADA requirement ha been key in reviing deign guideline for accommodating pedetrian acce. The 2008 Smart Tranportation Guide, developed in partnerhip with the New Jerey DOT, ha further enabled PennDOT to conider the need of all uer and integrate all mode of tranportation. Finally, the tate ecretary of tranportation, Allen Biehler, ha been a leader in thinking about a complete tranportation ytem encompaing multiple road, rather than jut focuing on highway. One of the mot helpful tool PennDOT ue to take a proactive approach to complete treet i it Bicycle and Pedetrian Checklit. The checklit i ued throughout PennDOT project planning and programming, coping, and final deign procee, and it enure that bike and pedetrian accommodation are conidered from the very beginning of a project. According to Danielle Spila, director of PennDOT Policy Office, the checklit i jut one of variou complete treet type policie in place throughout PennDOT under the umbrella of it Smart Tranportation policy. PennDOT Figure (Above) Annville Townhip Main Street before and (below) after traffic-calming treetcape improvement, leveraged with PennDOT aitance In 2007, PennDOT policy wa revied to mandate that highway and bridge project mut evaluate acce and mobility need of pedetrian and bicyclit. A a reult, the checklit, which had been in exitence for everal year, wa officially made part of PennDOT project development proce. In the initial planning and programming phae of that proce, the checklit i ued to enure conitency with exiting bicycle and pedetrian planning document; evaluate current and future uage by bicyclit and pedetrian; conider afety need; and take into account community development and land-ue pattern a well a the availability of tranit. In the econd phae, coping, the checklit provide deign pecification to determine what pedetrian and bicycle feature will be neceary baed on Phae 1 finding and guide field-checking to note any ite contraint. In the final deign phae, the checklit provide a cookbook-tyle matrix of variou bicycle and pedetrian deign element to ait in creating project plan. (continued on page 51) deciion making had focued on meeting automobile level-of-ervice tandard, but the development of the new Urban Street Deign Guideline ha led to a tranportation planning proce that i flexible, incluive, well-documented, and clear. The Charlotte Department of Tranportation ix-tep proce focue on project context and ha fotered creative olution to tranportation quetion. 1. Define the exiting and future land ue and urban deign context. 2. Define the exiting and future tranportation context. 3. Identify deficiencie. 4. Decribe future objective. 5. Recommend treet claification and tet initial cro-ection. 6. Decribe trade-off and elect cro-ection. The proce enure that planner undertand the project and the area that urround it, and i applied to all plan, program, and project that could affect exiting treet or reult in new treet. Thi include area plan, treetcape plan, neighborhood improvement plan, development propoal review, and preparation of capital improvement plan. Area planning, in particular, benefit from the proce, a it provide the framework neceary for integration of land ue and tranportation on a larger cale. Other place are uing checklit a a way to enure early conideration of the need of all uer. PennDOT ue a bicycle and pedetrian checklit throughout it project planning and programming, coping, and final deign procee to enure that bicycle and pedetrian accommodation are conidered from the very beginning of a project. On a regional cale, the Metropolitan Tranportation Commiion (MTC), the San Francico Bay Area MPO, adopted a routine

10 Chapter 5. Making the Tranition: Planning for Change and Addreing Problem 51 accommodation checklit in 2008 for thoe project applying for funding through the American Recovery and Reinvetment Act (ee MTC idebar, p. 53). from the PENNDOT BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN CHECKLIST 1. Conitency with Bicycle/Pedetrian Planning Document I the tranportation facility included in or related to bicycle and pedetrian facilitie identified in a mater plan? MPO/LDD bike/ped plan Local planning document BicyclePA Route Statewide Bicycle and Pedetrian Mater Plan 2. Exiting and Future Uage Do bicycle/pedetrian group regularly ue the tranportation facility? Bike club Bicycle commuter Hiking, walking, or running club Skateboarding or rollerblading group Bicycle touring group General tourim/ighteeing Doe the exiting tranportation facility provide the only convenient tranportation connection/linkage between land ue in the local area or region? 3. Safety Would the tranportation facility (and all uer) benefit from widened or improved houlder or improved marking (houlder, crowalk)? 4. Community and Land Ue Are idewalk needed in the area? Preence of worn path along the facility Adjacent land ue generate pedetrian traffic Poible linkage/continuity with other pedetrian facilitie I the tranportation facility in cloe proximity to hopital, elderly care facilitie, or the reidence or buinee of peron with diabilitie? 5. Tranit I the tranportation facility on a tranit route? 6. Traffic Calming I the community conidering traffic calming a a poible olution to peeding and cut-through traffic? Since 2004, the Virginia Department of Tranportation ha been working to counter it traditional tranportation mind-et with a routine accommodation policy. In 2006, VDOT added a new ection to it coping form for new contruction and maintenance activitie to enure that multimodal accommodation i conidered for each project. To upplement the form, VDOT alo created a imple deciion tree that help determine whether or not a project i exempted for any of the reaon outlined in the policy tatement. Thee have been important tool for working to change the tatu quo. (See Figure 5.6, p. 52) (continued from page 50) The checklit i important becaue it act a a data-gathering piece, pulling together all of the neceary information early in the planning proce o that proper funding can be applied to enure the incluion of bicycle and pedetrian facilitie. According to Ben DeVore, a civil engineer and PennDOT bike/ped coordinator, mandatory ue of the checklit ha had a poitive impact on proviion of accommodation. Mot accommodation need are now identified early in the proce, and deign olution can be engineered in from the tart. The checklit alo enable PennDOT to include local communitie and tranportation uer; relationhip are etablihed through having one-on-one converation with thee takeholder to determine their need. However, DeVore experience ha hown him that the effectivene of the checklit to a large extent depend on who ue it. Project manager are officially reponible for completing checklit, but DeVore complete the checklit for all project in hi ditrict to enure that adequate attention i paid to thi tep. Other challenge to ucceful implementation remain. Patrick Robert, a former PennDOT planner who now work a principal tranportation planner for the City of Pittburgh, aert that local planner mut work with PennDOT to enure that accommodation need are met on project in their communitie. While PennDOT juridiction in urban area i minor Robert etimate that PennDOT i involved with about 5 percent of the road within Pittburgh the road it doe work on are vital for connectivity throughout the city. Cot i alway an iue, according to DeVore. ADA accommodation i abolutely required, o ometime a project mut be caled back to incorporate all the required improvement. When multimodal need are conidered very early in the proce, the cot are incorporated into PennDOT project budget from the beginning and are not a much of an obtacle. If bike/ped improvement are added to an active project, however, the local municipality may be aked to come up with the additional fund, and that can be a problem. Sidewalk can be another ticking point. In Pennylvania, reponibility for idewalk maintenance ha been delegated to municipalitie, o while PennDOT will build idewalk if they are incorporated into the project deign early in the proce, the municipality mut till ign a maintenance agreement. Local politic can play a role a well. In more rural area where the car i king, politician don t ee a need for complete treet and are often againt reducing lane capacity to accommodate other mode of tranportation. Through it Smart Tranportation policy, the driving force of which i conideration of all mode, PennDOT i moving toward a complete treet perpective. The bicycle and pedetrian checklit i an important tool to make ure that accommodation iue are conidered very early in the proce, o that thee facilitie can be planned and deigned into a project from the tart. For more information on PennDOT Smart Tranportation initiative, ee The Smart Tranportation Guidebook can be downloaded at The Bicycle and Pedetrian Checklit, Appendix J in PennDOT Deign Manual 1A, can be found at ftp.dot.tate.pa.u/public/bureau/deign/pub10a/ Appendix/Append-J.pdf.

11 52 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice Figure 5.6. VDOT accommodation deciion tree Virginia Department of Tranportation Another common innovation i the ue of planning team and early project meeting. In Roanoke, Virginia; Columbu, Ohio; and Seattle, project development tart with broad team meeting that bring all relevant department together to coordinate everything from utilitie to tranit top along a corridor. TRAINING A common complaint i that tranportation planner and engineer have not received the technical training needed to effectively erve all tranportation ytem uer. Many learned very little in their formal education about planning and deigning facilitie for bicyclit, pedetrian, or tranit and were taught even le about how to balance the need of different mode. Some place with complete treet policie have conducted extenive deign training on pedetrian and bicyclit facilitie or ADA requirement compliance. Thi training i ometime provided through traditional continuing-education forum or at tate conference, and uch coure are widely available. But ome planner and engineer involved in complete treet are cautiou about the value of an

12 Chapter 5. Making the Tranition: Planning for Change and Addreing Problem 53 emphai on technical training. They believe thi may create the impreion that the deign of uch facilitie require pecialized knowledge when thi hould be part of routine planning and deign. Some communitie have intead emphaized procedural training. Thi approach focue on the meaning of a complete treet policy and the avenue to it implementation. The intent of any procedural training program i to enure that agency taff charged with implementation of the policy are aware of the new procedure that apply to their field of work. In Columbu, Ohio, the Mobility Diviion conducted a training eion for zoning taff to help them conider the complete treet policy in ite plan review. In addition, the implementation team ha offered training to public utilitie to help them undertand the city expectation when they dig up road. The diviion ha alo held training eion for contractor, conultant, and developer to enure that the private development community undertand complete treet proviion within the land-ue regulation. Both Charlotte and the Commonwealth of Maachuett upended their former project development procee when they moved to a complete treet approach. In Charlotte, when the Urban Street Deign Guideline (USDG) document wa firt adopted, taff participated in extenive dicuion, review, and training eion on applying the new ix-tep planning proce. Eventually, the USDG methodologie will be incorporated into all land development review procee. A Charlotte move ahead with updating it land development tandard to further integrate the complete treet approach, more training and review are planned. upporting complete treet at the regional level: metropolitan tranportation commiion, california During the ummer of 2006, the Metropolitan Tranportation Commiion (MTC), the metropolitan planning organization for the San Francico Bay Area, adopted Reolution Thi document require local juridiction to conider the need of bicyclit, pedetrian, and tranit rider when applying for federal or regional tranportation fund, which MTC control, for any new road project or road renovation project. The policy upport the agency commitment to bicycle and pedetrian afety and travel, and provide a routine accommodation implementation policy for the region. Following the adoption of Reolution 3765, MTC adopted a routine accommodation checklit in 2008 to help enure that local juridiction were indeed conidering complete treet principle. Though not required to include routine accommodation a part of every project, each juridiction applying for project funding through MTC i required to fill out the checklit for every project. Dan Burden, the Livable and Walkable Communitie Intitute, Inc. Figure 5.7. MTC new project checklit will encourage pedetrian and bicycle accommodation throughout the San Francico region, including along the Embarcadero. The checklit ak whether bicycle and pedetrian infratructure i included a part of the propoed project. If uch proviion are not part of the project, the checklit ak for information regarding the nearet bicycle and pedetrian infratructure that provide all uer with right-of-way acce. Local juridiction are required to complete thee checklit and make them available to the public through county congetion management agency webite. They are alo required to furnih their county bicycle and pedetrian advocacy committee with copie of thee checklit. The checklit requirement i deigned to encourage multimodal conideration by requiring tranparency. Project ponor may have to deal with complaint by advocate if bicycle and pedetrian proviion are not included in the project deign, o incluion of bicycle, pedetrian, and tranit infratructure in new project i one way to help prevent potential political uproar. In promoting complete treet principle throughout the region, MTC purpoefully choe the checklit approach to help avoid conflict with county-level government. According to Sean Co, a tranportation planner with MTC, many of the region countie typically ee requirement impoed by MTC a barrier tanding in the way of funding. From the county government perpective, a checklit that i jut one more piece of the funding application proce i preferable to a mandate that require the incluion of bicycle and pedetrian infratructure in order to receive fund. Thi make the reolution more politically palatable. The routine accommodation checklit wa firt ued for project applying for funding through the American Recovery and Reinvetment Act. Since the implementation of the requirement, all applicant have filled out the checklit, with few complaint. Thi ugget that local juridiction are taking complete treet principle eriouly, though not all of them are adopting local policie of their own. Link to the checklit provided by the countie congetion management agencie can be found at A copy of the checklit a it appear to thoe applying for funding can be found at:

13 54 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice creating new complete treet tandard and indicator: redmond, wahington In September 2007, Redmond became the third community in the Puget Sound region to adopt a complete treet ordinance. The city had taken note of it neighbor action, and when approached by local advocate in the Cacade Bicycle Club and Tranportation Choice Coalition, it aw adoption of an ordinance a a natural progreion. The ordinance codified the tep Redmond had already taken in it comprehenive plan and tranportation mater plan (TMP) to create a balanced, multimodal tranportation network. / Dan Burden Figure 5.8. A upportive pedetrian environment in Redmond Thi traditional uburban-tyle community ha undergone a number of incremental change in it outlook and approach to planning and deign. It another piece of the puzzle that reaffirm our commitment to moving in a different direction than Redmond wa in the lat 30 year, ay Principal Planner Joel Pfundt. The idea of complete treet, epecially it potential application in placemaking, helped build upport among contituent and elected official. While city taff felt they were already moving in thi direction, the proce of paing the ordinance wa helpful. The city council affirmed their belief in creating treet that work for all uer, which granted them ownerhip of the concept. The city ha a unique approach to Wahington State Growth Management Act (GMA), which require concurrency between development and tranportation. Under the GMA, local government et a level-of-ervice (LOS) tandard; any propoed development that caue the tranportation ytem to drop below thi threhold mut be denied until tranportation improvement are made to accommodate that development. Communitie, including Redmond, have typically ued vehicle-baed LOS tandard to monitor concurrency at the interection or corridor level. Thi can lead to an emphai on building wider treet to maximize vehicular throughput and cauing project to become auto-dependent even when thi i inconitent with GMA and local comprehenive plan policy. (continued on page 55) Maachuett ha alo taken a learn-by-doing approach. When the new Project Development and Deign Guide wa adopted in 2006, training wa offered to MaHighway (now part of MaDOT) taff a well a uperintendent, town taff, and conultant working in the tate. Since then, training opportunitie have not been widepread; intead, taff are expected to become familiar with the guide principle through implementation. Advocate and agency taff are upportive of more training, epecially to help move away from the one-ize-fit-all engineering that dominated in the pat. Helping taff undertand the range of acceptable approache and partake in a more iterative approach ha been a challenge, according to ome. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT Performance meaurement i an important tool in the implementation of complete treet policie, yet it remain a challenging area. Performance meaure provide a quantitative (and ometime qualitative) indicator of actual or potential performance of a pecific treet, a ection of the treet network, or of the treet ytem a a whole. Communitie mut conider both how to ue performance meaure and how to meaure performance. Uing Performance Meaure Performance meaure may be ued in everal different way to facilitate the implementation of complete treet policie (Table 5.1, p. 56). Firt, performance meaure can be ued for need aement: to identify problem in the ytem and to ae their relative everity. In thi cae, performance meaure are applied ytemwide (e.g., to all arterial treet), uually a part of the planning proce. In Roanoke, planner have developed a coring ytem for major treet that take into account afety, connectivity, and deign, a well a the preence of treet tree, tormwater and drainage iue, and the availability of ufficient right-of-way to accommodate all mode. A related approach i to claify all treet in the ytem a to their appropriatene for complete treet treatment, in effect evaluating them for their potential performance a complete treet. Decatur, Georgia, modified the traditional treet typology to account for the relationhip of the treet to land ue, o that each new treet type cater to different level of need for variou traveler, by foot, bike, or car. Redmond, Wahington, laid out a comprehenive monitoring ytem in it tranportation mater plan. The Mobility Report Card meaure over 15 indicator for multimodal tranportation each year; reult are poted on the Internet. The report card how the baeline value, the current year oberved value, and the target (objective) value for each indicator. Thi allow the city to pot trend and track progre toward goal (ee idebar).

14 Chapter 5. Making the Tranition: Planning for Change and Addreing Problem 55 Second, performance meaure can be ued to rank project for funding in the programming proce, a decribed in chapter 4. The method ued here may be imilar to thoe ued for need aement. Third, performance meaure can be ued in impact aement. In thi application, the probable impact of a propoed development project on the performance of the treet ytem i projected, and the reult i ued a the bai for impact fee or other exaction, uch a requirement to provide bicycle and pedetrian facilitie. For example, in Sacramento, traditional level-of-ervice (LOS) tandard for the impact of development on vehicle traffic have been relaxed to accommodate development that may improve condition for other mode. In Redmond, where the tate require concurrency for development, the city i developing a new plan-baed ytem that will let them meaure impact on a network bai rather than through corridor LOS meaure. Fourth, performance meaure can be ued to evaluate the effect of a policy or project on the performance of the ytem and to ae whether it achieved it goal. Thee before-andafter tudie are important for building a bae of evidence for the effectivene of the complete treet approach and can be intrumental in jutifying further invetment in complete treet project. Although it ha been common to meaure change in vehicle traffic before and after implementation of traffic-calming program, impact on other mode are rarely meaured. When operating under a complete treet framework, juridiction can meaure traffic volume of all mode, note any modal hift, and track the number of crahe and injurie incurred by all roadway uer. (See Table 5.1, p. 56.) Meauring Performance Thee ue of performance meaure are tandard, but for complete treet ome of the metric being ued are new. In all four application, it i tandard practice to ue vehicular LOS, which focue on the automobile alone. In uing performance meaure to implement complete treet policie, communitie are expanding the range of meaure ued to account for multiple mode and to achieve a broader range of objective. In developing appropriate method of performance meaurement, communitie mut conider three interrelated concept. Firt, performance can be meaured a input, output, or outcome. Input are the initial action taken by the community to achieve the deired goal. For complete treet, input could include adoption of complete treet policie or dollar pent on complete treet project. Output are the direct reult of thee action and could include the number of project completed, the extent of the bicycle or pedetrian network, or the characteritic of that network. For example, Seattle ha et goal with repect to number of idewalk, crowalk, and treet tree. Charlotte meaure croing ditance, bike lane, and corner radii. Outcome, in contrat, reflect the impact on the uer of the ytem, and include count of uer, mode hare, and crahe, a well a ubjective aement uch a perceived afety and uer atifaction. Mot before-and-after tudie focu on outcome; however, becaue outcome tend to be harder to meaure, they are le often ued in need aement and other application. (continued from page 54) Redmond i replacing it vehicle-baed interection LOS tandard with plan-baed concurrency, which allow for a tranportation ytem that can accommodate the network of complete treet enviioned by the community. In thi way, the implementation of the tranportation plan will explicitly upport achievement of the comprehenive plan viion and policie. The plan-baed approach i alo intended to be imple and predictable. The city ued it tranportation model to calculate mobility unit, or peron-mile of travel, provided by exiting treet and public tranportation ervice to offer a quantifiable moving capacity. Each development propoal i analyzed to etimate the number of mobility unit it will generate. Thi i compared to the available mobility unit within the city Six-Year Tranportation Improvement Program/Capital Improvement Program. The city land-ue growth target and 2022 tranportation facility plan (TFP) et the total allowed amount of peron-mile traveled. A long a the land-ue growth target and the development of the tranportation ytem remain proportionate, the LOS tandard, and therefore the concurrency requirement, i met. In the TMP, Redmond created a mobility report card meauring a variety of indicator: concurrency; completion of the 2022 TFP; a.m. mode hare; chool bu riderhip; public tranportation travel time and ervice frequency; average weekday boarding on public tranportation; ervice hour target for local public tranportation; p.m. peak-hour VMT; change in traffic volume acro key creenline; average traffic growth by tranportation management ditrict; roadway volume-to-capacity ratio along elected creenline; percentage of pedetrian environment deigned to upportive tandard; completion of the bicycle network; number of vehicle, pedetrian, and bicyclit colliion; and tatu of the Three-Year Priority Action Plan. Thi information upplement the concurrency management ytem and i ued to evaluate the performance of each mode. Annual mobility report card are available to download from connectingredmond/policieplan/tmpprojectdoc.ap.

15 56 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice table 5.1. Performance meaure role and example Need Aement decription Sytemwide aement of multimodal condition and identification of problem pot in planning proce Example Roanoke: Scoring ytem for major treet that take into account afety, connectivity, and deign, plu right-of-way availability, treet tree, tormwater and drainage iue Louiville: Bike-friendly index calculated for collector and arterial, for ue in bicycle mater plan Decatur: Modified typology of treet type to take into account relationhip to land ue Redmond: Annual mobility report card Project Prioritization Impact Aement Project Evaluation Comparion of propoed project with repect to everity of problem and potential impact Forecat of potential impact of propoed project, often a bai for impact fee or exaction Meaurement of multimodal condition before and after implementation of project Seattle: Prioritization of project that have the mot impact on network completion. Sacramento: Relaxation of traditional vehicle LOS tandard from C to D or E near tranit in aeing development impact Charlotte: New LOS for bicyclit and pedetrian at interection Redmond: new plan-baed concurrency ytem Seattle: Before and after evaluation of mode hift, volume, crahe Charlotte: Before and after evaluation of volume, peed, crahe New York: Sutainable Street goal and meaure Second, to be effective, performance meaure mut be cloely tied to planning goal: each mut meaure a relevant apect of ytem performance. If the goal i to increae walking and bicycling or to improve afety for thee mode, then performance meaure hould meaure thee outcome. In developing performance meaure, communitie hould thu take the goal of their complete treet policy a their tarting point. Note that input and output tend to be le directly related to goal than are outcome. There are two important corollarie to thi concept: (1) If performance meaure do not match goal, they will bring confuion to planning and programming procee. Deciion baed on thoe performance meaure are likely to lead the community in unrelated direction. (2) Goal hould have performance meaure. Goal without performance meaure are likely to get le attention in the planning proce becaue it i harder to document problem and evaluate olution. New York City ha developed an extenive proce for matching goal and meaure. The Sutainable Street trategic plan et a number of goal for the tranportation department. Each i accompanied by a number of benchmark for meauring ucce including improved afety and mobility, good maintenance of infratructure, well-developed placemaking policie, and the incorporation of utainability objective into project, among other that are to be meaured annually. A the agency work through the plan, it will update and add new goal on a continual bai. The department expect to

16 Chapter 5. Making the Tranition: Planning for Change and Addreing Problem 57 hold taff retreat every year or two, where employee will dicu what ha been achieved and what new goal they hould et. One challenge i meauring a complete treet network outcome related to long-term community goal that reach far beyond the immediate tranportation realm, uch a goal to increae the phyical activity of reident or decreae the emiion of greenhoue gae. In the firt intance, the public health community ha been exploring way to meaure the effectivene of tranportation invetment in altering behavior, mainly through the development of health impact aement tool. Third, all four ue of performance meaure may require the etablihment of tandard by which performance can be judged. Thee tandard hould, of coure, be tied to the goal of the community and can be viewed a the quantification of thoe goal. However, tandard may be contrained by practical limitation. For example, while it might be the goal of the community to eliminate all crahe, phyical and financial contraint may make thi tandard unachievable. Still, tandard can be ued to judge the everity of an exiting problem (how far below the tandard an exiting ituation i) or the effectivene of a propoed or implemented olution (whether or not the olution achieve the tandard). Redmond mobility report card i a good example of the ue of tandard, or target, to evaluate progre toward goal. Level of Service The traditional performance meaure for treet deign i level of ervice a calculated baed on the current verion of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) publihed by the Tranportation Reearch Board. Thi meaure, in all it form, i a function of the ratio of the number of car on a road to the road carrying capacity, and it i expreed by aumed delay for each vehicle. Hitorically, it ha been ued to calculate how much road capacity i needed to erve a given volume of vehicle, and it i directly tied to the goal of reducing congetion and delay; in mot common ue, LOS A repreent free-flowing automobile traffic, and E or F repreent complete congetion. Although it ha the advantage of being highly tandardized and widely ued, traditional vehicular LOS i not a relevant meaure for the complete treet goal of providing a afe and convenient environment for all uer. Effort to develop bicycle and pedetrian LOS meaure go back at leat to the early 1990, following paage of the federal Intermodal Surface Tranportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) in A forthcoming revied verion of the Highway Capacity Manual hould include method for meauring the quality of travel for bicyclit and pedetrian, including comfort and ene of afety. (A preliminary decription of thi methodology i in TRB NCHRP 2008.) In the meantime, communitie have been developing their own method for meauring bicycle, pedetrian, and tranit LOS. For example, Louiville developed a metric that factor in peed limit and traffic volume to create a rating that capture bike friendline. Seattle i developing a new LOS approach, while Decatur i uing the preliminary new HCM approach. Although there are many benefit to tandardization of meaure acro communitie, appropriate meaure may alo vary, depending on a community goal. In general, bicycle, pedetrian, and tranit LOS meaure tend to be more complex than vehicle LOS; they attempt to meaure the quality of the travel experience rather than jut throughput. Some communitie are not puruing new LOS meaure, intead chooing more qualitative meaure of ucce.

17 58 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice In practice, communitie have been uing thee new meaure in addition to the traditional vehicle LOS meaure, not in place of it. They have both expanded their meaure of vehicle tandard (e.g., to include crahe), and they have added meaure of LOS for other mode. In Maachuett, vehicle LOS i one of many meaure of effectivene, and deigner are directed to calculate and provide a reaonable LOS for all uer. The tate new Project Development and Deign Guide offer tool to do o, including guidance on balancing LOS meaure for different uer at interection, where automobile and nonmotorized uer o often come into conflict. It may be important to continue to meaure traditional vehicle LOS in order to provide a balanced aement acro all mode and to alleviate potential concern about negative impact on vehicle. Modifying rather than rejecting the traditional performance-meaurement approach eem to have moothed the way for many complete treet project. For example, the added analyi now ued by the Charlotte DOT i credited by lead planner a a key reaon their complete treet policy work and i upported by taff. We re not changing our analyi but intead doing more of it, ay Norm Steinman, planning and deign diviion manager. Staff engineer in particular appreciate the ue of logic and analyi to jutify complete treet deign. SETTING UP AN EXCEPTIONS PROCESS Creating a clear exception proce ha been a central iue in many juridiction tranitioning to the complete treet approach. During the policy adoption proce, exception are often hotly debated and can make or break political upport for the policy. Once a complete treet policy i in place, a clear and fair exception proce can enhance credibility, eae fear of both opponent and proponent of change, and provide a guide for planner. Redmond ordinance i hort and to the point, outlining three exception to it policy: where accommodating all uer would be contrary to public afety; where there i no identified long-term need; and where the public work director allow a documented exception in pecific ituation. The exception proce force taff to be ytematic and to conider all option. In Maachuett, eliminating dicrepancie in the exiting exception proce wa a top priority for the new project guide. Now, any exception to the guide tandard are handled each month by a review committee of enior-level engineer from acro the tate, according to a tandard, documented procedure. (See idebar, p. 83.) A noted, the Virginia DOT ha created a new project coping form, deciion tree, and guidance document to ait in determining exception to it policy. In Seattle, a checklit proce i ued, but the approval of an exception i not the end of the tory. If complete treet improvement were identified in the proce but were unable to be included in the final cope, one of the city tranportation diviion i required to include that need in it lit of project, regardle of funding. In thi way, uer need are not lot or written off. Cot Exception The worry that complete treet policie will break the bank i very common and ha purred many communitie to provide for cot exception. While worrie about cot are ometime overtated (ee Chapter 6), many place have accepted the FHWA 2000 guidance defining exceively diproportionate a cot above 20 percent of total project cot. But the guidance alo ue thi phrae from the Oregon law: if the cot of etablihing uch path and trail would be exceively diproportionate to the need or probable ue. In Oregon, accordingly, a project in a high-ue area for bicycling and walking ha no ceiling.

18 Chapter 5. Making the Tranition: Planning for Change and Addreing Problem 59 bridging the gap: eattle Seattle ha been wift and methodical in it implementation of complete treet. With the adoption of it nine-year Bridging the Gap tranportation funding levy, Seattle pledged not only to reduce it backlog of tranportation maintenance, make eimic upgrade to bridge, and increae public tranportation peed and reliability but alo to allocate fund to creating complete treet. Six month later, the city council adopted an ordinance o that all tranportation project, not jut thoe funded through Bridging the Gap, would improve travel for all uer. Barbara Gray, tranportation ytem deign and planning manager in the Policy and Planning Diviion at the Seattle Department of Tranportation (SDOT), credit both policie for providing SDOT with a conitent and formal approach to improving the right-of-way for all uer. Gray indicated that SDOT had been moving toward a more integrated approach to delivering complete treet under the lead- hared-lane pavement marking (harrow); painted green bike lane; etablihed biowale; planted tree; improved ignage; and added new curb extenion at bu top (bu bulb). Bicycle parking ha replaced auto parking in ome parallel parking pace (bike corral). Many treet have been rechannelized (i.e., road diet have been implemented), converting four-lane treet into three-lane treet (two travel lane and a center turn lane) with bike lane. Thee project have given pedetrian a leg up a well, a the city i more inclined to intall unignalized crowalk acro three lane but not four. On Rainier Avenue South, bu bulb help bue ave time by allowing them to pick up paenger without moving in and out of the parking lane. Bue alo have priority ignal o green light tay green longer and red light witch fater when bue approach. On Second Avenue and Fourth Avenue downtown, Figure Before-and-after hot of pedetrian improvement on Sixth Avenue in Seattle Seattle Department of Tranportation erhip of Director Grace Crunican, but the ordinance provided the legilative authority to enure that deciion about project deign did not happen unle the need of all mode were conidered. The firt big tep to break down ilo within the tranportation department had been to allow the SDOT bicycle and pedetrian program team to review repaving and channelization project for opportunitie to improve right-of-way for bicycle and pedetrian. Upon adoption of the ordinance, thi proce expanded ignificantly. Today, SDOT policy require all capital major-maintenance project (uch a repaving) to have a thorough complete treet review, and taff are directed to look for way to make each project conitent with the complete treet ordinance. An internal complete treet teering committee wa formed to help clarify and define the daily operational practice that SDOT would take to implement complete treet. Thi group alo provide deign overight to the team of project manager and planner reponible for project deign. A citizen overight committee meet quarterly to review project completion and enure conitency with the goal of the Bridging the Gap levy, including the complete treet mandate. An energized SDOT oon began to roll out project. Seattle ha added idewalk, crowalk, and curb extenion; intalled new treet deign include bu bulb, green bike lane at potential vehicle/bicycle conflict point, advanced top bar, harrow, and bu-priority ignal. A pilot project along Aurora Avenue (Highway 99) will include cloing one of the entry point from a reidential treet that feed onto Aurora, creating a treet end plaza and expanded waiting area at thi heavily ued bu top location. If ucceful, thi project i very likely to be replicated in another location where idewalk are narrow and bu riderhip i high. Thi new plaza will convert car pace to pedetrian pace in order to give more room for bu helter and waiting paenger without ignificant impact on local buinee or reident. Part of SDOT ucce lie in infuing complete treet principle into all guiding document the tranportation trategic plan, the tranit plan, and the pedetrian and bicycle mater plan, among other a defined in the ordinance. Such integration help expand complete treet policie into daily operation, making it tandard for all taff. It will alo eventually influence the capital improvement program (CIP) planning proce, when all CIP project (with the exception of very mall project or thoe that are conidered to be routine maintenance) will be ubject to the internal complete treet checklit. (continued on page 60)

19 60 Complete Street: Bet Policy and Implementation Practice (continued from page 59) Seattle CIP involve a wide range of project, from bridge repair and contruction to trail extenion and roadway repaving. Although the CIP i a ix-year plan, SDOT ha a nine-year paving plan. Thi look ahead at paving project ha been intrumental in complete treet implementation, and SDOT ha leveraged thee project to implement complete treet in every cae ince 2007, when the Bridging the Gap levy wa paed. A the city update it planning document with the complete treet outlook and look at new data, priority project will emerge and be lated for implementation, either through the CIP or through one of SDOT annual funding program. The 2009 update to Seattle pedetrian mater plan ued a variety of GIS indicator, uch a income, pedetrian generator, and denity, to locate priority area for pedetrian improvement. From thi, planner look for what miing in the ytem, prioritizing project that will have the mot impact and help create a complete network for pedetrian, epecially thoe who are mot dependent on walking and tranit. Three to four year out, thoe priority project found through the planning proce will be put through a complete treet checklit. Thi allow SDOT time to work with different diviion to link needed improvement and to ecure funding. After thi, the project goe to deign. At the deign review conducted 30, 60, and 90 percent of the way through the proce, all involved city takeholder will enure that the deign follow the input communicated through the checklit. When complete, the checklit i igned by each key member of the SDOT project team, then by the SDOT director. If complete treet improvement are identified in the proce but not included in the final cope, one of SDOT diviion i required to include that need in it lit of project, to enure that uer need are not lot imply becaue current funding i not available. In 2005, Seattle made major reviion to it Right-of-Way Improvement Manual, a deign tandard manual that i ued primarily by private developer. While the document ha routine accommodation language, SDOT felt it did not fully expre the complete treet policie et forth in 2007 and Seattle depend on private developer work for maller ection of corridor and encourage all project in the right-of-way to be conitent with complete treet policie. The ordinance officially applie only to SDOT-funded project, o private developer are not required to comply. However, many ee the benefit of improving pedetrian, bicycle, and public tranportation quality and have made commitment to uch improvement a key piece of their project another demontration that complete treet can alo be good for buine. The Right-of-Way Improvement Manual and related roadway deign tandard are cheduled to be updated in 2010 through 2011 and will contain a tronger focu and meage about complete treet. Until that time, SDOT will continue to ue tate-of-the-practice deign and encourage other to do the ame. Our new deign jut create new internal tandard, ay Strategic Advior Darby Waton. Our deign ha not changed a whole lot; it more our willingne to look at treet in a new way. Innovative deign for road diet, longer treet tree pit, bike boulevard, perviou idewalk, bio-wale, and green bike lane have been integrated into internal deign tandard o they become regular practice. If a pilot program how reult, it i added to the lit a well. The more we can add to the tandard, the fewer prolonged debate often reulting from new or nontandard deign detail are needed. The contant debate about the detail can really low a project down, ay Gray, o tandardizing innovative approache improve efficiency and make a difference on the ground quickly. Seattle ha been meauring it ucce a well. The Bridging the Gap initiative et clear goal for SDOT, uch a building 117 block of new idewalk, retriping 5,000 crowalk, planting 8,000 new treet tree, and developing a pedetrian mater plan. SDOT ha alo begun to examine how bet to ue LOS indicator for different mode; a new LOS meaure for Seattle i being conidered for the near future, Gray ay. On a cae-by-cae bai, SDOT conduct beforeand-after evaluation to meaure mode hift, volume, and crah data. For every road diet project, an after tudy i done one year after intallation. In the broader ene, though, Gray feel that it will be harder to meaure performance a time goe on becaue complete treet will be jut tandard practice. Seattle i invetigating a way to overcome that barrier but ha yet to find the anwer. Seattle ha not been blocked by the cot in developing complete treet. While ome complete treet work i funded by the Bridging the Gap tax levy, many are funded through traditional mean. Here, making good plan teeped in complete treet principle help tremendouly. With good planning and information hared acro department everal year out, we can leverage the dollar much more effectively, note Gray. Planning in advance make complete treet much eaier to accomplih. Project can alo be done incrementally to help manage cot and expectation. Seattle employ a number of low-cot method to improve it tranportation ytem. When repaving a treet, taff will conider a new configuration in the exiting right-of-way that create pace for bicyclit or improve traffic flow for automobile. They may flag the location a needing further tudy later on, when more funding can be attached. Painting and igning top bar greatly improve the pedetrian environment and can be done for the low cot of paint when repaving or interection redeign work i occurring. When moving ignal detector, SDOT will intall bike loop detector o cyclit can activate the ignal without needing to wait for a vehicle. Intalling bike corral i another low-cot technique that ignal bicyclit are welcome in the area. Many time, it i bet for SDOT to do all the improvement at once, benefiting from the economie of cale and leening inconvenience on traveler by cloing portion of the treet only once. Furthermore, prioritie among the diviion can be aligned o that all mode can benefit from a project. If a road i due for idewalk improvement and will already be rechannelized after a repaving, SDOT will try to pair up the project. On bridge project, where adding a nonmotorized trail i far too cotly, SDOT take a do no harm approach. So long a the deign doe not preclude incluion of that trail in the future, SDOT can plan to do it when funding can be ecured. Gray trongly believe complete treet policie have been valuable from elected official on down, at every level of the city and in engaging with the public. It jut our ytem now. Each project bring debate, but SDOT ha good upport and policie to reinforce it effort. For Seattle, it i not about convincing people; it i about getting the ytem in place to enure complete treet i tandard operating procedure. The policie have caued them to conider each project a a part of the whole city. I m hopeful that the work we are doing lay the groundwork for other citie that would be an incredible meaure of ucce, conclude Gray. Seattle complete treet ordinance (ordinance no ) can be acceed at Read more about the Bridging the Gap initiative at

20 Chapter 5. Making the Tranition: Planning for Change and Addreing Problem 61 Other communitie have alo rejected pecific ceiling. Seattle initially capped complete treet element when they added 20 percent or more to total project cot, but city planner later decided that every project hould be evaluated individually. If the cot add 21 percent but the benefit outweigh the cot, the project i jut a valid a one where the complete treet element add 19 percent to the cot. When creating guidance for the TranNet tax extenion, San Diego regional agency, the San Diego Aociation of Government (SANDAG), decided not to et a percentage threhold over which cot would be deemed exceive, intead allowing policy maker to make thee deciion on a cae-by-cae bai. If an agency decide that cot would be exceively diproportionate to the need or probable ue, the agency mut provide documentation and jutification for it deciion, go through a public hearing, and have the exemption approved by SANDAG. Some communitie are placing le emphai on an exception proce aimed at individual treet and more emphai on creating a variety of treet cro-ection, new treet typologie, or network plan that clarify what facilitie will be placed in what context. Smaller communitie, uch a Boulder, Colorado, and Decatur, Georgia, are thu able to identify future improvement acro the entire treet network, if not on every treet. THE BALANCING ACT: MEETING THE NEEDS OF VARIOUS USERS To uccefully balance uer need, planner mut firt change the way in which automobile traffic congetion i viewed. But the dominance of the automobile paradigm i not eay to diplace. Patrick Robert, a former PennDOT planner who now work a principal tranportation planner for the City of Pittburgh, lament the lack of tate or national policie mandating equity for the need of all tranportation mode. AASHTO and other tandard are till focued on planning for car, and enuring capacity for automobile put pedetrian and bicycle facilitie at a diadvantage when funding or rightof-way i limited. He would like to ee policie that allow for a reduction in automobile capacity in order to provide accommodation for other mode. Such a change i an epecially tall order for tate DOT, with their primary miion of upporting long-ditance travel. But at the municipal level, ome of the mot ucceful policie have directly addreed the way that complete treet affect automobile traffic. Santa Barbara, California, and Seattle have embraced complete treet a a way to increae the capacity of the tranportation network, but communication and education are eential for acceptance. For example, Seattle ha launched a public awarene campaign and Commuter Toolkit with information about the city effort to be more walkable, bikeable, and tranit-friendly, tip on reducing automobile dependence, and a poter illutrating the pace 200 people take up if they are in car, on light rail, on a bu, or riding bicycle. Once the right of other mode to hare the treet are recognized, the balancing act ha jut begun. Many project need creative olution o improvement for one mode do not overly burden other. The recently completed project on Stone Way North in Seattle i a poter child for thi kind of balance. Stone Way i a low-traffic freight corridor with trong pedetrian and bicycle uage: the perfect candidate for a road diet. In the deign phae, there wa a lot of fear, ay Darby Waton, the trategic advior in SDOT policy and planning diviion. Local bicyclit wanted bike lane on both ide of the roadway, but freight uer worried about reduced acce to light indutrial area. SDOT brokered a compromie, intalling bike lane along the treet uphill ide, where cyclit would be moving more lowly, and hared lane pavement marking, or harrow, along the other, where the grade would allow them to move cloe to the