Friday, October 31, 2008

Complete Streets Legislation

We're lucky here in Chicago. We have a bike-friendly mayor, a ton of bike lanes, and a very active bike advocacy group in the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. In addition to organizing plenty of great events like "Bike the Drive," they are at work to make the streets more cyclist-friendly.

In reading their latest newsletter I learned about the Complete Streets policy. It's been passed in Illinois, and also just this month in California. The gist of it is this: roadways should accomodate all users; the policy mandates that all new road projects include ped and bike access.

It wasn't that long ago that I was in a Grand Rapids, MI, city planning meeting when a major downtown road re-construction project was up for approval. I had the opportunity to speak to the designer personally, and I asked him where the bike lanes were. They were none in his nice diagrams. It struck me as such a wasted opportunity. Where its passed, this legislation would go a long way toward making sure bike lanes are part of every new road construction plan.

Here's a list of places that have put Complete Streets on the books.

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