US Senate committee unanimous for safe streets

Fed roads safe for all users

Jay Blazek Crossley, Jan 04, 12.

All streets built with federal funds will have to be designed with the safety of all users in mind, if an amendment added in a US Senate Committee remains part of the final federal transportation reauthorization bill, according to the National Complete Streets Coalition.

Provisions were added to allow states to supersede the new federal requirements with their own Complete Streets policies or to determine certain details on their own, according to Streetsblog DC:

The street safety (or “complete streets”) amendment [PDF] introduced into the Commerce bill by Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) deserves attention for its special focus on non-motorized modes. The amendment says the Secretary of Transportation “shall establish standards to ensure that the design of Federal surface transportation projects provides for the safe and adequate accommodation, in all phases of project planning, development, and operation, of all users of the transportation network, including motorized and non-motorized users.”

States with their own complete streets policies would get a waiver from the federal policy, as long as their policies are in compliance.

A federal law — as opposed to individual city or state ordinances — is important because “streets don’t end at the borders of their jurisdictions,” according to Barbara McCann, director of the National Complete Streets Coalition. “We’ve had many jurisdictions that have complete streets policies say that they need and want that consistency.”

Some state DOTs have expressed a desire for more guidance on how to adopt complete streets policies. This amendment would provide that guidance straight from the top and allow USDOT to ensure compliance.

Though the overall bill was passed on a party-line vote of 13 to 11, the complete streets amendment passed unanimously — recognizing, according to McCann, “that every transportation project has to be a safety project.”

[Note: Houston Tomorrow is a member of the Houston Coalition for Complete Streets.]