House Bill Proposes National Complete Streets Policy Standards | Planning.org

By Olivia Starr
APA Government Affairs Associate

At a briefing yesterday on Capitol Hill, representatives of the National Complete Streets Coalition made the case for national standards for complete streets policies. This is one of the central proposals of the Safe Streets Act of 2013 (H.R. 2468), also introduced yesterday by Reps. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and David Joyce (R-Ohio).

The Safe Streets Act would require that each state and metropolitan planning organization adopt a complete streets policy within two years that ensures all new federally funded transportation projects accommodate the safety and convenience of all users. The bill defines transportation projects as road construction and road modification projects, including design, planning, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, maintenance, and operations. The Secretary of Transportation would be tasked with certification of complete streets policies.

In her statement at the briefing, Matsui said, “We are changing our lifestyle. We also need to change our roads.” She added that her primary motivation for supporting a set of national complete streets policy standards is improving safety for all transportation system users.

By now, planners are familiar with the complete streets concept.

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