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Complete the Streets
A Multi-Modal Campaign that Reaps Benefits For Bicyclists

By David Callahan

Transportation policy in Illinois, as in most states, has long catered to private and commercial automobiles to the exclusion of anyone who walks or rides a bicycle. The result is streets that are “incomplete” – dangerous environments with little or no access for the pedestrian or cyclist.

Illinois continues to build roads like this one in the Northwest suburbs because policy favors projects that deny access to pedestrians, bicyclists and other non-motorized travelers.

Although there are a growing number of policymakers who concede the need to make non-motorized travel safe and convenient, the funding and design process for road projects in Illinois tend to make pedestrian/bicycle improvements the exception rather than the norm. The U.S. Department of Transportation recommends sidewalks, road crossings and bicycle accomodations, but these guidelines are usually not followed.

Symptoms of these lapses are evident throughout the Chicago suburbs, where intersections eight lanes wide are without crosswalks, and sidewalks – when they can be found – often lead nowhere and connect to nothing.
In spite of federal policy demanding transportation equity, accommodation of bicycles and pedestrians remains largely a platitude. Which is why the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation is one of nearly 20 advocacy organizations nationwide that have launched special campaigns to “complete the streets.”

The Complete Streets initiative is one part of the CBF Healthy Streets Campaign, which also is comprised of the Drive With Care initiative, Safe Routes, GoHealthy!, Sunday Parkways and Home Zones. Complete Streets is based on the principle that no street is complete until it accommodates pedestrians, bicyclists, transit and other non-motorized users (including the disabled).

Seeing it through in Northeast Illinois will require building a broad coalition of advocates for transportation alternatives, seniors, public health and other community groups. For bicyclists, this means embracing the notion that our hopes are intertwined with those of pedestrians and other non-motorized users.

What is good for walkers is good for bicyclists. Crosswalks, pedestrian refuge islands, tighter corners at intersections and other improvements invite more pedestrian activity, calm traffic and create a bike-friendly environment. It also means bicyclists and pedestrians would no longer compete for the same small pie of money for bicycling and walking.

And while progress has been made with regard to policy in places like DuPage County (see story) and Evanston, a shift toward Complete Streets as the standard in street design will eventually require a commitment from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

One prominent piece of this campaign is the Complete Streets bill (SB 508) that was introduced by Sen. Edward Maloney of Chicago in the spring 2005 session of the General Assembly. SB 508 commits the state to “more proactively accommodate pedestrians (including wheelchairs) and bicyclists in its major road projects, where need and cost limits are met.”

It also calls for IDOT to work with safety groups to craft a transition plan for design policy changes that are in line with federal standards and training.
CBF is lobbying Gov. Rod Blagojevich to administratively adopt this legislation, which got sidetracked last year. It creates no new expenses for the state, only shifting of existing money. CBF also supports changing the rules that make local governments pay a higher percentage of the cost to build sidewalks than the rest of a road project.

But a state policy alone cannot address the particular needs of Chicagoland communities. Complete Streets policies are needed at the local level in order to create connections on routes that are not under state jurisdiction. CBF is working with the city of Chicago, for example, to implement Chapter 2 of its recently-adopted Bike 2015 Plan, which is dedicated to Complete Streets.

The decision not to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians should be the exception rather than the rule. Chicagoland Bicycle Federation and its partners are working at the state and local levels to win policies that will reverse the norm of having to justify accommodating all modes to having to justify not accommodating them.

David Callahan is managing editor of Bike Traffic