In 2009, he realized that the city needed to treat every street as a “Complete Street” to accommodate the different ways Philadelphians choose to travel – whether by bike, bus, car, train or strolling. Thus, the Complete Streets Policy was required to accommodation safety and convenience for all users and balance the needs of ALL users. (This is why the recent Bill 120532, which increases fines for improper parking AND bicycling behavior emphasized importance on multiple transit types.) The result? Check out the Complete Streets Handbook 2013 final version, which has been released for your eyes here.
We reviewed the 163 page handbook for you. To save you time, here are some sustainable observations:
The Complete Streets Handbook may seem like it can get monotonous at first for us general citizens, but it’s an easy-to-understand guide for a complex topic (i.e., what types of streets are, sizes required of sidewalks/etc., who’s involved with different areas of the streets (Planning commission, Zoning Board, etc) and what’s readily approved and not). Business owners, city planners and citizens can fast forward to the end of the document has a project review checklist, easy to read for proposed designs.
Overall, it is very cool to see that each ‘area’ of the street planning (medians, speed reducers, lane width, etc) all have “green street opportunities” suggestions and ways to incorporate green infrastructure opportunities.
For more information, check out the Philadelphia Streets Department website.
Readers, anything you really like (or hate) about the Complete Streets Handbook?
Photos: Complete Streets Handbook
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