Complete Streets means that our roads are designed and operated to be safe and accessible for pedestrians, transit riders, bicyclists, and drivers - all users, regardless of age or ability. Why is this important? Because too often we build roads that simply aren't safe for pedestrians, people with disabilities, bicyclists, transit riders, and older drivers. Everyone is impacted by "incomplete" streets, which lead to more injuries, fatalities, and very real barriers in our transportation system.

Complete Streets is mostly about safety and accessibility, but it is also a very important step for health, supporting aging in place, transportation efficiency, economic development, and the environment. Complete Streets helps support public health by giving people safe options to walk and bike as part of daily life, which can help combat obesity (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Complete Streets). Complete Streets supports mobility for seniors that helps allow active and independent aging in place. It helps support an efficient transportation system by eliminating gaps in road networks for nondrivers and allowing roads to move more people with less concrete and, therefore, less money. Complete Streets spur economic development by supporting community vitality and quality of life, which attracts people to shop on a street or live in a neighborhood.

There are also numerous environmental reasons why Complete Streets are important. In Minnesota, our transportation system contributes 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, accounts for two-thirds of oil consumption, and is the largest contributor of most air toxics and particulate matter that cause increased cancer rates and childhood asthma. While transitioning to cleaner cars and cleaner fuel sources are important steps to reduce air pollution, global warming pollution, and dependence on foreign oil, we also need to take steps to support clean transportation options that reduce the need to drive.

Walking and biking are the cleanest forms of transportation, but right now, too many Minnesotans do not feel safe walking or biking in their neighborhoods and they do not feel safe letting their kids walk and bike to school. In Minnesota, 15 percent of trips are shorter than 1 mile and 40 percent of trips are shorter than 3 miles, but currently people drive for more than 75 percent of these trips within short walking or biking distance. There is huge potential to support more short trips by walking and biking, but that cannot be achieved without safe streets.

Complete Streets can also help reduce stormwater runoff (less need for impervious surfaces), reduce the urban heat island effect (less impervious surface means more trees and plantings), help connect parks, trails, and open space while reducing the need for recreation-related parking, and help support more compact communities that reduce the need to consume farmland and open space for new urban development.

If you are interested in learning more or helping promote a statewide Complete Streets policy for Minnesota, check out the Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition or contact Ethan Fawley with Fresh Energy (fawley@fresh-energy.org).

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