Complete Streets ideas

According to Wikipedia,

Complete Streets is a transportation policy and design approach that requires streets to be planned, designed, operated, and maintained to enable safe, convenient and comfortable travel and access for users of all ages and abilities regardless of their mode of transportation. Complete Streets allow for safe travel by those walking, bicycling, driving automobiles, riding public transportation, or delivering goods.

Benefits of Complete Streets can include improved safety, health, economic, and environmental outcomes. Complete Streets emphasize the importance of safe access for all users, not just automobiles.

Here in Newton, we have a network of streets of varying ages, widths, speeds, and traffic volumes. Most were designed with only automobile traffic in mind, and now fail to safely serve many people who are on foot or bicycle.

We encourage you to nominate other streets in Newton that could be made more suitable for all classes of users. This may take the form of lane narrowing to add a bike lane and calm traffic, creating a pedestrian refuge in the middle of a busy street, removing parking, creating bulb-outs at crossings to narrow the crosswalk distance and improve sight lines, etc.

Please email us (newtonbikeped@gmail.com) with your ideas. We'll be happy to discuss them with you, add them to our website, and bring them up with the transportation engineers at Newton City Hall.