Date Presented 3/30/2017
This research evaluates the implementation of Complete Streets across the United States, including a case study in Buffalo, New York. Findings will equip rehabilitation professionals, policymakers, and designers with best practices to create more social participation opportunities for a wider range of users.
Primary Author and Speaker: Jordana Maisel
Additional Authors and Speakers:
Contributing Authors: Molly Ranahan, James Lenker
PURPOSE: The Complete Streets (CS) movement has grown rapidly over the past 10 years, with more than 700 CS policies across the United States to date. CS initiatives strive to create streetscape environments that are “designed for the safety and comfort of all road users, regardless of age and ability” (Lynott et al., 2009). Despite increased CS implementation, there is limited knowledge on the impact of CS projects and no practice standards for implementing or evaluating CS initiatives. With municipalities devoting more funds to streetscape improvements, research was needed to support designers, rehabilitation professionals, and policy leaders in making evidence-based decisions that enable all users to participate in the community.
DESIGN AND METHOD: Our center launched a multiyear, federally funded mixed-methods study to examine the current state of CS implementation and evaluation across the United States. This research included a national web-based survey with a large geographically dispersed sample of states, counties, and municipalities. The items and response options in the questionnaire were informed by an earlier exploratory study (Lenker, Maisel, & Lanahan, 2016). Descriptive statistics were calculated for all dependent variables. Differences among groups categorized by population size were evaluated using one-way analysis of variance. t tests were then used to determine differences based on CS project experience between participants with limited (one or two completed CS projects) and extensive experience (three or more completed CS projects). Responses to the open-ended questions were qualitatively analyzed by the three coauthors. In a follow-up study, the research team collaborated with a local advocacy organization, GObike Buffalo, to conduct a detailed search of CS performance measures, tools, and strategies for project tracking and evaluation. A subset of these compiled measures was used to evaluate eight CS corridors in Buffalo, NY.
RESULTS: Research findings from the online survey revealed a diversity of design features used in CS projects, the development of local standards and guidelines for project implementation, a reliance on Americans With Disabilities Act accessibility guidelines to address the needs of older adults and people with disabilities, and widespread challenges in tracking and evaluating projects. Results from the field study in Buffalo showed that local CS projects have been largely successful and very popular among residents, merchants, and streetscape users. The self-reported data also indicated a substantial increase in walking and biking behaviors, suggesting that Complete Streets corridors support and elicit healthy behaviors. The data also showed that CS corridors absorb higher volumes of vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists and become safer in terms of total crashes and injuries.
Overall, this research improves the current understanding of how municipalities implement CS policies and specifically offers a depiction of how these projects impact end users. It also indicates the need to develop a plan for project evaluation as part of initiating a CS policy and the need for tools to measure CS’s impact that resource-constrained initiatives can efficiently deploy. The capacity to quantify project impact would enable initiatives to demonstrate the benefit of CS for improving public health, safety, and multimodal transportation efficiency.
CONCLUSION: Occupational therapists play an important role in promoting community integration for clients during rehabilitation. Findings from this study will help not only rehabilitation professionals but also policy makers and designers initiate and advocate for policy and design interventions that promote inclusive community participation.
References
Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. 101–336, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101–12213 (2000).
Lenker, J. A., Maisel, J. L., & Ranahan, M. R. (2016). Assessing the implementation of Complete Streets projects. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 33, 199–212.
Lynott, J., Haase, J., Nelson, K., Taylor, A., Twaddell, H., Ulmer, J., . . . & Stollof, E. R. (2009). Planning Complete Streets for an aging America. Washington, DC: AARP Public Policy Institute.
