"Safer Streets, Stronger Economies" report--making the case for complete streets

Great ideas and data from other communities that can be helpful to Lee County communities as they initiate and/or implement their complete streets policies.

On 3/24/15, Smart Growth America's National Complete Streets Coalition released their new report, Safer Streets, Stronger Economies. The new report analyzes data from 37 Complete Streets projects across the country, and explores the outcomes communities got for their investment.  

What have communities gotten for their investments in Complete Streets? Fewer automobile collisions and injuries, and more people biking, walking, and taking transit. These projects were inexpensive yet can be effective, and were related to broader economic gains.  Here's the bottomline:  whether it’s planting trees or adding crosswalks, making travel lanes narrower or creating space for people on bikes, hundreds of communities are changing how their streets look and work—and getting a great return on public investment in the process. Read the full findings of the new research.

These are the findings in simple graphics:

	Streets were usually safer: Automobile collisions declined in 70 percent of projects, and injuries declined in 56 percent of projects.
	This safety has financial value: Within our sample, Complete Streets improvements collectively averted $18.1 million in total collision costs in just one year.
	The projects encouraged multimodal travel: Complete Streets projects nearly always resulted in more biking, walking, and transit trips.
	Complete Streets projects are cheap: The average cost of a Complete Streets project was just $2.1 million—far less than the $9 million average cost of projects in state transportation improvement plans.
	They can be an important part of economic development:Our findings suggest that Complete Streets projects were supportive of increased employment, net new businesses, higher property values, and new private investment.

Here's also a link to the Streetsblog 3/25/15 story: Making the Case for Complete Streets

This street redesign in Hamburg, New York, decreased collisions 57 percent. Photo: Smart Growth America