Complete Streets

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 every age and ability, regardless of their mode of transportation, including walking, cycling, driving, riding public transit or moving goods. The term itself dates to 2003, when advocate Barbara McCann coordinated an effort to replace the earlier phrase routine accommodation, with the new wording suggested by David Goldberg, communications director for Smart Growth America; advocacy groups then adopted complete streets to name both the design philosophy and their own coalition. The approach is promoted chiefly across the United States and Canada by transportation advocates, urban planners, engineers and public health professionals as a way to improve safety, health, economic and environmental outcomes, and it directly challenges the automobile-centric street design that became standard after the Second World War by insisting on equitable access for every mode.