Streets as Values

Streets are gathering spaces, public places, places for commerce, and for transportation. They are the veins that pulse through a community. In municipal budgets, they are often one of the top areas to receive investment. For all these reasons, streets are the embodiment of a community’s social and fiscal values. How can streets better reflect a community’s values?

In any conversation about placemaking and urban planning, it is important to begin with a community’s vision. For example, Arlington’s Master Transportation Plan states that “Arlington’s vision of transportation is a system that provides equity and access to all users. It involves concentrating investment in ways that yield the greatest good not only from a transportation standpoint, but also for overall quality of life of Arlington residents and workers” (emphasis mine). This vision sets the framework for not only street design decisions and transportation investments, but also land use decisions.

To implement this kind of vision, many communities are adopting Complete Streets policies that ensure transportation networks are designed and operated in a way that serves all users – walkers, bikers, the elderly, public transit vehicles and riders, automobile drivers, the handicapped. In July of this year, the Michigan Department of of Transportation (MDOT) adopted a statewide Complete Streets policy. The vision foresees

…a 
transportation 
network 
that 
is 
accessible, 
interconnected 
and
 multimodal 
and
 that 
safely 
and 
efficiently 
moves 
goods 
and 
people 
of
 all
 ages 
and 
abilities 
throughout 
the 
State 
of 
Michigan. A 
process 
that 
empowers
 partnerships 
to 
routinely 
plan, 
fund, 
design,
 construct, 
maintain 
and 
operate 
complete 
streets 
that 
respect
 context 
and 
community 
values. Outcomes 
that 
will 
improve 
economic 
prosperity, 
equity, 
accessibility,
 safety 
and 
environmental 
quality” (emphasis mine).

If effectively implemented, this bold vision could reorient the way Michigan’s communities think about their economies, environments, and their quality of life. (See other sustainability efforts taking place in Ann Arbor, MI).

One example of a community attempting to implement a complete streets vision and putting their values in action is in Washtenaw County, MI. MDOT is contemplating converting the four traffic lanes of Jackson Avenue to three, with a dedicated center turn lane, bike lanes, and additional pedestrian crossings. The Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition (WBWC) found that this conversion would benefit all users by improving automobile traffic flow, reducing the frequency and severity of car accidents through traffic calming, easing travel for larger vehicles with wider lanes, and increasing pedestrian safety by decreasing travel speeds. Guided by a larger vision, these types of incremental changes to the built environment are what bring a community’s values to life.