Complete Streets Research Articles

The Geometric Scale of an Urban Space—Neuro-perceptual Limitations for Face-to-Face Driver Behavior

For the last century, the roadway design paradigm has been grounded in the physics of point masses, adjusted for human limitations. However, this is inadequate to assure pedestrian safety in complete streets where vehicle kinematics no longer control. Instead, social and psychological factors manage behavior. Unfortunately, the appropriate design critical psychological principles have yet to be elucidated. We posit that interpersonal perception governs drivers’ behavior, attentiveness and speed in streets. This is bounded by previously delineated human neurological and perceptual propensities. Using these perceptual limitations as postulates in a geometric style proof, we derive the person perception panorama (PPP): a window of interactivity around the moving driver that is continuously monitored for human presence, roughly 60 to 90 feet wide. In this area interpersonal interaction is implicit, functional, and has an impact on driver behavior. Validating evidence, additional governing principles, and an initial speed prediction formula are also included.

Fixing motorisation: The logics of infrastructure solutionism in Bengaluru

Cities often deploy infrastructure-based solutions to tackle problems such as congestion caused by increasing motorisation rates. Such solutions include the introduction of complete streets or improved public transit systems. However, these solutions are often viewed as ‘quick fixes’ that are expected to resolve issues with ease. This article examines this phenomenon, which we call infrastructure solutionism, through two case studies in Bengaluru, India – re-shaping public transportation to attract car users through demand management, and redesigning major streets to accommodate varied users through parcelling. Through these case studies, it becomes evident that infrastructure solutions did not address the problems caused due to motorisation. Building upon the literature on technological solutionism in Science and Technology Studies, this article unpacks rationalities of infrastructure solutionism by examining material, valuational and expectational commitments mobilised through each case, and suggests that such solutions appear to be concerned with city image building, rather than addressing the chokehold of automobilisation.

How do complete streets policies and legislative ordinances implement explicit wording regarding low-income populations and communities of color? A qualitative analysis

OverviewActive transportation, walking/bicycling for transportation, provides physical/mental health benefits to those who participate; however, there are inequities in participation among various populations, which creates health disparities among groups (racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ communities, low-income, disabled/older individuals, youth/children, women). Complete Streets policies and legislative ordinances aim to ‘create useable streets for all’ in various cities across the United States; however, previous studies showed a lack of wording surrounding low-income populations and communities of color within these specific city-level literatures. The purpose of this current study was to qualitatively examine city-level policies/legislative ordinances addressed low-income populations and communities of color using thematic analysis. MethodsComplete Streets plans which had mentioned low-income populations and communities of color were obtained from a previous study and a public database. Thematic qualitative analysis was conducted to identify common themes. ResultsComplete Streets initiatives (n = 57) were analyzed with various themes identified, including actionable strategies for implementation, identification of funding mechanisms, and others. DiscussionComplete Streets policies and legislative ordinancesguide key stakeholders to creating safe and accessible roads for populations of different demographics and traveling in different transportation modes. Underserved and under resourced populations need be included within policy/legislation literature to ensure equitable engagement within city-level Complete Streets plans.

Operational LCA of a street with active mobility strategies in northern México

Active mobility (AM) is a fundamental part of a sustainable mobility system that generates environmental and social advantages; however, its use and operation are understudied using quantitative tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA), especially in the Latin American context. This study aimed to analyze the use stage of a street located in Northern Mexico. Two real scenarios were compared, one conventional (CO-SC-2020) and another sustainable (SU-SC-2022), which incorporated the concept of “complete streets” through a bicycle lane and the improvement of pedestrian spaces. Available data from the “Vía Libre” project and PIMUS, as well as SIMAPRO and Ecoinvent, were used for the LCA. The results indicated that the environmental impacts derived from transportation could be reduced through strategies such as active mobility (6.55%) and carpooling (77%), favoring the conversion of cities that consider the automobile as the guiding axis to more sustainable, inclusive, and safe cities.

A national survey and roadmap on complete streets infrastructure asset management policy

Complete Streets are being implemented across the US, and transportation agencies need to incorporate them into asset management systems cost-effectively maintain functionality. Although there has been a range of progress at the state level, many gaps need to be filled to include Complete Streets in asset management policies and improve practices, and there is no national guidance or comprehensive plan to achieve this. This study developed a roadmap to fill those gaps regarding infrastructure asset management. To create this roadmap, the study completed the following tasks: 1) develop and implement a survey supplement it with in-depth surveys with several agencies, 2) synthesize survey outcomes, 3) identify current statuses, challenges, and needs, and 4) develop a roadmap for Complete Streets infrastructure asset management. All 50 state transportation departments participated in the national survey. This paper synthesizes the outcomes of the surveys and literature review. The survey results showed that many agencies have some Complete Streets guidance (39/50), but only seven agencies have Complete Streets performance measures and no agency has bike/ped specific condition measures. The three primary challenges are: 1) inadequate funding related to organizational structure 2) the need for performance measures, and 3) the need for improved data accessibility, collection methods, and management techniques. The proposed Roadmap to Complete Streets Asset Management Policies includes pathways for 1) asset management performance measure development and 2) data collection and analysis. The roadmap organizes existing needs into a step by step framework for incorporating Complete Streets into infrastructure asset management programs and policies. Policy implications include the need for network-level performance measures and targets that the entire agency is responsible for, improved data collection techniques, and internal structural adjustments to encourage collaboration and data sharing within departments of transportation.

Analysing Complete Street Design Principles Using Space Syntax Methodology in a Case of Haft-e-Tir Square, Tehran

Analysing Complete Street Design Principles Using Space Syntax Methodology in a Case of Haft-e-Tir Square, Tehran

Integration of Resilient and Complete Streets in Geometric and Roadway Design Guides

This research explores the state of resilience and Complete Streets topics in current geometric and roadway design guides in North America. We conducted a content analysis of twenty-two provincial, state, and general design guides, and a topical examination of the relationship of Complete Streets elements to resilience goals. While Complete Streets topics are well integrated into guides, resilience topics are rarely present, leading to possible missed opportunities to achieve co-benefits or manage tensions. Implications from this research can begin discussions that embed safety and resilience into roadway design that also furthers multi-modal and sustainable transportation.

Association between Built Environment Policy and Good Health Status

ABSTRACT Introduction/Purpose Access to a high-quality built environment may help improve resident health status. However, city-level evidence regarding the health benefits of community assets is lacking. Thus, we aimed to examine the association between environmental indicators of cities and health statuses of residents. Methods This panel study used the American Fitness Index® data reported annually between 2018 and 2022 for the 100 most populous US cities. The study outcome was self-reported good health status of residents, and exposures were environmental factors: parks per 10,000 residents, percentage of walking distance parks, Walk Score®, air quality index, Bike Score®, Complete Streets policy, park expenditure per resident, and physical education requirement. We applied crude and multivariable-adjusted linear mixed and general models in our analyses. Results Among the 100 largest US cities, 84 increased in percentage of good health status from 2018 to 2022, but the increase was at most 13.1%. Furthermore, the maximum percentage with good health status was only between 60% and 70% in most fit cities, and the gap in good health status between most and least fit cities was approximately 40%. Good health status of residents was significantly (in the positive direction) associated with walking distance parks, Walk Score®, Bike Score®, and Complete Streets policy. The baseline percentage for walking distance parks, Walk Score®, and Complete Streets policy were each significantly associated with higher percentages of good health status of residents over the follow-up period. Conclusion Our study shows room for improvement in environments in all cities. Findings furthermore suggest that environmental factors, such as availability of parks within walking distance, walkability, bikeability, and Complete Streets policy, have the potential to impact the general health status of residents of the largest US cities.

QUALITY ENHANCEMENT OF THE STREET CORRIDOR TO SUPPORT TOURISM BASED ON URBAN DESIGN CONCEPT IN PEMUDA STREET, MAGELANG CITY

Pemuda Street is a corridor in the Magelang Chinatown area, known as one of the shopping centers in Magelang City. This area is generally a commerce and service area consisting of shops, healthcare facilities, and banking services. Despite its dominance by various economic opportunities and claims to be a Chinatown area, it requires a suitable area identity. Problems arise from various perspectives, such as pedestrian facilities being limited to pedestrians with unattractive visual appeal that fails to represent the distinctive characteristics of Chinatown. Consequently, motorcycle riders tend to utilize pedestrians more than walkers. Furthermore, most shops have experienced a decrease in visitors, influencing the economic earnings of the area. The Pemuda Street corridor aims to be planned using the design thinking method, adapting the concept of complete streets with elaboration from the concepts of commercial street, shared street, urban tourism, and vernacular settlement, to address various issues. The planning process begins with problem analysis and literature review to manifest the ideal planning concept. It concludes with creating a master plan design for the area summarized in textual explanations, two-dimensional images, and three-dimensional frameworks. The results of this research is apply the "complete street" planning concept can become the basis for designs that focus on functionality, aesthetics, sustainability, social needs, environmental harmony, and economic progress while respecting the historical values of the area Chinatown in Magelang City.

LAND-USE AND TRANSPORT INTEGRATED PLANNING AND MODELLING IN CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

The paper presents an example of successful reconversion of an industrial site located in the built-in area of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. This case study shows that land-use and transport integrated planning can be effectively implemented when a transport-oriented development (TOD) is designed for the redevelopment of an industrial site. Using TOD principles identified in the Romanian law and the technical criteria identified in the scientific literature, Sanex platform is analyzed to demonstrate it is a TOD. This would be the first documented TOD designed in Romania. A model is developed for TOD Sanex to estimate the impact that the redevelopment of the industrial platform into a multifunctional area will have on the local traffic. In this regard, two scenarios are analyzed – present scenario and future scenario after completion of the redevelopment. Two variants of the future scenario are discussed in connection to the Northern Mobility Corridor (CMN), the main project in implementation in the area, which is designed as a complete street. The results demonstrate that the induced traffic wouldn’t have a considerable impact on the local traffic now or in the perspective of the redevelopment. It can be integrated by the street network, which could operate in appropriate conditions. Considering the need of revitalization of the urban and rural industrial sites at the national scale in Romania and the benefits of TOD, a methodological framework in four steps is proposed. This framework would be a helpful support in the sustainable urban reconversion process, especially to achieve the reduced impact over the built environment and urban mobility.

Comparing different methods for connecting bike lanes to generate a complete bike network and identify potential complete streets in Atlanta

This study compares two different strategies for connecting bike networks – traditional design-based and algorithm-supported – to investigate how their results differ along metrics such as proportion of bike lanes along simulated routes and the resulting cycling stress. The objective is to find optimal strategies for connecting isolated existing cycling infrastructure to form complete networks that improve both active mobility and public transit ridership. By aligning the bike network with transit and activity locations, this research develops an algorithmic framework for generating a skeleton of multimodal networks best suited to become "complete streets." The network generated through an algorithm is compared with a proposed traditionally designed network to determine their relative network performance. The findings suggest that a judicious combination of traditionally designed, and algorithm-supported networks offer better cycling infrastructure than either strategy alone. In addition, algorithms can also be developed to indicate the potential for street segments to be complete streets.

Urban Street Concept Based on The Quran Perspective: The Most Comprehensive Solution to Street Problems

Streets are fundamental in the urban realm and always have specific problems. Many street concepts are believed to be able to solve the issues only partially. Therefore, they should work together to solve them comprehensively. Based on this case, to ensure their comprehensiveness, this research aims to offer Quran as an undebatable inspiration in finding new ideas for urban street concepts and filling the holes to solve those complicated problems. By using the content analysis method, this research analyzes eight street concepts: Those are livable, sustainable, walkable, biophilic, complete, democratic, user-friendly, and Quranic street, which is based on Quran to identify the indicators for each of them. The result showed that new inspirations of urban street concepts were found. They could be considered as new indicators of urban street concepts, which can provide a more comprehensive solution to the complicated street problems.

Governance, Investors Motivations and Foreign Direct Investment Inflow in Selected African Countries: Does John Dunning’s Eclectic Paradigm Matters?

Abstract Over the years, studies have focused on the implications of institutional quality as a key factor of FDI inflows into Africa and how it influences the economic processes of various African countries. However, in the studies on Africa, investors’ motivations as determinants of foreign direct investment inflows into African regions are grossly understudied and yet determined. As a result, there is a need to investigate the impact of FDI inflows on African countries, as well as the implications of home and host country investment phenomena. The study employs ex-post-facto research using panel data obtained from different World Bank publications; world development indicators, and the Transparency Index database from 1997 to 2022. The System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) was used to examine the data. The results reveal that governance and investor motivations have a negative impact on each other; the effect of the interacted variables is less than the total of the impacts of governance and investor motivations separately. Therefore, FDI in the selecte3d African countries will decline by 7.5 points for every unit increase in the level of poor governance and investor motivations, and this validates the locational assumption of John Dunning Eclectic Paradigm with the proposition that FDI inflows is a function of the home and host investment phenomena As a result, we recommend that African governments implement Regulatory reform, market reform, complete streets policies, and contingency-based planning that are FDI inflow induced.

Strategic Reflection on Mobility, Gender, and Sustainable Development in Complete Streets: Here’s How

As the aspirational Complete Streets movement sweeps North America with multimodal transportation policies and plans, communities need practice-ready tools that reinforce social inclusion and sustainable development through the movement’s implementation. Here we present two such tools: (1) gender analysis, which considers gendered experiences and roles in the context of Complete Streets so as to benefit diverse travelers with improved safety, transportation choices, support for caregivers, and more; and (2) an approach called SDG 360 Thinking, a holistic analysis of Complete Streets policy co-benefits, unintended harms, and trade-offs using the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We piloted these tools in workshops with community members and technical experts. Workshop participants gained new insights, made connections across sectors, took more inclusive and diverse perspectives, and made recommendations about Complete Streets policies. These tools are practical, easy to understand, and could be broadly impactful for communities.

Pediatric emergency department visits for pedestrian injuries in relation to the enactment of Complete Streets policy.

This study aimed to evaluate the rate of pediatric emergency department (ED) visits for pedestrian injuries in relation to the enactment of the Complete Streets policy. The National Complete Streets policies were codified by county and associated with each hospital's catchment area and date of enactment. Pedestrian injury-related ED visits were identified across 40 children's hospitals within the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) from 2004 to 2014. We calculated the proportion of the PHIS hospitals' catchment areas covered by any county policy. We used a generalized linear model to assess the impact of the proportion of the policy coverage on the rate of pedestrian injury-related ED visits. The proportion of the population covered by Complete Streets policies increased by 23.9%, and pedestrian injury rates at PHIS hospitals decreased by 29.8% during the study period. After controlling for years, pediatric ED visits for pedestrian injuries did not change with increases in the PHIS catchment population with enacted Complete Streets policies. After accounting for time trends, Complete Streets policy enactment was not related to observed changes in ED visits for pedestrian injuries at PHIS hospitals.

Complete Street as a Key for Urban Environment Development

Purpose: The concept of complete street is one of the modern trends concerned with diversifying means of transportation and reducing the disadvantages of mechanical transportation modes. This paper discusses the role of complete streets can play in developing the urban environment in the Alyarmok District of Baghdad.
 
 Method/design/approach: The linear regression method used to analyze the opinions of 100 respondents surveyed in the study area in order to find the relationship between the urban environment and the complete street elements.
 
 Theoretical framework: The Modern trends in urban planning aim to find alternatives to the policies of traditional transportation planning that focus on vehicular mobility.
 
 Results and conclusion: This paper concluded that the implementation of a complete street strategy in the study area will lead to the development of urban environments.
 
 Research implications: Encouraging street users to switch to active and public transportation and reduce dependence on vehicles.
 
 Originality/value: This paper can contribute to finding solutions to problems of urban environment degradation, which suffers from traffic congestion and its associated problems.

Physical Activity-Friendly Policies and Community Design Features in the US, 2014 and 2021.

The 2014 Community-Based Survey of Supports for Healthy Eating and Active Living documented the prevalence of US municipal policy and community design supports for physical activity. The survey was repeated in 2021. Our study examined change in the prevalence of supports from 2014 to 2021, overall and by municipality characteristic. Municipalities were sampled independently each survey year. We calculated prevalence in 2014 and 2021 and the prevalence ratio (PR) for 15 supports covering zoning codes, park policies and budgets, design standards, Complete Streets policies, and shared use agreements. We used a Bonferroni-corrected Breslow-Day test to test for interaction by municipality characteristic. In 2014 (2,009 municipalities) compared with 2021 (1,882 municipalities), prevalence increased for several zoning codes: block sizes of walkable distances (PR = 1.46), minimum sidewalk width (PR = 1.19), pedestrian amenities along streets (PR = 1.15), continuous sidewalk coverage (PR = 1.14), and building orientation to pedestrian scale (PR = 1.08). Prevalence also increased for design standards requiring dedicated bicycle infrastructure for roadway expansion projects or street retrofits (PR = 1.19). Prevalence declined for shared use agreements (PR = 0.87). The prevalence gap widened between the most and least populous municipalities for Complete Streets policies (from a gap of 33.6 percentage points [PP] in 2014 to 54.0 PP in 2021) and for zoning codes requiring block sizes that were walkable distances (from 11.8 PP to 41.4 PP). To continue progress, more communities could consider adopting physical activity-friendly policies and design features.

An exploration of multiuser perceptions of a Norwegian Complete Streets modification using interim design strategies

The need for cities worldwide to embrace sustainable transportation alternatives has given rise to innovative planning and design practices such as the use of Complete Streets. This research article presents an approach that utilizes interim design strategies to investigate users’ perceptions of Complete Streets modifications and their impact on travel behavior. The study focused on a major street in Trondheim, Norway, where various low-cost interim street changes were implemented to enhance conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users. These changes involved measures such as a ban on through-driving, a road diet (lane reduction initiative), bicycle lanes with armadillo separators, the deactivation of traffic lights, and parklet installation. Multiuser perceptions of the modifications were explored with the help of 832 online ex-post survey responses from city center residents and street users. Additionally, manual before-and-after counts of cyclists were conducted on the target street and three parallel streets. The findings revealed that employing interim design strategies enables transport planners to gain practical insights into the effectiveness of different Complete Streets measures. This, in turn, facilitates the optimization of roads for diverse travel modes and user needs.

Weighted sums method applied for decision making in improvement towards complete street: a case study in Popayan, Colombia

The design of a street must adhere to functionality requirements that ensure the safety and comfort of users. From this perspective, if a street encompasses attributes of safety, inclusivity, sustainability, and resilience, it can be referred to as a complete street. This study presents the application of the weighted sum method for evaluating the conditions of a complete street in the modernization of the road network in Popayán, considering the impact that different alternatives offer to enhance road quality. Prior to implementing this method, a group of experts defined the weight of each attribute of a complete street, and using a compliance checklist, a visual assessment was conducted across four sections in the city. 
 The study provides an example of rating a segment within a study section and the economic impact in relation to the benefits of the implemented improvements to achieve complete street functionality. This procedure enables a project manager or public expenditure manager to assess how to enhance the success or integrity of the street before carrying out a public project. The goal of the weighted sum method applied in this scenario is to provide a tool for evaluating the fulfillment of complete street conditions before commencing construction.

How the design of Complete Streets affects mode choice: Understanding the behavioral responses to the level of traffic stress

How the design of Complete Streets affects mode choice: Understanding the behavioral responses to the level of traffic stress