Complete Streets for Complete Communities
What Are Complete Streets?
Complete Streets are exactly what the name suggests: streets made complete for all users – think bike lanes, trees, and well-maintained walkways and paths. Decades of planning and designing roadways for vehicles have led to a transportation network that does not adequately account for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users. The result is unsafe infrastructure conditions such as missing sidewalks, poorly marked crossings, roads with high traffic volumes and speeds, and no dedicated areas for other modes of travel. Complete Streets are a direct response to these failures, ensuring the full road, including the right-of-way, sidewalks and intersections, are planned, designed, operated and maintained to provide safe access for all users, regardless of age, ability or type of travel.
Complete Streets Policies
Complete Streets policies detail how a community will plan, design and maintain streets in ways that are context-sensitive and reflect local needs and land use patterns. They also consider the condition of the existing roadway network to identify where investments could have the greatest impact on safety and connectivity.
A Complete Streets policy can help public agencies and communities integrate safety improvement projects as part of their approach to improving and maintaining the local road network. This policy helps involved agencies, including state, county and local entities, design roadway projects with all users in mind. Moreover, it ensures private developers incorporate the needs of all roadway users into their designs and construction. A Complete Streets policy also identifies structural support throughout the lifespan of projects, including all phases such as maintenance, operations, enforcement and eventual upgrades.
Why do they matter?
Complete Streets give people more choices to get where they need to go. The increase of walking and biking paired with the reduction of traffic results in more active business districts and improved public health and air quality. The biggest impact of these adaptable, site-specific designs is their ability to directly reduce crash frequency and severity, making neighborhood streets safer.
A great example of a Complete Streets design is a road diet, which reduces the number of vehicle lanes on a street, often converting a four-lane roadway to three lanes with a center turn lane. This adjustment more naturally reduces traffic speed and provides more space for other users of the street. By reallocating the pavement to better serve vulnerable roadway users such as children and older adults, road diets transform streets into safer, vibrant community assets. Further, providing options for other users, such as walkers and bikers, promotes visits to local businesses and shops along these corridors, fostering local economic development.
Complete Streets in Practice
Complete Streets strategies look different depending on the community. The most effective approaches are tailored to local conditions and adaptable to changing needs.
A blend of Complete Streets treatments can deliver significant safety and accessibility benefits at low cost. For instance, high-visibility crosswalks increase driver yielding and reduce pedestrian crash risk. Curb extensions – which can include low-cost interim versions installed with paint, flexible delineator posts or landscaping such as planters – can reduce pedestrian crossing times and vehicle turning speeds. Additionally, bicycle facilities like protected or painted bike lanes create dedicated spaces for riders, enhancing visibility and reducing vehicle speeds, near busy commercial areas and community gateways. Even streetscaping elements such as trees, benches, and pedestrian-scale lighting can improve comfort and accessibility by offering shade, places to rest and increased feelings of safety.
Complete Streets Planning in Action: Lewis County Complete Streets Plan
Acknowledging the gaps in its transportation network and recognizing the need for safer, healthier communities, Lewis County developed a Complete Streets Plan in 2023. The Plan leads with a resolution documenting the county’s commitment to the Plan and establishing a Complete Streets policy. The policy addresses the need and benefits of Complete Streets, underscoring the importance to public health outcomes, limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and improving neighborhood vitality overall. The resolution notes that the planning, design, and construction of new streets and reconstructed streets – whether undertaken by public or private entities – should reflect the intention of the policy and the Complete Streets Plan. The Plan included an existing conditions analysis of the villages and hamlets in the county, which was accompanied by public engagement activities, including public meetings, surveys, and walk audits. This resulted in a series of recommendations, including actions that support connectivity to critical services, tourism and recreation, economic development, as well as a series of design guidelines, including recommendations for bike lanes, shared use paths, and sidewalks.
Next Steps for Communities
Interested in making your community’s streets safer and more accessible to all users? Here are some next steps to pursue to advance Complete Streets.
- Assess local and regional transportation plans and existing conditions in your community to identify safety issues for bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit users, including gaps in infrastructure, dangerous intersections, and other opportunities for improvement.
- Develop a Complete Streets policy and engage your local community in the process. Activities like walk audits can get people out on the streets and participating firsthand in design improvements.
- Test out strategies and designs with low-cost demonstration projects that make temporary improvements to streets and intersections.
- Create a Complete Streets Advisory Committee to guide policy implementation and ensure accountability.
- Develop a Complete Streets plan and accompanying design standards to address unsafe corridors and intersections to guide future improvements.
Resources
Smart Growth America –Steps to Adopting a Complete Streets Policy: https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/program-of-work/complete-streets/steps-to-adopting-a-complete-streets-policy/
Smart Growth America – Complete Streets Policy Framework: https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/elements-complete-streets-policy/
Strengthening Public Spaces: A Case Study of the Huntington Memorial Library in Oneonta
Since ancient Greece, well-designed public spaces have served as hubs of civic life. From parks and plazas, sidewalks to public buildings, thoughtfully designed places provide space for people to gather freely, exchange ideas and build connections.
Libraries offer a particularly powerful example of how public spaces can evolve. Historically known for quiet research and contemplation, libraries increasingly serve as crucial public spaces. They host community groups, educational programs, writing workshops, and children’s activities. Because of their broad reach, they provide an ideal testing ground for innovative approaches to creating inclusive and engaging public environments.
The Huntington Memorial Library in Oneonta, New York, illustrates how communities can rethink public space through creative design, community input and strategic adaptation.
A Good Problem to Have
Since its founding in 1921, the Huntington Memorial Library has served as one of Oneonta’s primary public spaces. Library Director Alex Benjamin describes the institution as a “third space,” where people from all backgrounds can interact without having to buy anything.
Over time, however, the historic building began to show the limits of its physical footprint. A master planning process completed in 2020 concluded that the building was too small to fully meet the needs of its users.
Expanding the structure proved difficult. Because the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, large structural additions were not feasible. Rather than viewing this limitation as a dead end, library leaders began exploring alternative ways to expand the library’s footprint.
Community input played a central role in shaping the solution. A survey drew more than 180 responses from residents, with nearly 70% supporting the idea of establishing a separate children’s library. Among those supporters, more than 86% favored locating it in a different building.
After evaluating eighteen potential sites, the library selected an underutilized property at 14 Dietz Street, located close to the main branch. Fundraising efforts led by the Friends of the Huntington Memorial Library raised roughly $120,000 to help bring the project to life.
A New Space
The goal was not simply to relocate children’s books. Instead, the library aimed to create an immersive space, reflective of community history, needs and interests, where kids and families could gather, explore stories and develop a lasting love of reading.
Youth Program Coordinator Donna Foote and former Director Tina Winstead imagined the space as an enchanted forest inspired by Oneonta’s wooded landscape. Their goal was to create an environment that transported young visitors into a world of imagination.
Local artists David Kenny and Diana Cozzens were invited to bring that vision to life, the details resulting in a unique and engaging place. Inspired by a birch grove on their property, the artists designed a space that reflects the local landscape.
At the center of the children’s library stands a large sculptural oak tree, constructed from recycled materials. Birch trees, created from fallen trees and pages from books, line the walls. A bird’s nest rests in a nook within the oak tree. Leaves stretch across the ceiling canopy while birds and small animals appear throughout the branches. Bookshelves guide visitors through the room like a winding forest path. Even staff members who work in the space every day say they continue to notice new details.
Beyond the physical design, the project reflects the broader creative culture surrounding the library. The institution regularly hosts craft groups, photography workshops, knitting classes and hands-on programs for children. Many activities are proposed by community members themselves.
Library leadership encourages ideas on new programming or art-based activities so long as projects remain inexpensive and thoughtfully planned. That openness has gradually transformed the building into a community-driven creative hub rather than simply a book storage facility.
Lessons for Strengthening Public Spaces
The Huntington Memorial Library’s experience highlights several practical steps communities can take when reimagining their public spaces – whether it is a library or a neighborhood park in need of an update.
Assess Existing Spaces
Communities should begin by considering how their public spaces function. Are they accessible? Are they welcoming to people of all ages and abilities? Do residents enjoy gathering there? What is missing?
Engage the Community
Surveys, public meetings, and community conversations help ensure improvements reflect local needs while building connections to community partners, from contributing artists to kids who will use a new play structure. Simply saying yes to residents who want to contribute ideas, programs, and projects can foster a sense of shared ownership that helps public spaces remain vibrant and relevant.
Develop a Clear Vision
Strong projects often begin with a bold idea. In the case of Oneonta, the vision was for an independent children’s space, and the enchanted forest concept provided a narrative that guided design decisions and helped mobilize public support.
Use Constraints Creatively
Historic buildings, limited budgets, and unusual layouts often appear restrictive at first. With creative thinking, however, these limitations can inspire innovative solutions and create unique public spaces.
Contact Us
Do you need help determining where to start with Smart Growth planning in your community?
Are there Smart Growth practices your community is employing related to housing, green space, infill development, or others that you want to share with other communities?
Please send us an email at [email protected]!