Complete Streets are safe, context-sensitive, inclusive, equitable and flexible, and when cities apply the Complete Streets approach it gives pedestrians, people on bikes, transit riders and other multimodal travelers access to safe, comfortable streets. Recently the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) released a draft Regional Complete Streets Toolkit, which provides important guidance for municipalities throughout the Denver metro area that want to adopt their own Complete Streets policies, and will help inform which transportation projects DRCOG chooses to fund. We’ve read closely through the Complete Streets Toolkit and found a lot that we like and want to share with you!
Many aspects of the Toolkit will support the creation of more people-friendly streets, consistent with Denver’s new Complete Streets Design Guidelines. The Toolkit prioritizes the different modes of transportation based on each of the unique street types, allowing for local governments to plan, design, and implement Complete Streets based on the context of the surrounding land-uses and environment on the street. While the Toolkit does not clearly state an overall hierarchy of the modal priorities, there is high priority stated for active transportation within a majority of the street typologies. The DSP strongly endorses that the Toolkit recognizes walking as a high-priority mode of transportation in all urban, suburban and small community settings, as well as designing for bicycling as a high priority mode allows local governments to provide travel options while reducing the need for vehicle parking.
The Toolkit also establishes some new street designs that we like and have historically not seen used in the Denver region, such as a Special-Use Street that can play a variety of roles, either short-term or long-term, with the purpose of providing space for special events or to be designed as a destination. Specifically, the Toolkit mentions that motor vehicles, except for emergency vehicles, transit or delivery vehicles can be prohibited on these Special-Use Streets. This opens the door for more Shared Streets like we experienced in Denver between the Spring of 2020 until recently in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The toolkit further dives into specific Design Elements that create safe and inclusive Complete Streets for active transportation. We were particularly excited to see vertical traffic calming treatments such as speed cushions, humps and tables clearly identified as a self-enforcing strategy that results in the desired effect of slowing traffic, without relying on compliance with traffic control devices such as signals, signs and enforcement. The Toolkit also strongly encourages bikeway designs that maximize comfort for all ages and abilities through physical separation from motor vehicles.
While there’s a lot to be excited about, the Toolkit still has room for improvement. We believe that equity is central to transportation planning and it is not mentioned a single time throughout the document. As the Denver Complete Streets Design Guidelines mentions, “by identifying culturally sensitive barriers and solutions to Complete Streets and by focusing improvements in neighborhoods with historic disinvestment or underinvestment, street design can help repair systemic inequities [in communities across the Denver region].” Equitable street design should guide all regional projects and we encourage DRCOG to amend the Toolkit to reflect that.
You can view the Complete Streets Toolkit here and use our handy online tool to let DRCOG know what you support and where they could improve!