Tuesdays at APA DC - Complete Streets: Closing the Gap between Policy and Practice

November 12, 2013


Across the country, hundreds of communities have embraced
Complete Streets policies as a way to foster safer streets that
serve everyone, not just drivers. But individual projects and
general policies aren't enough: transportation agencies often
struggle to reform decades of rules, practice, and politics that
prioritize cars.


Barbara McCann, founding director of the National Complete
Streets Coalition, has dug into what it takes to upend the way
every transportation project is conceived, planned, and evaluated
so each provides for people walking, bicycling, or taking the
bus. McCann will discuss what she learned about why Complete
Streets too often fail and what can be done to close that gap
between policy and practice. She will share the stories of
practitioners in cities and towns from Charlotte, North Carolina,
to Colorado Springs, Colorado, who have made four fundamental
changes in the way transportation projects are chosen, planned,
and built.