Issue date: 10/15/09 Section: News

The Complete Streets movement aims to share the road Photo: Bikeportland.org / Flickr

A city should design its roadways with equal consideration for the safety and needs of all who must use it, not giving any preferential treatment to those traveling in cars.

This is the sentiment behind Toronto's Complete Streets Campaign, a joint initiative that is currently being undertaken by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transport (TCAT) and the Toronto Cyclists Union.

Following the lead of a similar group in the United States, the campaign began this past summer. Although only in its initial research phase, the overarching goal is to decide on the best way to reallocate road space more equitably between cars, public transit, pedestrians and cyclists according to TCAT's program director Nancy Smith Lea.

"It fits well with TCAT's approach which is to advocate for both cyclists and pedestrians in a non-confrontational way," she says.

"It also fits well with the research work we are doing at the Clean Air Partnership to look at not just road users, but other stakeholders in the street as well such as business and the customers accessing those businesses."

Val Dodge, a volunteer on the Complete Streets Campaign committee elaborates on the concept behind the campaign and explains that motorists should not view the push for complete streets in Toronto as a "war against the car," as some city councilors and columnists have characterized past efforts to re-engineer the city's streets.

"Complete streets are about making traffic and neighbourhoods function better by allowing people to make real choices about the transportation that they use. They're about improving safety for everyone, including people in cars." He adds that such projects for major city streets would not be as intrusive to the flow of traffic as one might imagine.

"Complete streets don't necessarily require lengthy construction or extensive redesigns. Improvements for cyclists and pedestrians can be as basic as having secure bike parking or putting benches on sidewalks. Even where they do require reconstruction, it would likely be done according to the regular maintenance schedule for a road anyway."

With the recent death of bike courier Darcy Allan Sheppard and the subsequent protests and controversy surrounding the event, questions of the safety of Toronto's streets are still lingering in the minds of many cyclists.

Furthermore, Mayor David Miller's announcement that he will not be seeking a third term in the 2010 election has some cyclists worried that his successor may not share the sympathetic view Miller often took toward the bicycle.

However, Dodge believes that although the Complete Streets Campaign supports the construction of bike lanes, it should remain a non-partisan issue. "How can any politician claim to be against making streets safer for children and seniors?" he asks.

Transport Canada has also been examining possibilities for a complete streets policy in urban areas. A recent research case study conducted by the ministry found that there were numerous environmental, safety and financial benefits to such initiatives but no community has adopted a specific policy as of yet. This is in contrast to the United States where more than 75 jurisdictions have implemented complete streets policies.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools