While you celebrate Earth Day with activities around the city and county, take note of whether you are driving, walking or biking down a complete street. So what does complete streets means? This was part of the question posed in a series of recent workshops hosted this past week through the Broward Complete Streets Initiative.
Attending the third workshop on Thursday afternoon at Nova Southeastern University, it translated into a series of boards mounted on easels that staff from Urban Health Solutions and Urban Health Partnerships walked participants through asking for their input as to whether we live on a complete street, what are the essential elements of a complete street and our views on public transportation.
With the goal of getting us out of our cars and engaged with the public domain in a safe manner it is hoped that through these efforts greenhouse gases will be reduced, our health will improve and we will spend less of our already challenged incomes on transportation costs. Citing that the poor are especially hard hit paying a disproportional amount of their income on vehicle related costs i.e. gas, insurance and upkeep – consistency, frequency and availability seem to be the keys to insuring that mass transit will be fully used and support by the general public.
While you celebrate Earth Day with activities around the city and county, take note of whether you are driving, walking or biking down a complete street. So what does complete streets means? This was part of the question posed in a series of recent workshops hosted this past week through the Broward Complete Streets Initiative.
Attending the third workshop on Thursday afternoon at Nova Southeastern University, it translated into a series of boards mounted on easels that staff from Urban Health Solutions and Urban Health Partnerships walked participants through asking for their input as to whether we live on a complete street, what are the essential elements of a complete street and our views on public transportation.
With the goal of getting us out of our cars and engaged with the public domain in a safe manner it is hoped that through these efforts greenhouse gases will be reduced, our health will improve and we will spend less of our already challenged incomes on transportation costs. Citing that the poor are especially hard hit paying a disproportional amount of their income on vehicle related costs i.e. gas, insurance and upkeep – consistency, frequency and availability seem to be the keys to insuring that mass transit will be fully used and support by the general public.
Trees were selected as being critical to the success of the walkability of streets along with the relative scale of road width to pedestrian walkway. One way roads are less apt to be either pedestrian or retail friendly benefiting from a transition to a two way road. Wider roads that can easily be six lanes across such as Broward Boulevard in downtown Fort Lauderdale which is three lanes of traffic each way posing a challenge to pedestrians crossing from one side to the other within the time allocated. All too often, pedestrians end up jogging near the end as time runs out creating particular hazards for the elderly, handicapped and young children, people with baby carriages etc.; shall I go on? You get the picture, this is not pedestrian friendly.Another deterrent to walkability is the access to pedestrian, bicycle and car right of ways. Pedestrians need a wide sidewalk to comfortably accommodate their needs as well bicycles need a dedicated lane that is not compromised by opening car doors or turning car lanes. A vegetated buffer area of parked cars between the road way and sidewalk is also important in providing a layer of safety and security for pedestrians.
Calming devices have been wisely included in examples of walkable cities that take the time and care to create an urban environment that balances the need of all forms of transportation. This includes bus stops that provide more than a bench, some locations don’t even have that much. When it rains here, shelter is what is needed making choosing a bus over the convenience of a car, an acceptable alternative.
The Broward Complete Streets Initiative is part of a Transforming Our Community’s Health (TOUCH) Initiative which is being funded under the Affordable Care Act by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Community Transformation Grants of $8.8 million dollars over a five year period. A collaborative effort of more than 20 community organizations and 10 coalitions including the American Lung Association, Smart Growth Partnership, Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization, Fort Lauderdale Vegetables and the South Florida Regional Planning Council, will focus on public outreach to reduce chronic disease, promote healthier lifestyles, reduce health disparities and control health care spending.
As the collaboration continues to develop guidelines to implementing complete streets, it will provide direction for the 31 municipalities of Broward County to implement policies that support complete streets as well review existing codes and practices.
They are encouraging everyone to participate in a survey that will provide invaluable feedback regarding what you think is important in creating complete streets.
To take the survey, please follow: https://www.surveymonkey.com/browardcompletestreets
To learn more about the Complete Streets Initiative, go to www.urbanhs/completestreets
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