New Laws For Safer Streets? Hawaii Gets It Right, Missouri Gets It Wrong

In the last few weeks, two states considered “complete streets” laws that would have benefited residents with safer, more livable neighborhoods, and roads designed to include sidewalks and bike lanes and improve traffic flow. In one case, Hawaii, a broad coalition of citizens was able to celebrate the swift passage of a complete streets law that will improve quality of life throughout the state.  In Missouri, though, it was different story, as the measure was killed at the last minute. What made the difference in these two outcomes?

In both cases, advocates did good work in support of the bills. In Hawaii, the One Voice for Livable Islands put a media spotlight on the state’s poor pedestrian safety record, while AARP’s efforts helped put the face of everyone’s grandmother at the center of the issue. Meanwhile, the Missouri Bicycle Federation helped organize testimony in favor of complete streets from a wide range of interests, from the state PTA to the Public Transit Association. The bill sailed through committee.

But according to Missouri Bicycle Federation Executive Director Brent Hugh, one opponent undid all that work: the State DOT.

He says it was their lobbyists that had the language pulled from the final version of a major transportation bill. During the hearings they told lawmakers they already build complete streets, but afterwards they explained their opposition to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “‘Our concern is with making (Complete Streets) mandatory because we have to look at the right solution based on the needs of each community and make the right decision for allocating limited resources,’ [DOT spokeswoman Sandy] Oxenhandler said. ‘We’d love to do everything that everyone wants, but it boils down to a balancing act.’”

In contrast, Hawaii DOT worked with advocates to create a better bill, and then supported it.  HDOT is joining the likes of California, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, forward-thinking state agencies that are embracing a multimodalfuture.

Yet it appears that these states remain the exception. In a survey of planners and engineers for a new AARP study, 52% said conflicts between state DOTs and local jurisdictions are a major barrier to complete streets improvements (another 35% called it a minor barrier.).

A federal complete streets policy is one solution.  In DC, Reps Doris Matsui, Albio Sires and Russ Carnahan have just sent a letter to Transportation and Infrastructure committee leadership marking the Complete Streets Act of 2009, as one of their top priorities for the authorization bill, and another 16 members of the committee are urging its inclusion as well.

The AARP report, Planning Complete Streets for the Aging of America, shows why AARP is involved in Complete Streets in Hawaii and a number of other states: by 2025, 64 million Americans will be over age 65, and two-thirds of planners have done little to plan streets for older drivers or pedestrians. AARP knows that new ideas like Complete Streets are the answer… over time, some old-school DOTs are getting the picture.

Barbara McCann is the executive director of the National Complete Streets Coalition.