Complete streets transformations - benefits of diverse approaches

NRU
May 11, 2016
By Peter Pantalone

While there is no broadly agreed upon definition of what exactly constitutes a complete street, there is strong evidence that a diverse range of interventions can facilitate significant public benefits. These include increased active transportation mode share, improved safety and service levels for all road users and value added social, economic and environmental impacts.

This is a key finding of the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation’s recent publication, Complete Street Transformations in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The objective of the book is to document the types of projects that GGH municipalities are identifying as complete streets and to identify the outputs-new physical infrastructure-and outcomes-the effects and impacts-accompanying these transformations.

Principal investigators Nancy Smith Lea, Dr. Raktim Mitra and Dr. Paul Hess evaluated nine complete streets projects against four broad goals: increased levels of active and sustainable transportation, increased safety based on a reduction in the number and severity of collisions, enhanced service levels for pedestrians, cyclists and public transit users, and wider social, economic and environmental improvements.

By far the most ambitious project highlighted in the book was the $308-million transformation of Highway 7 East in the City of Markham and Town of Richmond Hill. Th e former provincial highway was transformed into a multi-modal transportation corridor with bicycle lanes and a dedicated transitway. The result was a dramatic increase in the number of pedestrians, cyclists and transit users in the corridor, as well as a 64 per cent reduction in collisions.

However, as the authors demonstrate, successful complete street transformations need not require massive investments. In 2014 the City of Guelph reconstructed a one-kilometre portion of College Avenue by adding painted bike lanes, reducing the posted speed limit and implementing a road diet which reduced the number of vehicular lanes. The project took advantage of planned road resurfacing and cost a modest $11,200. Cycling traffic increased by 200 per cent and car traffic decreased by as much as 13 per cent.

The City of Hamilton spent $710,000 to modify 3.4 kilometres of Cannon Avenue in 2014 by introducing a road diet, a cycle track and bicycle turning boxes at certain intersections. Th e project turned a busy arterial road with significant truck traffic into a popular cycling route that serves the city’s downtown core, which is experiencing renewed growth and investment.

The book also highlights the success of new cycle tracks along 3.3 kilometres of Richmond and Adelaide streets through the heart of downtown in the City of Toronto, at a cost of $780,000. Outcomes include a near-tripling of cyclists travelling at peak hours, a significant increase in the perception of safety and comfort among both cyclists and motorists, and shorter travel times for drivers.

At the May 5 book launch, research assistants Neil Loewen and Brandon Quigley detailed a project in the City of Kitchener where an innovative redesign of King Street contributed to the rejuvenation of the surrounding neighbourhood. By reconfiguring the road and implementing a number of public realm enhancements the city turned King Street into a popular pedestrian hotspot. Since the project’s completion, 59 building facade improvements have been undertaken and the number of summer patios has increased from five to 16.

One of the challenges the team found in selecting their case studies is that the data collection and monitoring practices documenting the effects of complete streets projects vary significantly among municipalities. As a result the team encourages municipalities to consider evaluation from the outset of planned projects so the magnitude of their public benefts can be accurately accessed.