By Elena Velkov, media center coordinator, Fresh Energy

If you’ve been keeping up with Fresh Energy’s Transportations Connections Department, you’ve probably heard about its push for a state Complete Streets policy. The measure aims to make streets safer and more accessible through various planning measures. This includes sidewalks, bike lanes, crosswalks, and shoulders. But as far as understanding how exactly these road changes would equal improved safety and a cleaner environment, it’s a little bit difficult to get from point A to point B–no transportation pun intended. I didn’t have a clear understanding of it, myself, until I actually saw it last week. Three of us met with Councilman Steve Elkins in Bloomington last week to check out a road that underwent some Complete Streets-like changes. The background: Councilman Elkins had received a number of complaints from people who lived along a four-lane road. It had no shoulder, no bike lane, and the cars drove too fast for comfort. People complained that they didn’t feel safe walking their dogs or even getting their mail. What’s more, a number of bike commuters frequented the road, and at least one even got clipped by car.

So Councilman Elkins launched two small, inexpensive changes to the road. He changed it from four lanes to three lanes, with the inside lane being a turn lane. This slowed down the cars that had been whizzing by. He also added a shoulder on the both sides of the road. It provided a new space for bikers. This was great news for employees of Quality Bicycle Products, a Bloomington business. A number of them used that road to bike to work every day. The shoulders also served people on their feet, who now had a buffer between them and the cars.

The result? People began to feel safe in their neighborhood again. They didn’t feel threatened by cars that were driving too fast, whether they were biking on the road, walking on the sidewalk, or working in their yard. The people who had objected to the changes turned around and thanked Councilman Elkins for improving their neighborhood. A couple simple, cheap steps increased the likelihood of folks getting around without a personal vehicle. That’s why Complete Streets is also a matter of clean air. Increasing pedestrian safety and comfort is a key step in reducing the pollution that comes from cars. Roughly 1/4 of global warming pollution in Minnesota and 2/3 of oil consumption comes from the transportation sector.

If you’re interested in learning more or helping promote a statewide Complete Streets policy for Minnesota, check out the Minnesota Complete Streets Coalition or contact Ethan Fawley (fawley@fresh-energy.org).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 11:57 am by Fresh Energy and is filed under Energy, Transit and Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.