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New York Needs "Complete Streets" Bill
Information provided by Tri-State Transportation Campaign - Published: 2010-06-20
TSTC to State Assembly: New York Needs a "Complete Streets" Bill With Teeth.
On the heels of the New York State Senate's passage of sweeping legislation that will create more livable and walkable communities across the state, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign called on the New York State Assembly to amend the language of its version of “complete streets” legislation currently moving through the approval process.
“The complete streets policy passed today by the Senate will ensure that all new and rehabilitated roads are designed for all users, including walkers, cyclists, and the disabled,” said Kate Slevin, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. “By making our streets safer and more balanced, complete streets will save lives, revitalize downtowns and Main Streets, and help ensure our transportation system is ready for the challenges of the 21st century.”
The Senate bill directs the state Department of Transportation to consider bi cycle and pedestrian accommodations in the planning and development of state, county, and local roads and other transportation facilities. Unfortunately, gaps in the companion Assembly bill, passed by the Transportation Committee earlier this week, would render the legislation useless in its impact.
“The Assembly has watered down its complete streets bill to the point that it will do little to fix dangerous roads," said Kyle Wiswall, Tri-State Transportation Campaign general counsel. "Not only does it significantly limit the number of roads that would see improvement, but it paradoxically allows a decisionmaker to ignore safety improvements because the road is determined to be too dangerous – precisely the problem that the original bill aimed to fix."
Passage of the legislation is greatly needed in New York. According to a national report titled Dangerous by Design, co-authored by Tri-State Transportation Campaign staff analyst Michelle Ernst, New York State had the 3rd highest number in the nation for pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 people aged 65 and older, behind Hawaii and California. 22.5 percent of total traffic deaths in New York State were pedestrians in 2007 and 2008 -- compared to a national average of 11.8 percent. In the New York City metropolitan area, 31 percent of total traffic deaths were pedestrians.
The Tri-State Transportation Campaign is a non-profit organization working toward a more balanced, transit-friendly and equitable transportation system in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.
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