The document summarizes a New Jersey Complete Streets Summit that discussed building streets for all modes of transportation rather than just automobiles. It notes that Complete Streets is a rational approach and that streets should accommodate people first rather than being dominated by automobiles. Engineers are willing to build Complete Streets because it keeps their focus on traffic speed and volume rather than prioritizing safety and costs like the public prefers.

1. New Jersey
Complete Streets Summit
October 21, 2013
#NJBikePed
#STChat

2. The mission of Strong Towns is to support a
model for growth that allows America's towns
to become financially strong and resilient.

3. Complete Streets is a rational response
to irrational thinking.

4. The second oldest profession?

5. Traffic Engineering
A relatively new profession

6. Trial and Error

7. Forgiving Design
•
•
•
•
•
Widen lanes
Flatten hills
Smooth Curves
Increase shoulders
Add clear zone

8. The “standard”

10. Complete Streets is a rational response
to irrational thinking.

11. Complete Streets accommodate
pedestrians within an autodominated environment.

12. Everything has it’s place….

13. Resolve conflict with priority

14. What are the values we apply?
Engineer’s Approach
• Traffic Speed
• Traffic Volume
• Safety
• Cost
Public’s Approach
• Safety
• Cost
• Traffic Volume
• Traffic Speed

15. Engineers will gladly build
Complete Streets….
….because they can keep their
value system.

17. Are we building a street or a road?

19. ROADS v. STREETS
Why is this so important?

20. Building Roads

21. Diminishing Returns

22. Reduced Travel Time
Growth

23. Negative ROI

24. Negative ROI

25. High Return Investments

26. $1,136,500
$803,200

27. High Return Investments
Highway Oriented
$0.6 million/acre
Traditional Pattern
$1.1 million/acre

30. It is not enough to accommodate
pedestrians within an autodominated environment.

31. It is not enough to accommodate
pedestrians within an autodominated environment.
Productive Places accommodate
automobiles within an
environment dominated by people.

32. People create value

34. Shared Space

35. Shared Space

36. Productive Places – places scaled to
humans – cost less to build and have
greater financial returns than those
built strictly for automobiles.

37. Safe Routes to School
$200 million
Schools on un-Safe Routes
$9 billion

39. Now Available…
www.StrongTowns.org
www.StrongTowns.net

40. Deal Stopper

41. Swiss Firetrap?

42. Where are you more likely to die from a fire?
fire fatality rate in the U.S. is 5x that of Switzerland.
The U.S. approach emphasizes response time and suppression while the Swiss
approach emphasizes prevention.
The

43. A tragic irony
Our wide streets allow us to quickly respond
to the collisions caused by our wide streets.