{"id":218829191,"date":"2011-12-08T17:53:11","date_gmt":"2011-12-08T17:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=218829191"},"modified":"2011-12-08T17:53:11","modified_gmt":"2011-12-08T17:53:11","slug":"combating-the-myth-that-complete-streets-are-too-expensive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=218829191","title":{"rendered":"Combating the Myth That Complete Streets Are Too Expensive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by Tanya Snyder<br \/>\nLive in a town where bicyclists and pedestrians are personas non grata and buses get stuck in automobile congestion? Do you put on your walking boots only to find that your city\u2019s street design conveys the message, \u201cThese roads were made for driving?\u201d It\u2019s time for a complete streets upgrade, then \u2013 but often, when concerned citizens propose accommodating other road users on the streets, local officials tell them it\u2019s just too expensive.<br \/>\nAre complete streets really too expensive? According to Norm Steinman, planning and design manager for the Charlotte Department of Transportation, design elements to turn an incomplete street into one that accommodates all users are usually a very low percentage of the total cost of street planning, design, and construction. \u201cSidewalks will turn out to be somewhere around 3 percent of that compilation of costs,\u201d he said last week in a seminar sponsored by the National Complete Streets Coalition for communities participating in the CDC\u2019s Communities Putting Prevention to Work program. \u201cBicycle lanes, around 5 percent \u2014 and that\u2019s adding bicycle lanes, of course, to both sides of the street.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cOn the other hand,\u201d Steinman said, \u201creducing the width of a lane by a foot can reduce the costs by 2 percent.\u201d Indeed, in Richfield, Minnesota, when 76th Street needed to be rebuilt following work on the sewer lines, the city decided to implement a \u201croad diet.\u201d Narrowing the street shaved $2 million off the estimated $6 million cost of the sewer work \u2013 while at the same time improving mobility and safety for pedestrians and cyclists and making for a more enjoyable community.<br \/>\n&#8230;<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/dc.streetsblog.org\/2011\/12\/08\/combating-the-myth-that-complete-streets-are-too-expensive\/\">https:\/\/dc.streetsblog.org\/2011\/12\/08\/combating-the-myth-that-complete-streets-are-too-expensive\/<\/a>oldId.20111208175311859<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Tanya Snyder Live in a town where bicyclists and pedestrians are personas non grata and buses get stuck in automobile congestion? Do you put on your walking boots only to find that your city\u2019s street design conveys the message, \u201cThese roads were made for driving?\u201d It\u2019s time for a complete streets upgrade, then \u2013 &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=218829191\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Combating the Myth That Complete Streets Are Too Expensive&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218829191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biking-elsewhere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218829191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=218829191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218829191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=218829191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=218829191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=218829191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}