To become a world-class city, the City of Orlando is working to become more “complete” – with an addition of a Complete Streets policy. This ensures that roads are repainted and redesigned with bicyclists, pedestrians, drivers, and transit users in mind. In September, the City of Orlando reviewed and approved the draft of a proposed Complete Streets policy during their Municipal Planning Board meeting. Next step? Formal adoption of the policy language by the City Council in January 2016.
Complete streets aren’t new to the city. Edgewater Drive in College Park was converted using Complete Streets concepts in 2001 and recently highlighted as a national model for Complete Streets by Smart Growth America. The change included adding bicycle lanes, a center turn lane, and wider on-street parking. Since then, total collisions have dropped 40% and the crash rate was nearly cut in half. Drivers weren’t the only people affected – the number of people on bikes increased by 30% and the number of people on foot increased by 23%.
The success of Edgewater Drive is proof that Complete Streets work and will greatly improve our roads. This policy is a welcome change for Orlando, a city ranked the deadliest place to walk in the country by Smart Growth America in its 2011 and 2014 Dangerous by Design reports.
We can expect to see this policy formally adopted as early as January 2016. Here is the official timeline:
August 2015: Draft Policy
September 2015: Municipal Planning Board Approval
January 2016: City Council Formal Adoption of Policy Language
You can read the current draft of the policy here.
