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Americans like freedom. It is what the nation was founded on; it is what guarantees citizens the right to pursue their own happiness; and, in essence, it is what exemplifies the American dream. When exploring the concept in depth, it really boils down to the freedom of choice: having options, being able to choose careers, where to live, and what interests to pursue. Interestingly, and somewhat shockingly, Americans have some of the most restricted freedom-or least number of options-when it comes to transportation. Americans have built the country for driving, pure and simple, and have gotten very good at it. Sidewalks are not always a required component of streets. Intersections can be extremely large and permit high-speed turning vehicles to cross paths with vulnerable pedestrians. Even if there is the infrastructure to walk and bicycle, it may be at minimum widths that feel uncomfortable to most users-limiting use almost as if by design. Contrast this with the nations historical tendency to maximize standard dimensions for vehicles through lane widths and turning radii, and to design for traffic volumes decades into the future that have no guarantee of actually occurring.
This historical approach to roadway planning and design seems to finally be at a tipping point. From 2004 through 2014, U.S. cities, counties, and states have adopted 850 separate Complete Streets policies, resolutions, or ordinances.1 This represents a huge shift in that new projects are essentially required to disprove rather than prove the need for safe and comfortable pedestrian and bicycling facilities. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and many states have now for years encouraged design flexibility in urban contexts and the U.S. Department of Transportation "encourages transportation agencies to go beyond the minimum requirements, and proactively provide convenient, safe, and context-sensitive facilities that foster increased use by bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities."2 This has been extremely helpful; however, the standards used to design roadways still encourage wider, higher-speed roadways. The design engineer must, in many cases, seek design exceptions or use engineering judgement to discount or disregard strongly worded guidance. In other words, the concept of design flexibility can still seem scary and fraught with liability to many engineers when attempting to create a complete street. Our standards say we should design...