Cincinnati Approves Complete Streets Policy

The Cincinnati City Council approved a Complete Streets policy for the city, signaling a “historic shift” in how the city designs its roads and codifying the imperative to consider pedestrians and cyclists. As Chris Wetterich reports in the Business Journals, the policy requires the city’s transportation department to “consider how to add new street features when they rehabilitate a street, add new traffic lights or other safety measures or make improvements for pedestrian safety.”

According to Councilman Mark Jeffreys, “For 75 plus years, we designed streets and thought first (about) cars – how fast can we get cars through? Speed was more important. This flips it. We should be designing streets for people.”

For each street it changes, the city’s transportation department will have to issue a report showing how many miles of new bike facilities it has installed, the number of linear feet of new, repaired or widened sidewalks, traffic calming measures, safety improvements, comfort enhancements and the number of projects in each neighborhood.

Earlier this year, Cincinnati ended parking requirements in the West End neighborhood, citing complaints from local businesses that favored removing parking to make room for other amenities.