Indianapolis Raises the Bar for Complete Streets Policies

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In 2012, the city of Indianapolis signed a Complete Streets proposal which will modify city code once implemented. The Complete Streets Coalition has rated Indianapolis’ Complete Streets Policy as the best policy of the year. The ordinance will ensure that both public and private developments consider the transportation needs of all users when developing new land or road projects. The success of this policy will be measured based on a number of performance measures outlined in the policy. The total miles of bike lances, total feet of new pedestrian accommodations, and rate of children walking or biking to school, are all examples of specific measures that will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy on a quarterly and annual basis.

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This article from the Urban Indy blog, summarizes key points articulated in the Complete Streets Policy that the city of Indianapolis has adopted. The Complete Streets Policy Adopted by the City of Indianapolis cites the many reasons that the city of Indianapolis should adopt a Complete Streets policy. The ordinance also gives a definition of Complete Streets, describes who the ordinance applies to, lists specific performance measures to be recorded, and lays out a plan for implementation of the policy.

Learn more about this policy by reading the DCStreetsblog.org blog post “How to Write a Complete Streets Policy.” This article describes the latest developments in Complete Streets Policies across the nation. Essentially, a Complete Streets policy determines how the residing department of transportation authority will design streets and how transportation funds will be spent. According to the Complete Streets Coalition, of all the 488 policies in place, the city of Indianapolis has produced an exemplary model of what a true Complete Streets policy should look like. Additionally, this article summarizes the 10 principals that the Complete Streets Coalition considers to be most important in any Complete Streets policy.