Title
Support for Complete Streets Policy Implementation
Chris Lukasina, MPO Executive Director
Body
The NCDOT Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation completed a review of the state's existing Complete Streets Policy (2009) and Complete Streets Planning and Design Guidelines (2012) in 2018. The NCDOT Secretary expressed the need to prioritize Complete Streets implementation throughout the State and to evaluate the success of the policy. The goals of the evaluation were to assess how the policy is being utilized across NCDOT business units, assess how NCDOT's policies work in relation to other related state policies, to conduct a best practices review and make recommendations about implementation and tracking. A review of NCDOT policies, manuals, and documents revealed that none had been updated to reflect the Complete Streets Policy and Planning and Design Guidelines. Some include language related to bicycle and pedestrian facilities but there is not a consolidated source for bicycle and pedestrian design. The Department took action to develop an implementation strategy for prioritizing Complete Streets as part of the overall work in the Department. Part of this implementation strategy would be to remove the requirement for local governments to pay a betterment cost in order to include multi-modal facilities in a highway project if the multi-modal facility was planned for in an adopted plan. This would enable the NCDOT to include planned bicycle and pedestrian facilities in highway projects without relying on the availability of local funding for construction. Implementation strategies such as this would serve to implement strong multi-modal networks as the region's highway network is being constructed. Staff is requesting the Executive Board adopt a resolution of support for the implementation of this and other policies that will bring the implementation of Complete Streets to fruition in North Carolina.
Requested Action: Action Adopt Resolution...
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