Planning Complete Streets for an Aging America

America needs streets designed to be safe and convenient for travel by automobile, foot, bicycle and transit regardless of age or ability. As the nation ages, Complete Streets planning presents an opportunity to increase the safety and availability of older adults’ travel options. Despite the oncoming stream of older boomers, over two-thirds of transportation planners and engineers have not begun to consider the needs of older people in their multimodal street planning, and only one-third of the state and local Complete Streets policies adopted to date have made explicit mention of older road users.

This report offers refinements to intersection design treatments recommended by the Federal Highway Administration in its Design Handbook for Older Drivers and Pedestrians. A public opinion telephone survey of the 50+ population, an online survey of more than 1,000 transportation planners and engineers, and an inventory of the 80 existing state Complete Streets policies inform this study. (128 pages)

Pub ID: 2009-02