Communities Rethink Street Safety With Older Americans in Mind

But Complete Streets policies aren’t anti-car. They help ensure people can get around safely and independently whether or not they drive.

“It’s about designing streets to be safer and promoting mobility options outside of traveling by car,” says Tim Morstad, a government affairs director at AARP.

For example, AARP state offices train volunteers on how to conduct “walk audits,” which involve traversing a neighborhood on foot to determine its walkability. In 2024, residents of Libby Lake, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood with a concentration of older adults in Oceanside, California, ran their own walk audit after learning the ropes from AARP California. The organizers shared concerns about speeding cars and neglected infrastructure. Their findings caught the attention of the mayor and city manager, resulting in a stop-sign study and extended crossing times at three crosswalks of concern.

Changes that make streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users alike can be as simple as giving people more time to cross a street or shaving down slabs of sidewalk for smoother strolls. Other changes may be substantial: building protected bike lanes or dedicated bus lanes to expand safe transportation options.

Even when older adults feel comfortable behind the wheel, it’s important to provide more ways to get around as people age, says Meghan Mitman, who oversees the San Francisco Bay Area as a regional principal-in-charge at Fehr & Peers, a transportation consulting firm.

Liz deRoulet’s corner of Oceanside, California, shows how limiting “incomplete” streets can be.

DeRoulet, 70, is comfortable walking or riding her electric tricycle around her own neighborhood. But in Oceanside as a whole, “we are predominantly dependent on driving,” she says. She does not feel comfortable taking the shortest route to some nearby shops on foot or by tricycle because it involves crossing a dangerous freeway intersection. Pedestrians can’t even make it halfway across before the walk signal turns off and cars threaten to whip into their path. DeRoulet often takes a longer route by foot to avoid the crossing.

Overhead pedestrian bridges would go a long way to making her feel safer, as would extending the timing of the walk signal at this intersection.

“I’d like to see a commitment to making it more walker-friendly,” she says.

Street design is tricky to get right because even well-intentioned efforts to solve one problem can open another can of worms.

Mitman points to a family member’s retirement community as one example. The wide, multilane roadway leading into the community was designed in part to allow for emergency evacuation during wildfires. But it’s less convenient for pedestrians. That means many residents may feel they need to drive, even for short trips, rather than walking or using an e-bike, she says. Mitman has started to see communities use more flexible designs, such as bike paths that can double as evacuation lanes.

1. The one-way road has on-street curb parking and a clearly marked bus stop. 2. A landscaped bed improves visibility near the crosswalk, reduces runoff from rain. 3. A floating parking lane doubles as a safety buffer for cyclists. 4. A traditional bike lane accommodates cyclists heading in either direction. 5. A visible crosswalk for pedestrians. 6. The sidewalk is at a safe distance from cars.

Peter Arkle

AARP fights for safe street funding

To advocate for Complete Streets policies, AARP starts at the top.

Congress is currently considering legislation to reauthorize the federal surface transportation law, which is set to expire at the end of September. This major, multiyear package provides significant funding to federal, state and local transportation systems.

“It’s important that the next surface transportation bill has an equal or bigger commitment to safe-street initiatives than the last one,” Morstad says.

In the meantime, the government is making nearly $1 billion available to cities through the Safe Streets and Roads for All program to support projects that reduce roadway deaths and serious injuries. AARP state offices in Illinois, Louisiana and New Mexico have encouraged local leaders to apply.

Earlier this year, AARP wrote to key House and Senate committees, urging lawmakers to invest in features and programs that make streets more usable for everyone.

At the state level, AARP offices are consulting on Complete Streets policies and deploying volunteers to scrutinize roads on foot and flag unsafe features. 

For example, AARP Texas weighed in on the city of San Antonio’s Complete Streets policy in 2011 and again on its revised policy in 2023 to ensure older adults were represented. San Antonio’s policy was named the best in the U.S. in 2025 by Smart Growth America. It includes older adults in its focus on vulnerable populations that need safer and more accessible mobility options.

This policy “is the lens the city will use when building new streets,” says Ismael Herrera, associate state director of community outreach at AARP Texas.

AARP Indiana successfully advocated in support of Fort Wayne’s original 2016 Complete Streets resolution. The next step is to turn the resolution into an ordinance, which would include stronger and more intentional language and could also be enforced by law.

There have been small improvements springing up around the city, says Emily Gorman, associate state director of advocacy and outreach for AARP Indiana, including traffic calming circles and protected bike lanes. Downtown, the city has started shaving down sidewalk concrete to remove tripping hazards.

Roeger, the longtime Fort Wayne resident, and his family of three now own four cars between them, but he still believes in sharing the road, thanks to his years of going without.

He has his own wish list for how the city could improve its streets, from lowering speed limits to incorporating more interesting places for people to walk. Roeger points to a stretch of a nearby road that was reduced from two lanes to one to make room for a narrow bike lane. But the bike path is marked by white paint rather than barriers, and he has seen too many drivers turn their wheels into the path or open their doors without looking for oncoming cyclists. Roeger will ride in other bike lanes in Fort Wayne, but not this one.

The public buses still typically run once an hour. But there are more sidewalks. “It has improved,” says Roeger. “It would be a bit easier [to go car-free] today than it was 10 years ago.”