April 2011 - Spokes Magazine

Complete Streets
An Interview with Barbara McCann
by brenda ruby bruby@verizon.net
Has this ever happened to you? You’re biking along when, suddenly, a bike lane appears
but then disappears just as quickly as it started. Or the paved path you’re riding
on abruptly ends…in the grass. Rolling through a swampy ditch back to the road
you wonder, “What was the point of that?!”
as a biker you’ve probably experienced and
been frustrated by these roads (or more aptly, these
paths and bike lanes) to nowhere, but to Barbara
McCann, executive director of the National Complete
Streets Coalition, it’s a sign of progress.
The goal of the National Complete Streets Coalition
is to “complete the streets” for everyone and to bring
awareness that “too many of our streets are designed
for speeding cars, or worse, creeping traffic jams.”
And while the disappearing bike lane might seem like
it’s another sign that bikes aren’t seen as belonging, it
is actually just the opposite.
McCann recently told SPOKES that when a community
adopts a “Complete Streets” policy, accessibility
is added when road upgrades are made. So if a
three-block section of road is being resurfaced and
restriped, that three-block section might also add bike
lanes and crosswalks at the same time. Eventually the
entire road would be slated for repair and, therefore,
added accessibility for all users.
“Over time,” McCann explained, “the idea is that
these paths and lanes would get hooked up into a network
of trails.”
Complete bike lanes are only part of the deal, too,
because “Complete Streets” isn’t just a term covering
cars and bikes. The Coalition believes that streets “are
an important part of the livability of our communities”
and should be for everyone, “whether young or
old, motorist or bicyclist, walker or wheelchair user,
bus rider or shopkeeper.”
“The Complete Streets basic idea is to make sure that
in all future projects, the transportation board takes
into account all users,” she added.
The concept seems simple enough and it’s one that
McCann says bicyclists instantly get. Recalling her
own “a-ha” moment, McCann found herself dreaming
about “bike lanes everywhere” while having a particularly
difficult time trying to navigate Ponce de Leon,
the main retail and residential arterial in Atlanta,
where she worked for CNN as a writer.
Though she jokingly says she “got sucked into activism”
McCann’s own path to involvement has been an
organic one. As she says, “Riding your bike in Atlanta
is not a prescription for happiness” and noticed
the distinct lack of riders when she participated in
her first Bike to Work Day in 1992. Up to that point
McCann had solely been a recreational rider but
wanted to try bike commuting the 4½ miles to work.
After that first Bike to Work Day McCann became
so engaged in the program that she ended up running
it for a few years. At the same time, Atlanta was
really struggling with its air quality requirements and
a housemate who worked for a transportation reform
organization introduced her to what was happening at
a policy level.
As she started to report on transportation issues for
CNN, McCann realized that Atlanta’s problems were
not unique.
This confluence of events left McCann ready
for a career shift and in 1998 when the Surface
Transportation Policy Project, the main organization
doing federal transportation reform work at the
time, needed a media person, McCann decided that
was her calling. The switch moved her to DC and
introduced her to all the players in the transportation
reform movement—bike people, environmentalists,
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12 April 2011