April 2011 - Spokes Magazine

public health people, and low-income advocates, to
name a few.
McCann used these experiences to further her advocacy
work, becoming a transportation issues consultant
in 2002. Though she credits another with coming
up with the term “Complete Streets,” it came out of
an advisory group she convened when tasked to come
up with a less-wonky term for “routine accommodation”—the
idea that bicycles are routinely accommodated
in transportation planning. McCann says, “That
was the one that rose to the top and I realized very
quickly that it wasn’t just bikes. It was a phrase that
covered everyone who used the roads and all types
of transportation—pedestrians, people who use mass
transit, and bikers.” The movement had a name.
Because “Complete Streets” encompasses all users, it
quickly drew support from non-bike groups as well,
such as the American Heart Association, AARP, user
groups like the Paralyzed Veterans, and practitioner
groups like the American Planning Association and
the Institute for Transportation Engineers.
“Part of it was to say this is not just a bike thing, this is
something that a lot of different people and areas are
going to benefit from, which is really helpful when
you’re talking to Congress,” she said.
While the ultimate goal would be to have the
Transportation Bill make “Complete Streets” a federal
mandate, McCann saw their miss on being included
in the 2005 Bill as an opportunity to bring the movement
to the local level. The Transportation Bill is a
multi-billion dollar bill which authorizes and appropriates
federal funding to states for a six-year period
and “without the federal mandate [for “Complete
Streets”], states have to decide this is how they want to
spend the money.”
Believing that this ownership is an important component
to the success of “Complete Streets” McCann felt
so compelled to try to continue working in this direction
that she succeeded in converting the existing
task force into the “Complete Streets Coalition” with
member groups pledging funding to move it forward.
Moving it forward is now McCann’s job.
How DO you get people excited and invested in this?
McCann says the interest isn’t new. “There’s been a lot
of activity in this area for a while but the “Complete
Streets” movement gave it a brain. People have been
struggling for years on a project-by-project basis but
this gives people something to organize around and
gives people a way to talk about wanting things
done differently.”
Momentum is growing, with 80 policies adopted in
2010 that makes over 200 policies that have been
adopted overall, including towns, cities, and states.
Though McCann points out that committing and
implementation are two different things with community
pressure being the only real repercussion.
“The devil’s in the details with ‘Complete Streets,’”
McCann says and a real challenge is changing agency
culture and practice. Again, what’s an inherent concept
to cyclists is not so inherent to the non-cyclists,
particularly to those designing the roads.
“The traditional line of thinking for engineers has
been that if it’s dangerous for pedestrians then let’s
prohibit pedestrians. But we need to look for other
answers.” McCann continues saying, “The power of
‘Complete Streets’ is it brings that conversation out in
the open so the whole community can talk and figure
out what they want. It brings the engineers who are
thinking ‘my job is to move cars’ together with cyclists
and pedestrians who are thinking ‘I want to use this
road to get around.’”
Get the light bulb to go on and McCann says engineers
do amazing things.
“Engineers are problem solvers and what’s really
inspiring is seeing what they can do when they’re
convinced the problem they need to solve isn’t moving
cars, but moving people. A lot of engineers
around the country have gotten this and they’re our
biggest allies.
“You can put up a ‘Share the Road’ sign but if there
are no other cues that cyclists or pedestrians belong
then it’s not very useful” which is why the physical
cue of actually having a bike lane or sidewalk is so
important. McCann knows that these physical cues are
integral to changing the mindset that roads are just
for cars.
YOUR
PERFECT
FIT
“When you see someone stumbling along the side
of the road because there’s no sidewalk or path you
think, ‘What are they trying to do?’ because all the
signals you get are ‘This is for cars, this is for going
as fast as you can.” But change the way a road looks
and performs and everyone, motorists and pedestrians
alike, behave better. Motorists pay attention more
because they have the cues that tell them the road
isn’t just for cars and cyclists that have flaunted traffic
laws because of incomplete roads and lights that
complete continued on p.14
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April 2011
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