The SC Department of Transportation should be applauded for recently adopting a departmental policy for Complete Streets.
This policy will meet the transport needs of more Southern Carolinians than ever before. The former DOT prioritized only cars, and that is now in the past.
The new DOT recognizes that almost 20% of our road fatalities involve people riding a bicycle and arriving at a bus stop, and almost exclusively on state roads. This new policy addresses this directly, because we cannot ignore the growing epidemic of pedestrian mortality.
The new DOT recognizes that equity in transportation is a state planning guideline; that making people move safely on foot, by bicycle and by bus is also a priority for the state; that safe access and livable communities are everyone’s interests. The new DOT took a good look at what could be fixed, worked to fix it and I am confident that we will see safety improvements on the streets and roads.
It was time to enable safe transportation for people first, not machines. Cars and trucks are mobility tools, but they should be our choice, not our only option. I also drive; it is my most expensive mobility option and, as I walk and bike all the time, I am aware of the need to drive safely.
The new DOT policy will allow safe mobility options for more people. Not everyone wants or can drive every day, so enabling all mobility options helps us personalize each of our personal savings.
Driving single occupancy vehicles on daily trips is the most expensive mobility option, so this new policy will lead to better savings for us, individually and collectively. A good development should not be expensive, and the multimodal infrastructure reduces the footprint for real estate and paving costs.
We also know that ongoing road widening projects are unsustainable. Transforming our mobility into a more equitable, welcoming, locally suitable, habitable and safe system will bring greater options for personal savings and improved quality of life.
Most cities and towns in South Carolina do not want highways to dominate their main streets. This policy also responded to calls from 25 mayors to improve state-local coordination, so that cities and towns can control the shape of their streets, whether rural, urban, downtown or suburban.
The state has turned the corner and now allows local adoption of modern designs that improve the safety of all road users. When we encourage, and do not ridicule, local communities for seeking improvements in security, this is a cultural change that we can be proud of coming from DOT.
Finally, equitable and secure mobility must be a human right. Before any public investment, we must ask: “Who are we building this for?” Equity in transport directs resources to areas of greatest need, and research shows that these areas generally have more elderly and low-income people.
Good street design is the definitive prevention tool. A street that depends on supervision to be safe is a poorly designed street: the best teachers do not have constant discipline to manage a good classroom – they provide a good structure for their students to behave better. Inspection and discipline are necessary interim measures, but always an expensive last resort. Research shows that our streets work the same way.
Good design can prevent people from driving at 60 mph in places where we want slower traffic. In adopting this policy, DOT recognized that many municipalities, counties and regional planning bodies are moving in this direction.
Twenty-five mayors joined the SC Livable Communities Alliance’s push for a statewide Complete Streets policy, and DOT pledged to continue the conversation with a new Complete Streets Council. Multimodal, or full streets, is a state priority now, and we must commend the DOT for better meeting the transportation needs of all citizens of the state in a fair and safe way.
Amy Johnson Ely is executive director of Palmetto Cycling Coalition.