Today, when Rhode Islanders walk out the door to go to work or play, the first option is take the car and the second option is anything else.
We depend on the automobile and our transportation
systems support this dependence. Our health, our communities and our quality
of life are affected by our love affair with the automobile. Because
we rely on our cars to get us to work, recreation and shopping, many of our
neighborhoods have become sprawling developments that:
* consume open spaces and wild places, * physically separate us from all of life's essentials, * promote disconnected communities that
discourage neighborliness,
* encourage our sedentary lifestyles that have led to our current epidemic of
obesity and diabetes,
* are hard on our pocketbooks. We spend almost as much on our cars as we do on
our homes!
* pollute our environment -- our car
emissions pollute our air quality and contribute towards climate change. CTC and its member organizations, AARP and Sierra Club is
working to promote Complete Streets -- streets that welcome walking, biking and
public transportation as well as cars.
Complete Streets are streets that are safe and convenient to walk and bike as
well as drive.
Each Complete Street is unique, and it is impossible to give a single
description. But ingredients that may be found on a Complete Street include
sidewalks, bike lanes (or wide paved shoulders), special bus lanes, comfortable
and accessible transit stops, frequent crossing opportunities, median islands,
accessible pedestrian signals, curb extensions, and more. A Complete Street in
a rural area will look quite different from a complete street in a highly urban
area. But both are designed to balance safety and convenience for everyone
using the road. You can look at the National Complete Streets Coalition's 'Many Types of Complete Streets' slideshow to see examples from across the country.
During the next year we will be running Complete Streets programs to work with
communities to encourage a shift towards more complete streets. The goals of
these programs are to get as many Rhode Island municipalities as possible to
adopt Complete Streets policy through town or city council resolutions, then to
have the policies embodied in their comprehensive plans. Additionally, specific
transportation projects will be targeted across the state, and the advocacy of
CTC and its member groups will ensure that they become showcases for Complete
Streets design implementation.
Already, Newport has adopted a Complete Streets resolution, and the Elmwood Avenue resurfacing project is on course to be a model of Complete Streets design in Providence.
Which community and which street will be next? You can be a part of completing RI's streets. If you want your town or city to be a part of this movement, or if you know of a DOT or municipal project that you think could be made into a Complete Streets showcase, contact Sierra Club's Abel Collins.
By building Complete Streets in Rhode Island, we can increase our transportation choices, freeing ourselves to choose healthier, less expensive, and more environmentally conscious ways to get to work and play. We can be free at last of the terrible consequences of our car dependence, while at the same time restoring our streets to safe and enjoyable public spaces that can serve as the heart of truly livable Rhode Island neighborhoods. These benefits are the promise of Complete Streets RI. Please join CTC in making them a reality.
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About the Coalition for Transportation Choices
The Coalition for Transportation Choices (CTC) calls for a 21st century transportation system that enhances our economy and provides all Rhode Islanders with healthy transportation choices. Visit
our website
to get more information about the Coalition for Transportation Choices or to find out how to become a member of the CTC.
Rhode Island's 21st century transportation system must provide all people - employees, tourists, youth, elderly, able and disabled - with safe and dependable access to their community's opportunities for work, education, services, and recreation. The system should be considerably less dependent on cars and fossil fuels as well as efficient, effective and easy to use. It should minimize impacts to land, water and air and improve the health and well-being of all Rhode Islanders. Such a system should be sustained with predictable and consistent funding for operation and future growth.
CTC's work is supported
by the Rhode Island Foundation, The Prospect Hill Foundation and Third
Sector New England's Capacity Building Fund
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Coalition for Transportation Choices
Member Groups
* AARP
* Amalgamated Transit Union
* American Lung Association in RI
* Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living
* Audubon Society of Rhode Island
* Blueways Alliance
* Blackstone Valley Partnership
* Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
* Blueways Alliance
* Brown emPower
* Childhood Lead Action Project
* City-State, the Urban Design Lab at RISD
* Clean Water Action
* Conservation Law Foundation
* Cornish Associates
* DOT Watch
* East Coast Greenway Alliance
* Ecolect
* Environmental Justice League of RI
* Farm Fresh Rhode Island
* Grow Smart RI
* Head of the Bay Gateway
* LISC-RI
* Narragansett Bay Estuary Program
* Pawtucket Foundation
* Providence Foundation
* Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau
* Recycle-A-Bike
* Rhode Island Bicycle Coalition
* RI Consulting Engineers (RICE)
* Rhode Island Student Climate Coalition
* RI Association of Railroad Passengers
* RI Interfaith Power and Light
* RI Land Trust Council
* RICOSH
* Save The Bay
* SEIU, District 1199
* Sierra Club
* U.S. Open Cycling
* Working Rhode Island
* Youth in Action
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