LAWRENCE COMPLETE STREETS POLICY

SECTION ONE: TITLE.

This policy shall be known as the “Complete Streets Policy.”

SECTION TWO: PURPOSE.

The purpose of the Complete Streets Policy is to use an interdisciplinary approach to incorporate the needs of all Users into the design, construction, and maintenance of public and private transportation infrastructure within Lawrence where feasible and fiscally appropriate. This Complete Streets Policy establishes guiding principles and practices to create an equitable, balanced, and effective transportation system that encourages walking, bicycling, and transit use, to improve health and reduce environmental impacts, while simultaneously promoting safety for all Users of Streets.

SECTION THREE: DEFINITIONS.

(a)        Complete Streets means a comprehensive and integrated transportation network that permits safe and convenient travel along and across all Streets for all Users.

(b)        Complete Streets Elements mean design features that contribute to a safe, convenient, and comfortable travel experience for all Users, including but not limited to such features as: sidewalks; shared use paths; bicycle lanes; automobile lanes; paved shoulders; street trees and landscaping; planting strips; curbs; accessible curb ramps; bulb-outs; crosswalks; refuge islands; pedestrian and traffic signals, including countdown and accessible signals; signage; street furniture; bicycle parking facilities; public transportation stops and facilities; transit priority signalization; traffic calming devices; narrow vehicle lanes; raised medians; roadway diets; and dedicated transit lanes.

(c)        Streets mean any rights of ways, public or private, including arterials, collectors, local streets, and roadways by any other designation, as well as bridges, tunnels, and any other portions of the transportation network.

(d)        Street Project means the construction, reconstruction, retrofit, or major alteration of any Street and includes the planning, design, approval, and implementation processes.

(e)        Street Maintenance means the minor routine upkeep and maintenance of Streets such as mill & overlay, micro abrasion, microsurfacing, crack seal, concrete rehab, curb repair, spot repair, restriping, signal operations, and interim measures on detour routes.

(f)        Users means all persons that use Streets, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motor vehicle drivers, mobility device users, neighborhood electric vehicle users, utility tricyclists, and public transportation drivers and riders, of all ages and abilities, including children, youths, families, older adults, and persons with disabilities.

SECTION FOUR: PRINCIPLES.

Guiding principles and practices of the Complete Streets Policy are as follows:

(a)        Complete Streets are designed to serve everyone: pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and motorists, regardless of age or ability.

(b)        It is the intent of this Complete Streets Policy that the design and construction of all Street Projects should include Complete Streets Elements as feasibility and funding allows, including, but not limited to:

(1)        Public Plans adopted by the City of Lawrence, which may be independent or part of the Lawrence-Douglas County Comprehensive Plan;

(2)        Development-related ordinances and resolutions, including Land Development Codes and Subdivision Regulations, among others, that are adopted or passed by the City of Lawrence;

(3)        Corridor Plans approved by the City of Lawrence (or in the case of State Routes, those corridor plans approved jointly by the City of Lawrence and the Kansas Department of Transportation).

(4)        The Metropolitan Transportation Plan approved by the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization.

(c)        Complete Streets Elements should be considered within the balance of mode and context of the community, including but not limited to: environmental sensitivity; costs; budgets; demand; probable use; space and area requirements and limitations; and legal requirements and limitations. Not all Complete Streets Elements are required to make a street complete and/or be feasible at all locations or times.

(d)        It is the intent of the City of Lawrence to recognize that street projects are limited in scope by available funding resources. Fiscal responsibility should be used when considering Complete Streets Elements.

(e)        It is the intent of the City of Lawrence to incorporate the Complete Streets principles into appropriate public strategic plans, standards, relevant ordinances, practices and policies, and appropriate subsequent updates. The Complete Streets principles, where applicable and appropriate, may also be incorporated into plans, manuals, rules, practices, policies, training, procedures, regulations, and programs.

(f)        It is the goal of the City of Lawrence to foster a partnership with the State of Kansas, Douglas County, area school districts, citizens, businesses, neighboring communities, and neighborhoods in consideration of functional facilities and accommodations in furtherance of this Complete Streets Policy and the continuation of such facilities and accommodations beyond the jurisdiction of the City of Lawrence.

(g)        The City of Lawrence recognizes that Complete Streets may be achieved through elements incorporated into a single Street Project, or incrementally through a series of improvements, in order to create a network of facilities that promotes connectivity to destinations.

(h)        The City of Lawrence will consider all appropriate possible funding sources to plan and implement the Complete Streets Policy and shall direct staff to investigate grants that may be available to make the realization of Complete Streets economically feasible.

SECTION FIVE: APPLICABILITY.

(a) It is the intent of the City of Lawrence that its departments make Complete Streets practices a routine part of everyday operations, that its departments approach every appropriate transportation project and program as an opportunity to improve public and private streets and the transportation network for all Users, and that its departments work in coordination with other departments, agencies, and jurisdictions to achieve Complete Streets, where feasibility and funding allows, throughout Lawrence.

(b) Every Street Project should incorporate Complete Streets elements sufficient to enable reasonably safe travel along and across the Street for all Users, provided, however, that such infrastructure may be excluded from a Street Project where:

(a)        Use by non-motorized Users is prohibited by law, there is insufficient space to safely accommodate the facility, or there are relatively high safety risks to include facilities for all Users.

(b)        The cost would be excessive or disproportionate to the need or probable future use over the long term.

(c)        There is an absence of current or future need.

(d)        There are topographic or natural resource constraints.

(e)        A reasonable and equivalent alternative already exists for certain Users or is programmed to exist.

(c)        The City of Lawrence departments, where feasibility and funding allows, shall incorporate Complete Streets Elements into existing public streets to improve the safety and convenience of all Users and to construct and enhance the transportation network for every User.  If the safety and convenience of Users can be improved within the scope of Street Maintenance, then it is the intent of the City of Lawrence that such projects shall also include Complete Streets Elements.

(d)        The City of Lawrence departments shall include key Complete Streets Elements in the normal review and/or development of plans, zoning and subdivision codes, laws, procedures, rules, regulations, guidelines, programs, templates, and design manuals, including pertinent portions of the Lawrence Land Development Code, the Lawrence-Douglas County Comprehensive Plan, subarea/sector plans, and corridor plans, to integrate, accommodate, and balance the needs of all Users in all Street Projects.

(e)        The City of Lawrence departments shall coordinate Complete Streets design templates with street classifications and revise them to include Complete Streets infrastructure, such as bicycle lanes, sidewalks, street crossings, and planting strips. All facilities will be designed and constructed in accordance with applicable laws and regulations using best practices and guidance from the following, among others: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) publications, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG), and the Public Rights-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines (PROWAG).

SECTION SIX: DATA COLLECTION, PROGRESS REPORTING AND PUBLIC INPUT

(a) The City of Lawrence will periodically collect, review and report performance data and benchmark measurements to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Complete Streets Policy.  This information could include: number of projects completed, number of projects incorporating complete streets infrastructure, actual infrastructure added, number of transit and non-motorized users, community attitudes and perceptions, and safety and health indicators.

(b) Such reports are accessible to existing advisory boards and other committees such as the Traffic Safety Commission, the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization (L-DC MPO), the L-DC MPO Technical Advisory Committee, the L-DC MPO Regional Transit Advisory Committee, the Bicycle Advisory Committee, the Sustainability Advisory Board, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, and the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Board.  Such boards and committees are encouraged to provide ongoing feedback and act as a conduit for public participation on the implementation of the Complete Streets Policy.

SECTION SEVEN: EFFECTIVE DATE.

This Complete Streets Policy shall be in full force and effect from the date of its passage, adoption, and approval.