Caruthersville, MO passes Missouri's 32nd Complete Streets policy
Caruthersville, MO, recently adopted a Complete Streets ordinance, becoming the 32nd Complete Streets Policy in Missouri and the first in the Missouri Bootheel area.
More than 2.7 million Missourians currently live in a community with a Complete Streets policy. The latest trend in Missouri is towards adoption of Complete Streets policies in a number of rural and outstate communities around the state, including Pineville, Anderson, Warsaw, Elsberry, and others. Communities adopt Complete Streets policies to help improve safety, health, and access for their residents, but also to improve the economic vitality of their communities. With the Complete Streets approach to roads and streets becoming more common across the U.S., communities that lack Complete Streets policies lose out on grant and business opportunities.
People want to live, and businesses want to locate, in places where outdoor recreation and and basic transportation by bicycling and walking is available, safe, and convenient. Adopting a Complete Streets policy is one of the most important steps a community can take to ensure that those facilities and that access are in place in their community.
A recent Missouri Department of Health study showed that nearly 50% of Missourians live in a neighborhood with no sidewalks at all, while over 75% live in a community with no bicycle facilities. Nationwide, sidewalks and bicycle facilities are rapidly becoming the norm. Missouri communities that lack these basic facilities risk losing out to the many, many communities nationwide that are routinely providing them for their residents.
Communities that adopt Complete Streets policies are taking one of the most productive and positive steps that they can to address this issue.
Missouri Livable Streets worked with the City of Caruthersville to pass their recent Complete Streets ordinance and sent the following announcement of the new policy:
On April 3, the Caruthersville City Council passed a Livable Streets ordinance to help make streets safer for Caruthersville residents. Livable Streets is an initiative to ensure people of all ages and all abilities can safely travel to school, doctor’s appointments, and local businesses, no matter their mode of transportation.
As one of the leaders for the Walking School Bus, Dawn Jordan, Caruthersville Healthy Communities Coordinator of Pemiscot County Initiative Network, has seen first-hand, the need for safer sidewalks, especially for children walking to school, “Some of the sidewalks have trees that are uprooted and moving the sidewalk. There's so many kids that are tripping on uneven sidewalks and some streets don’t have sidewalks, so we have to walk into the streets to get to school.”
The ordinance passed after nearly one year of public meetings with stakeholders and residents. PedNet Coalition, a non-profit, and Jordan spearheaded the effort to bring Livable Streets to Caruthersville. “The motivation was to make sure the streets are livable, useable, and resident-friendly,” Jordan said.
The ordinance will open the door to opportunities for funding and building infrastructure projects that were not available before.
“We want to be able to redo the sidewalks and streets, but like a lot of rural communities, we do not have a budget for that. If you want grants to help with redevelopment, you have to have something in place to say that it is an important issue to your community— ‘our streets are important and the sidewalks are important.’ Now that [Livable] Streets has passed, we can say we have a [Livable] Streets Ordinance and we need help.”
The ordinance will accomplish the following:
• New development projects must add sidewalks to projects so the cost does not fall to Caruthersville
• Position Caruthersville to receive grant funding for adding and improving sidewalks
The long-term goal is for all streets in Caruthersville to have sidewalks. With the recent ordinance, Caruthersville is one step closer towards having safe streets for all.
About Missouri Livable Streets: Missouri Livable Streets works to ensure that communities have flexible policies in place so all Missourians have access to safe transportation options, regardless of ability, age or income level. Missouri Livable Streets is a project of the Missouri Council for Activity and Nutrition (MOCAN) and maintains a statewide advisory committee.
About PedNet Coalition: PedNet Coalition (“pedestrian and pedaling network”) is a nonprofit organization based in Columbia, Missouri. We work to build strong communities that are walkable, bikeable, accessible, and have thriving public transit systems. We advocate for policies and infrastructure that ensure the transportation system is safe and convenient for everyone. We work locally in our own community of Columbia and also nationally through the Consulting Services we offer across the country.
Find out more about Complete Streets in Missouri--including how to get started implementing Complete Streets in your own community--at our Missouri Complete Streets Information Center.
Working to create a complete, seamless, world-class pedestrian, bicycle, and trails transportation system across Missouri is one of the top goals of MoBikeFed's Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri. Supporting the work of agencies, organizations, and communities across Missouri who are working to adopt and implement Complete Streets policies is one of the most important ways we help move this goal forward.
Your ongoing membership and generous financial support help turn our Vision into reality!
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