To help balance the scales for pedestrians and bicyclists, street design standards need major upgrading. Current codes mirror those found around the country which are based on suburban or rural, vehicle only design types. The problem with these codes is that they almost never take the principles of walkability into account and instead move vehicles at the highest possible speed through the community.
In the City’s 2009 Citizens’ Survey, over 90% of respondents supported designing or retrofitting streets to accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users, as well as automobiles.
In addition, existing streets should be improved to provide convenient and safe sidewalk connections. Whenever streets are resurfaced in the City, lane widths should be analyzed with the goal of moving away from rural or suburban design standards. Where widths permit, bike lanes should be added on resurfaced streets via restriping with narrower lanes for vehicles.
Street trees should be added wherever possible; on-street parking added when appropriate and where widths will accommodate it; and the placement of future buildings should generally be at the back of the sidewalk.