Earlier this month, Stamford, Connecticut’s Board of Representatives unanimously approved a city-wide Complete Streets ordinance. The ordinance, which was sponsored by Land Use Committee co-chair David Kooris and drafted with support from Tri-State Transportation Campaign, “mandates that the Office of Operations review transportation projects and explore opportunities to make them more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly.”
Kooris introduced the bill in September, but support for a Complete Streets law had been growing in Stamford after three pedestrian deaths took place in a four-month period in 2014. The new ordinance rounds out Mayor David Martin’s Street Smart initiative, which took initial steps toward addressing safety issues on Stamford’s streets.
The Board of Representatives’ approval makes Stamford the third city in Connecticut to formally make Complete Streets a matter of policy. The City of New Haven passed a Complete Streets resolution in 2008 and published a Complete Streets Manual in 2010; last year Middletown’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted to incorporate a Complete Streets Master Plan into the City’s Plan of Conservation and Development.
Stamford’s Board of Representatives also voted to allocate funds to hire a transportation planner, who would oversee transportation, traffic and parking in the City’s Office of Operations. One of the first goals for this position should be to draft a Complete Streets implementation plan.
[…] Stamford Becomes the Third Connecticut City to Formally Embrace Complete Streets […]
[…] Stamford pedestrians and bicyclists — The city’s Board of Representatives unanimously approved a Complete Streets ordinance in January, making Stamford the third Connecticut municipality to formally embrace Complete Streets. […]
The Stamford Board of Reps can embrace anything they want, but they won’t succeed until we solve two problems:
1. My fellow pedestrians need to stop jay walking. Stamford residents have a bad habit of cutting across the street anywhere they want. Perhaps the downtown blocks are too long, but they cause as many problems as drivers.
2. The timing on traffic lights has not been adjusted in almost 20 years. Lights at alternate blocks will be green then red then green. Cars race thru the yellow (and sometimes red) lights so they don’t get stuck at each block. The city needs to have a proper timing system along with pressure plates at intersections to balance north/south and east/west traffic.
[…] An elderly woman who was using a motorized wheelchair sustained serious injuries after she was struck by a driver late last week while crossing Washington Boulevard at Main Street in downtown Stamford. […]
[…] City of Stamford is soon expected to hire a Transportation Bureau Chief. Now that the City has officially adopted a Complete Streets policy, we hope the incumbent will put pedestrian, bicycle and transit access […]
[…] the past year, the city has taken efforts to become more pedestrian- and bike-friendly, adopting a Complete Streets ordinance and launching Mayor Martin’s Stamford Street Smart […]
[…] Connecticut, the only other community to officially adopt a complete streets policy last year was Stamford, which has been steadily working toward improving the environment for walking and biking in […]