Nearly two years of work and advocacy for Complete Streets in New Haven reached a seminal moment when the City released its final guide to building Complete Streets last month.

The manual, crafted as part of the city complete streets ordinance adopted in October 2008, is a guide for putting policy into practice. According to the manual’s introduction, its purpose is to provide “technical guidance on the building, rebuilding, repair and rehabilitation of city streets with the intent of balancing the needs of all users.”  The manual provides a variety of insight ranging from specific complete street treatments to how to measure and evaluate the impacts of a complete street policy.

The design manual was the work of a nine-member steering committee that included representatives from the Board of Alders, city offices – including the planning, traffic and transportation and engineering departments – and citizens.

New Haven has been a leading force in the complete streets movement in Connecticut, and its policy served as a catalyst for the adoption of a statewide complete streets law last spring.  The state is currently developing regulations for implementing that law, which is scheduled to go into full effect in October.  ConnDOT would be wise to use New Haven’s manual as a guide as it moves through this process.