Program:
Transportation Networks
- Budget:
-
$17,000
- Category:
-
Public, Society Benefit
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
<p>CNU has long recognized transportation as a key determinant
of quality of urban form and community life. Transportation networks not
only accommodate a region's access and mobility needs but also helps determine
the location, type and form of land development. CNU seeks to create sustainable
transportation networks that are planned in coordination with community planning and work to reduce household
costs, traffic injuries and greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>This CNU initiative aims to define and detail the characteristics
of urban transportation networks across all scales to
advance the creation of sustainable neighborhoods, cities, towns and regions. <br /></p>
Program Long-Term Success:
Program Short-Term Success:
Under the Connected Networks Proposal, CNU calls for connected transportation networks to be eligible
for federal and state funding.
First presented during the discussion over the economic stimulus package,
the proposal gained attention from key legislators, including those involved
with the bi-partisan legislation known as CLEAN TEA. At the urging
of CNU and its members, CLEAN TEA's co-sponsors added language
to the bill promoting investments in new infrastructure that enhances
network connectivity and performance. CLEAN TEA is meant to plug into
the future federal climate bill.
Program Success Monitored by:
Program Success Examples:
<div> Publication of network principals</div><div> </div>
Program:
Emergency Response and Street Design
- Budget:
-
$6,000
- Category:
-
Public, Society Benefit
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
<p>In recent years, new urbanists and firefighters have discovered both
common interests and shared challenges in neighborhood street design.</p>
<p> The Emergency Response & Street Design Initiative, a
collaboration between the Congress for the New Urbanism, fire marshals
from across the United States, and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's <a href="http://www.epa.gov/livability/" target="_blank">Smart Growth program</a>, found solid common ground for ongoing efforts to reconcile narrower streets and good emergency access: Street
connectivity — specifically well-connected networks of traditional
street grids — is essential to good urbanism, shortens emergency
response times, and improves overall community life safety.</p>
<p> From that foundation, we are cooperatively working to change the International Fire Code with <a href="http://www.cnu.org/node/2896" target="_blank">proposed amendments</a>
empowering local fire code officials to be flexible on street designs. <br /></p><p>Underlying this initiative are a few basic facts: Wider streets lead
to higher traffic speeds and greater chances for fatal collisions, as
shown by CNU member Peter Swift's study, <a href="http://www.newurbanengineering.com/" target="_blank"><em>Residential Street Typology and Injury Accident Frequency</em></a>.
Depending on their context, they damage, if not destroy outright, any
sense of an inviting, walkable place. As communities sprawl outward and
homes are built further and further from firehouses, firefighters and
other emergency responders find it increasingly costly and difficult to
maintain acceptable emergency response times. Those times suffer, and
response distances increase when street networks are designed as poorly
connected mazes of cul-de-sacs.</p>
<p>To meet these challenges, new urbanists and firefighters are finding
that building compact neighborhoods with highly connected street
networks can provide a solution that keeps homes close to fire stations
and out of high-hazard areas. <a href="http://www.cnu.org/node/2495" target="_blank"></a></p>
Program Long-Term Success:
<div> 2009- Proposed changes to the International Fire Code empowering local fire code officials to be flexible on street designs.</div><div>2010- While the ICC's Final Action Hearings, held May 14-23, 2010, in Dallas, Texas, saw members reject both CNU code proposals<a href="http://www.cnu.org/node/3556" target="_blank"></a>, opponents did allow that the current fire code has the inherent flexibility to allow narrower streets in some circumstances.</div><div> </div><div>The initiative team has also added a new chapter on emergency response
to the CNU/Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) new Proposed
Recommended Practice, <em><a href="http://www.cnu.org/streets" target="_blank">Context Sensitive Solutions in Designing Major Urban Thoroughfares for Walkable Communities</a></em>,
which advances the successful use of context-sensitive solutions (CSS)
in the planning and design of major urban thoroughfares for walkable
communities. </div>
Program Short-Term Success:
Publication of the Emergency Response and Street Design Initiative Report.
Program Success Monitored by:
Environmental Protection Agency (funder)
Program Success Examples:
<div> Proposed changes to IFC</div><div>Formed collaborative relationships with firefighters and various emergency response representatives across the USA</div><div> </div>
Program:
Highways to Boulevards
- Budget:
-
$100,000
- Category:
-
Public, Society Benefit
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
<p>America's twentieth century highway building era included elevated freeways
which cut huge swaths across our cities, decimating neighborhoods and
reducing quality of life for city residents. This massive concrete infrastructure
had devastating effects on urban economies. It blighted adjacent property
and pushed access to basic amenities further out. With the Federal and
State Departments of Transportation confronting shrinking budgets and
cities looking for ways to increase their revenues, it is an ideal time
to offer less expensive, urban alternatives to the reconstruction of urban
expressways. </p>
<p> New York City, Portland, San Francisco, Milwaukee and Seoul, South Korea
have confronted this problem by replacing elevated highways with boulevards,
saving billions of dollars and increasing real estate values on adjacent land. The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) believe that teardowns offer an attractive
option for cities struggling with aging highway infrastructure. The strategies
are proving themselves in adding value and restoring urban neighborhoods
decimated by highway construction.</p>
Program Long-Term Success:
Program Short-Term Success:
Program Success Monitored by:
Program Success Examples:
<div> Publication of report showing New Orlean's Claiborne St could support traffic needs if highway was removed.</div><div>Teardown of Park East Freeway in Milwaukee, WI <br /></div>
Program:
Urban Thoroughfares Manual
- Budget:
-
$19,000
- Category:
-
Public, Society Benefit
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
<div> Leading engineers, elected
officials, planners, and others are now using a new resource created by the
Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and the Congress for the New Urbanism
(CNU) for local communities. Released in 2010, the recommended practice guide, <em> Designing
Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach</em>, advances the
successful use of context-sensitive solutions (CSS) in the planning and design
of major urban thoroughfares for walkable communities. It provides guidance
and demonstrates how context-sensitive design principles and techniques may
be applied where community objectives support new urbanism and smart growth:
walkable, connected neighborhoods, mixed land uses, and easy access for pedestrians
and bicyclists. The manual is a partnership between the Institute of Transportation
Engineers (ITE) and CNU. Under contract to the Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA), the two organizations have created a context sensitive design guide
dedicated exclusively to major thoroughfares in cities and towns. </div><div> </div><div>Since the manual's release, CNU and ITE have continued to collaborate on educational and outreach efforts across the country. The manual was used as a guide in 2010 when CNU was contracted out by the City of Elgin to assist in the development of a streets plan for the town. <br /></div>
Program Long-Term Success:
Publication of the manual in 2010 was the result of a multi-year partnership between the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Institute for Transportation Engineers.
Program Short-Term Success:
After publication release, CNU was hired by the City of Elgin, IL to assist in the creation of their street design plan.
Program Success Monitored by:
<div> Institute for Transportation Engineers grant through the Federal Highways Administration.</div><div>City of Elgin though city funding. <br /></div>
Program Success Examples:
<div> Publication of the Manual</div><div>Manual implementation in the City of Elgin, IL <br /></div>