Context sensitive solutions vs. complete streets vs. smart transportation

Context sensitive solutions was the first design attempt to better reconcile traffic throughput with the quality of place. The idea of "Complete Streets" rebrands this idea. I don't think it extends the CSS concepts which are more an engineering approach, but it does bring up more centrally the idea of "placemaking."

The Smart Transportation Guidebook (which I have mentioned on this blog before), co-produced by the State of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey Departments of Transportation through the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (a "metropolitan planning organization" that covers parts of both NJ and PA) takes the idea of complete streets to a whole new level by providing real frameworks for considering and applying the idea as a design and engineering methodology.

There are three basic concepts even though there are many more than three concepts laid out in the guide:

1. The key is designing the roadway to the desired operating speed for traffic, not designing to specifications that allow all roads to be driven very very very fast by most traffic.

You do this by

2. Defining the land use context (the guidebook provides 7 different land use zones, from rural to urban core) and

3. Redefining the traditional classification of roadways (arterial, collector, and local streets) according to land use context, which can be divvied up into two broad categories, land use and roads that mostly provide local service between places (Main Street type commercial districts are one example) vs. land use and roads that mostly provide regional connections and are used mostly for through traffic.

The guidebook provides more detailed guidance according to what they define as roadway design issues, roadside design issues, and desired operating speed. Design specifications and specifics of infrastructure then vary according to the land use and roadway context.

It's a superlative approach and one I am trying to put forward in the context of the pedestrian and bicycle plan that I am working on in the Baltimore area.

I highly recommend your printing off the guidebook and reading it thoroughly more than once...