Caltrans Releases Long-Awaited Complete Streets Guidelines

Updating Caltrans' Highway Design Manual takes a long time, so it's frustrating but not that surprising that Caltrans' Design Information Bulletin #94 - Complete Streets: Contextual Design Guidance, whose promised release date had been "June or July" of last year, was just released in January.

This new design guidance is a strong statement on the part of the state transportation department that, when roads are designed and improved, consideration must be given to the safety and comfort of road users who are not in cars. It's a necessary addition to Caltrans' design guidance, and provides specific standards and best practices for developing complete streets "to support the design of comfortable and convenient streetscapes by utilizing space-efficient forms of mobility such as people walking, biking, rolling, or accessing transit."