Kids play in the street. Neighbors pass by on the sidewalk, walking a dog, pushing a stroller, rolling a wheelchair. A bus stops at the end of the street and drops off people coming home from work. A mom and kids bike by on their way to pick up a few groceries for dinner.
We can make this a reality.
Equity focused livable streets means updating and improving street designs in neighborhoods with high pedestrian deaths and serious injury, low car ownership, communities of color, and low-income communities. By building more livable streets and prioritizing improvements to areas of historic underinvestment, livable places become accessible and affordable to everyone – not just to people in positions of privilege.
Livable Streets principles contribute toward the safety, health, equity, economic viability, and quality of life in a community by providing accessible and efficient connections between homes, neighborhoods, schools, work, recreation, and business destinations by improving the transportation environments throughout the city of Columbia.
One of the first questions we get when talking about livable streets is, "How are we going to pay for it?". We're not asking the city to spend more money on street projects to make them safe and convenient for people walking, biking and riding transit. We're asking the city to spend money differently. Oftentimes, streets projects for walk, biking, and transit are cheaper than adding car lanes or and require less maintenance than other street projects.
by focusing on people walking, riding bikes, using public transit, and people of all ages and abilities – creating a street and trail network that meets the needs of families by utilizing a variety of transportation needs.
CoMo Livable Streets is a campaign of Local Motion. Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Jonathan Asher and Avery Abbott