Complete Streets

Streets are the core component of any city’s transport framework. They occupy around one-fifth of the total land area and are the most visible form of public space in the city.

In India, walking and cycling are an integral part of the transport landscape. As per the 2013 report on Urban Transport by the National Transport Development Policy Committee, the modal share for walking and cycling ranges from 30% in cities with more than eight million population to 52% for cities with less than one million population. Further, public transport trips also start and end on foot (or cycle). However, presently the allocation of road space in Indian cities is extremely biased and favours the private motor vehicles over the majority users comprising of pedestrians and cyclists.

Road fatality rates in India are 20-25 times that of developed countries. According to the 2017 report on road accidents in India by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), 56 pedestrians and 10 cyclists were killed daily in road accidents in 2017. To add to this issue, lack of investment into infrastructure for walking, cycling, and public transport is raising private motor vehicle ownership and usage. This shift has led to many Indian cities facing problems of traffic congestion, increased pollution, and poor air quality which compromises the liveability and health of the city. The need of the hour is to prioritise safety of vulnerable users—pedestrians and cyclists—on urban streets.

Smart Cities Mission-Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs intends to launch ‘Complete Streets’ Strategy to help cities transform their dangerous roads into Completes streets that cater to all user groups—regardless of their age, gender, ability, or mode of transportation. The Complete Streets Framework Toolkit consists of six volumes: (i) Complete Streets Policy Workbook; (ii) Complete Street Policy Framework; (iii) Complete Streets Evaluation Matrix; (iv) Developing Complete Streets Masterplan; (v) Complete Street Implementation Guidelines; and (vi) Complete Streets Design Streets Design Guidelines

Complete Street Sector Framework documents are intended to be used by city managers, municipal commissioners, CEOs of smart cities SPVs for development & integrated planning. These framework documents will help develop capacities of these officers to better understand this sector in terms of policy perspective, designing, financing, technology and overall development.

Your feedback and suggestions over draft consultation paper (access the document here) would be invaluable for us. We request you to provide your feedback/ suggestions/ recommendations on the framework toolkit, here, by 24 January 2019.