MUSCATINE BLUE ZONE
Planning for Complete
Streets
Elizabeth Gielow, Yin Lin, Don Meyer, Ethan Schultz
Complete Streets
2
Table of Contents
Purpose/
Introduction……………………………………………… .. 3
Concerns…………………………………………………… . 5
History……………………………………………………… 6
What Worked……………………………………………… 7
What Didn’t Work……………………………………….
9
Audience…………………………………………………… 11
Approach…………………………………………………… 13
Partnerships……………………………………………… 24
Steps Toward Implementation……………………… 26
References………………………………………………… 30
Complete Streets
3
The Purpose of the Plan
The overall purpose of complete streets is to get more
adults to walk and bike to places instead of only
relying on their cars. Research shows many people in
the Muscatine community know little about the
concept of complete streets. Our team’s goal is to
raise the public awareness on this issue as well as
get the city planners to become more involved so they
can pass along the message as well. The plan is to
consistently inform and develop support along the
way.
Inform/
Educate
Adult
More
bikers/
walkers
Introduction
Complete Streets is a program designed to enable
safe and comfortable roadways. This type of policy
allows the community to utilize travel by all modes of
transportation instead of dividing the modes into
specific orientations. This idea relies more on
cultural change rather than relying on the
traditional aspect, allowing the community to have
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4
more of an opinion.1 The intent is to give the
community this option and our goal is help them
implement this into their daily lives’. Many
communities have adopted this program allowing us
to analyze what worked and what aspects could be
improved upon.
Design: Sidewalks, crosswalks, curb cuts, less traffic ,
bike lanes, paved shoulders, bus rapid transit.
1
Kaiser, 2
Complete Streets
5
Common Concerns/ Questions?
Q: Will Complete Streets decrease traffic congestion?
A: Yes. The streets will provide many different travel
choices to accommodate everyone’s needs. People
know how much traffic there is in Muscatine and now
they have a way to avoid it. More networking will
also be in place so more people will travel together.
Q: Will I be losing money when this program is
installed?
A: No, the community most likely will be making
even more money because this will reduce
transportation costs and will increase property
values. This will also most likely increase the quality
of place because it will be livelier, attracting even
more people to the community.2
Q: Will this improve my Health?
A: Yes. Public health experts explain walking and
bicycling will lower obesity rates and can even help
with mental health.3 This allows people to clear their
minds and release their day-to-day stressors. More
physical activity allows for more health benefits.
2
3
Litman, 8
Anderson, 1
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History
Beginning in World War II our nation found comfort in
the automobile by relying on this type of
transportation frequently. As our world began to
change, people began noticing many negative
consequences automobiles brought along the way. To
decrease pollution and increase health, Oregon
enacted the first policy of Complete Streets to better
the state. Following their lead, 16 other states
implemented this procedure and this new culture
change benefited their community in ways they never
thought were possible. In 2010, the Department of
Transportation declared its support for bicycle and
pedestrian accommodations, lea ding to even more
states adopting this policy. Today, 27 states have
implemented Complete Streets because of watching
Complete Streets
7
how beneficial this program has become. 4 Overall, one
of the most important benefits found were that this
program decreased pedestrian ris k by 28 percent.5
What Worked
Overall, the effective campaigns allowed for many
representatives from the different areas. For example,
there were representatives from parks,
transportation, and even pedestrians that provided
their input. This allowed th e public to hear more
diverse perspectives. Additionally, campaigns with a
clear vision and strong, direct language were effective
in their motives for the public. For example,
Northfield, Minnesota used “intends and expects” to
express their vision and go als.6 This project didn’t
only focus on the short term; instead they envisioned
the future, as well, keeping cost savings and health in
mind too. Additionally, projects that maintained a
“case by case basis” were found to have more success
because they always followed through with each
phase. In Clayton, Montana their program allowed
representatives to fill out follow through reports
throughout each phase. For example, they discussed
options after each of these phases, “road construction,
reconstruction, retrofits, upgrades, resurfacing and
4
5
6
McCann, 25
King, 55
Seskin, 7
Complete Streets
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rehabilitation.”7 This way the members could catch
mistakes early on and see what worked and what
could improve. Thirdly, being “context sensitive” to
the surrounding environment is very essential. The
cities and rural surroundings are very different.
Consequently, the roadway designs need to fit that
element. In Miami Valley, Ohio , engineers designed
roadways to fit different speeds and signs after
researching where the most traffic began and were the
most pedestrians were. Taking this into consideration
allowed the most up to date designs to take place. 8
Lastly, one of the most important factors with the
roadway designs included the measurements.
Indianapolis, Indiana showed the exact “total miles of
bike lanes, linear fe et of pedestrian accommodations,
crosswalk improvements, and rate of crashes,”
allowing for a better way to track the ordinance
performance.9 Showing our audience these effective
campaigns by posting this on twitter and Facebook
and even discussing this during workshops, allows
them to understand how beneficial and how necessary
this program is.
7
8
9
Seskin, 9
Seskin, 13
Seskin, 14
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What Didn’t Work
One of the campaigns that weren’t effective was
Roanoke, Virginia. This campaign was not clearly
explained to the community because there was no
clear vision or goal. The community started off
knowing little about Complete Streets and because the
campaign was not clear and concise, the community
ended, once again, knowing very little about the
campaign. One of the biggest problems involved was
having their audience be too broad. The campaign was
addressed to everyone. Because of that, their approach
was too broad as well and didn’t fully engage the
public to do something about this problem. Informing
the audience about only quantitative facts hu rt their
campaign because their audience wanted to know more
about the qualitative aspects, like health and safety.
People don’t always understand the purpose when they
only hear the facts. Allowing more of a qualitative
aspect gives the audience more ince ntive to learn
more about the issue and it also creates them to apply
it to their life. Lastly, the campaign untimely failed
because of the lack of clarity with the measurements.
The markers were not fully explained. They needed to
fully say the total mile s of bicycle routes and have
m o r e c l e a r l y m a r k e d s i g n a c c o m m o d a t i o n s . 10
Pedestrians and drivers were very confused by this
and felt nothing was really changing in their
10
MaCann, 33
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10
community; they didn’t understand how Complete
Streets was really any different from how roadways
were before in their community. Analyzing this
campaign allowed our group to realize how we could
improve upon our program and make sure we don’t
make the same mistakes Roanoke made.
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Audience
Our audience is directed towards middle-aged adults
who mostly use the transportation mode of driving to
travel on the streets of Muscatine. We want to aim
towards the adults that never considered walking or
biking as a travel option before, we intend that they
will be our most challenging. Many of the adults are
not fully aware of the issue, consequently creating
them to maintain an apathetic attitude. They might
not understand why this program is necessary, but by
educating and informing them, we believe their
attitudes will quickly start to change. Another
concern they might have involves the loss of money
and resources. Some of the public believes by making
more roadways, their taxes will increase and there
will be less parking. What many don’t know is that
this program can increase their land values from “30 1 0 0 p e r c e n t ” . 11 B y e x p l a i n i n g h o w m u c h t h e y w i l l s a v e
on gas and other factors, this will show them how
beneficial this program is in return. By focusing the
plan on the money and resource aspect, we will show
the public they would not be giving up much and it
would be worth it in the long run. We are confident
that our campaign may intrigue or influence other
people, such as the elderly, disabled, or children,
without necessarily targeting them as our primary
audience. More specifically, we may try to influence
11
Litman,8
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middle and upper-class adults who feel it is only
necessary to use a car when traveling across the city
of Muscatine. We want to influence these adults to
occasionally use other forms of transportation instead
of driving. If more adults start using alternate forms
of transportation, such as walking , riding the bus, or
biking, they will encourage other people throughout
their networks to try something different as well.
Along with encouraging other residents of Muscatine,
they will be benefiting the environment and, most
likely, performing some sort of exercise which benefits
their health. Nowadays, we are confident that we can
reach out to and relate to these middle -aged adults
through the use of online resources. We are confident
that if they give us a chance by listening to the
benefits of our campaign, we can make a difference in
their lives and the lives of everyone residing in
Muscatine.
Soccer
Mom
~Subgroups/ Networks~
Business
People
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Approach
Initially, we want to hand out flie rs across the city of
Muscatine where the population is the densest to
educate the community about our campaign. The fliers
will consist of simple benefits and reasons why
residents should want this implemented. There will
also be our twitter, Facebook page and blog on the
bottom to contact us anytime. We will post the fliers
in the schools for parents to see when dropping their
children off, the local restaurants, recreation center,
and we will even display a radio commercial on KCMS
FM 93.1. This will allow those driving to hear how
they can improve their life and actually understand
the program of Complete Streets. This approach will
allow people to become curious about the campaign.
Consequently, they will want to look for more
information. The contact information will be listed on
the bottom of the flyer, Facebook, Twitter, blog,
email, for people to check out online. From there, we
will feed the campaign through online networking.
Although our prime source of information is on the
Internet, we will also set up meetings and
informational presentations in Musca tine to educate
our audience even more. We will have our residential
representatives hold meetings every Thursday at 7:30;
this will be posted on our Facebook and Twitter page
beforehand. This gives the residents of Muscatine a
chance to meet with us first -hand and ask questions
Complete Streets
14
regarding the campaign. The representative will be a
resident in the community that we will pick after
having multiple interviews throughout the community.
We will train the person before and throughout the
workshops. We will also be there as a guidance. We
believe having a well- respected resident will be
effective because it will give the community a more
comfortable approach. They won’t feel like they are
being judged, attacked, or like this is a “big brother”
incentive. Lastly, to tie the whole campaign together
we will find volunteers to actually get out on the
streets and show the public how it works. This will
help the public see how realistic the program is. After
all of these phases we will make everyone involved on
the project fill out evaluations to see what was good
and what went wrong. This will allow us to better the
campaign and not repeat the same mistakes . We will
even get some of the resident’s opinions as well by
posting surveys on our social media sites so they feel
they are just as involved.
Social Media
The communications aspect of Complete Streets will
consist mostly of social media. We are looking to reach
out to our audience and answer most of their
questions online. Our social media content will consist
of a Facebook page, a Twitter account, an online blog,
and an email account where we will directly answer
Complete Streets
15
questions asked by Muscatine res idents. Our social
media is intended to inform the people of Muscatine.
With the evolution and popularity of the Internet and
computers nowadays, we are confident that our
campaign will reach out to the majority of the
Muscatine population. After contacting the assistant
director of the Musser library, Robert Fiedler, we
b e l i e v e o v e r a l l t h i s a p p r o a c h w i l l w o r k . H e explained at
the library they provide access to 17 Internet ready PCs as well as
free Wi-Fi. They also provide broadband service. Additionally, the
Muscatine School District provides free MacBook Airs to all students
in grades 9-12 and regular MacBook’s to all students in grades 6-8,
reiterating the idea that most homes in Muscatine have access to the
internet.
Twitter/ Facebook Page
Our Facebook page will consist of an eye -catching
layout followed by information about the campaign
and further ways people can show their support. More
contact information will also be stated on the
Facebook page. Our group will have a committee that
will help with the online posting. Our group will also
help with it as well. The committee will consist of five
members and these members have to post or add on to
another post at least three times a week. Our group
will oversee the project and will check everything
before it is posted. We will also be active on the
website by posting statuses about certain events, like
Complete Streets
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full moon bike rides, announcements, and even
questions the public asks. We will post pictures of
people using the Complete Streets system to give more
of a visual aid. This system will work as a two -way
interactive database. The public will voice their
concerns and what they enjoy about the project, and
we will answer their concerns as well as inform them
about the campaign. Our Twitter account will be mor e
direct because it will consist solely of sending tweets
about the campaign. We will tweet facts about how
much money they will save and how much healthier
they will be. We will even give shout outs to those who
use the system. However, our Facebook posts and
tweets will be similar in terms of content. Our
Facebook Page and Twitter account will be linked
together so many updates will be posted on both
services. Finally, our blog will solely answer questions
asked by the public. This can also be used as mor e of a
narrative outlet, allowing the public to explain why
they think Complete Streets are effective, giving their
own personal stories. We want to reach out to as many
concerned or interested people as we can. People will
have a chance to send questions to our email account
and then we will answer all of them through blog
posts. Our blog site and email address will be made
clear on our Facebook page.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Complete Streets/515784118459400 Twitter:
www.twitter.com/compl3t3str33ts Blog: Email:
Complete Streets
compl3t3str33ts@gmail.com
 Post Pictures
 Voice concerns
 Links to actual Complete Streets site
 Workshop dates
 Muscatine community pictures
 Designs
 Videos showing this program in use
17
Complete Streets
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We are taking more of an entertainment approach
to draw more people in. This will allow people to
feel less attacked and less like there is a “big
brother” approach taking over. The facts will be
tweeted in a funny, creative manner.
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Complete Streets Blog
Flier
We will also be posting flyers around the city to grasp
everyone’s attention. Our social media outlets will be
noticeable on the flyers with contact information.
From there, we hope the citizens of Muscatine take
advantage of our convenient online resources by
checking out our Facebook, Twitter, and blog.
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Radio Commercial
This will be on KCMS 93.1 FM radio station. We want
this aired every morning around 7:30 and every night
around 5:30. We believe these times are most
beneficial because this when there is the most traffic
so more people would be in their cars. We want this
commercial to catch people’s attention by having
different volunteers say one line. We want one of the
local gym employees, a transportation emp loyee, parks
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employee, and Fielder and Hill to close. This will be
very quick one liners promoting health, safety and
consistency. We plan this will only be around 30
seconds and overall will explain how beneficial
Complete Streets are.
Workshops
We will have our residential representative inform the
adults about the benefits of Complete Streets. This
will help them become aware of the issue and the
workshop will act as more of an interaction and
discussion. The adults will post their feelings and
concerns on the social media sites and the
representative can answer and offer a discussion at
the workshops. This will happen every Thursday at
7:30. Our goal is to get more people to come by
networking.
Volunteer Representatives
After a couple of workshops we will find ten
volunteers to tie the whole thing together by actually
getting on the streets and showing the public how the
process works. They will pass out waters and granola
bars to promote even more of a healthy approach and
to show how enjoyable traveling can be. They will also
be the ones running events like the full moon bike
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rides and bike your kid to school day. These
volunteers will be outgoing and enthusiastic as well
as properly trained by us to be able to answer any
questions the public has along the way.
Action Steps
Complete Streets
Completion
Date
Desired
Outcome
23
April 2013
Get them to
support the policy
change
May 2013
Inform the public/
go to our
Facebook/ twitter
page
Activate Facebook/ twitter page
May 2013
Get the
community to feel
involved/ spread
the awareness to
others
Hold workshop/ advisory group
Every
Thursday at
7
Educate the
public
Summer
2014
Have people see
more of a visual
aspect. Actually
see this in place
Contacting the local government
Distribute advertisements/ spread
awareness
Create commercial
Get the government to adopt
Complete Streets
Implement stage- Construction
2013- 2014
Early 2014
Getting representatives out on
the street- showing public how Early 2014
it’s used. Encouraging use.
Once
implemented,
influence the
people to start
actually using it
in every day life.
Create safe
environment.
Have more people
walk and bike
instead of drive.
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Partnerships
In order to promote our campaign project, as well as
get support from related agencies, we have contacted
three influential people in Muscatine: Andrew
Fangman, the Muscatine City Planner; Randy Hill,
the Muscatine Public Works Director, and Robert
Fiedler, the Musser Public Library Assistant
Director.
We emailed Mr. Fangman and Mr. Hill asking
how beneficial they believe Complete Streets in
Muscatine would be. We also introduced our plan of
using social media to distribute our project, in order
to inform more people of this issue. Mr. Fangman
replied that Muscatine has always been following
Complete Streets issue with its major transportation
improvement for many years. However, Muscatine
has not adopted an official related policy yet. He, as
well as the City Administrator will definitely support
the development of a formal Complete Streets
project, and bring it forward to City Council for their
approval. They believe it’s a great campaign and
would love to get more involved with the program. We
believe they would both be great assets to our team
because they are well known and respected
throughout the community of Muscatine. Through
their work, they have showed the public how
trustworthy and reliable they are. Having them
attend workshops and post on Facebo ok and twitter
will likely create the community to feel more
comfortable and in turn ask more questions.
After getting Fangman and Hill on board our next
step would be to get the green light from the city
administrator to develop the formal Complete Stre ets
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project and bring it forward to the city council for
their approval. Developing and maintaining a
friendly relationship with the city council is very
important because they have one of the overall says.
Explaining how beneficial this process is and how it
has helped many other communities would likely get
them on board. One of the most beneficial ways to do
this would be to share a before and after model of the
communities similar to Muscatine that used Complete
Streets.
The fourth partnership we would like to have is
with the transportation and planning zone group.
This will give us insight on the different perspective
of the overall process. This group can share their
experiences with the community first hand because
they are always dealing with the roadways. They are
the ones that would know which designs would be
beneficial and which wouldn’t be. The last part of the
process would be to discuss roadway designs with the
engineers to figure out the most effective and safest
plan to implement throughout the community. They
will be able to give us an estimate on the costs and
our team can go from there to make this campaign
the most effective it can be.
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Steps towards Implementation
To move forward towards implementing the
complete streets initiative, several steps will have to
be undertaken. A chosen individual will be tasked
with managing the project, as this will help create
structure for the project. We will pay this person ten
dollars an hour and training will be included. This
person will organize and host meetings, calculate
costs, and be tasked with writing the policies that
will be adopted for the city of Muscatine. The use of
excel and other office management software will be
heavily utilized to organize the necessary
information as well as evaluate certain aspects after
each phase. After the necessary management has
been established, they look through the necessary
information and policies of the initiative to best suit
the city of Muscatine. You can refer to the previously
provided timetable to best estimate the course of
action needed for this specific project.
In terms of the budgeting for this project, the
consideration of each step of the process needs to be
examined. First expenses would be a part of an
awareness campaign. The costs of flyers,
advertisements and government expenses are tied
into this phase. Once the city of Muscatine adopts
the initiative, costs to infrastructure changes would
then arise. These costs would be derived from the
necessary changes that would be needed in Muscatine
and the time frame expected towards those changes.
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It has been found that minimal to no additional
funding would be required, as it would take funds
from existing construction budgets and focus that
money that towards smarter roadway designs.
There are some changes that can be accomplished
with little to no expenses. Som e examples include
changing the timing of crosswalk timers, at no cost,
and implementing countdown clocks, about $2000 per
i n t e r s e c t i o n . 12 A n y c o n s t r u c t i o n c o s t s w o u l d b e a b o u t
the same as any other construction costs. With
complete streets, there is the po tential to actually
save money by constructing a more efficient design.
One example is a Brown County street
reconstruction. Replacing an old four - lane street,
with a three lane that included two bike lanes; the
c o s t s c a m e i n a t 1 6 . 5 t h e e x p e c t e d c o s t s . 13 W h i l e t h e
specifics for Muscatine can’t be given at this time,
there are many examples of others cities adopting
complete streets without impacting their city
budgets.
Overall, our timeline is predicted to account for a
little over a year. The beginning m onths are more
focused on the educational phase and what we can
improve on. This is more discussion between the
residents and the representatives. The later months
and beginning of 2014 are more focused on the
construction part and actually implementing th e
policy throughout Muscatine. Getting the government
12
13
Smart Growth, 1
Smart growth, 1
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28
involved is important in the early steps but actually
allowing them to implement this and follow through
is more targeted for the later phase. We predict the
overall project will be finished in early 20 14 but we
hope the residents continue to use this policy for the
rest of their time in Muscatine. We hope to see more
bikers and walkers instead of drivers and we hope
the residents find how beneficial Complete Streets
can be in their lives’.
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Budget
Residential Representative…………………$10/ hour
Radio Commercial……………………$26/ 30 seconds
Flyers…………………………………………$40/30 fliers
Committee updating Facebook page……Volunteer
Decorations for Events………………$30/ per event
Water, granola bars……Grocery stores volunteer
Passing out flyers………………………. Volunteers
Estimated construction Costs
Changing crosswalk times…………………..No cost
Crosswalk timers……………$2000 per intersection
Painting bike lanes……………………$5000 per mile
Curb Rapes……………………………$1,000 per
r a m p 14
14
United States Department Transportation, 1
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References
Anderson, Geoffrey. "Complete Streets Promote Good
Health." Smart Growth America. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/documents/cs/fact
sheets/cs-health.pdf>.
"Engineer Pedestrian Facilities." Walkinginfo.org:. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr.
2013. <http://www.walkinginfo.org/engineering/>.
Kaiser, Marsha. "Complete Streets 101 Policies at Work."
Railvolution. N.p., 21 Oct. 2010. Web.
<http://railvolution.org/rv2010_pdfs/20102110_8am_Ge
tMotSAP_Kaiser.pdf>.
King, Carnegie. "Pedestrian Safety Through a Raised
Median and Redesigned Intersections,."
Transportation Research Board. N.p., 2003. Web.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_streets>.
Litman, Tod. "Evaluating Complete Streets." Transport
Policy Institute. N.p., 15 Mar. 2013. Web.
<http://www.vtpi.org/compstr.pdf>.
McCann, Barbara. "Complete Streets." American Planning
Association. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://www.planning.org/pas/brochure/pdf/report.pdf>.
Seskin, Stefanie. "The Best Complete Stre et Policies of
2012."
Smart Growth America. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/documents/cs 2012-policy-analysis.pdf>.
Complete Streets
Smart Growth America. (n.d.).Smart Growth America.
Retrieved April 23, 2013, from
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/complete streets/implementation/factsheets/costs
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