October 9, 2025

More Cities Use Complete Streets Policies to Improve Pedestrian Safety Downtown

With pedestrian fatalities stubbornly holding at historically high levels, safety advocates are pushing for new policies that make it less hazardous to walk or cycle in U.S. cities.

Some 1,700 municipalities have adopted Complete Streets initiatives, according to Smart Growth America, a nonprofit focused on transportation policy.

The Complete Streets approach urges construction of streets that provide safe access for all, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and transit riders of all ages and abilities.

With so many municipalities adopting Complete Streets policies, Smart Growth America ranked cities to see which are doing the best job. The group’s Best Complete Streets Policies 2025 looked at 43 municipalities that adopted initiatives in 2023 and 2024.

The three most effective policies belonged to San Antonio, TX (est. pop. 1,458,954), Nashville, TN (est. pop. 687,787), and Clyde, OH (est. pop. 6,322).

One overaching lesson emerged from the winning projects: Build a broad coalition.

The strength of any policy comes from people and groups with varying perspectives and needs working together to ensure the policy meets everyone’s goals. By including community stakeholders as well as representatives from relevant government departments, these cities garnered wide support.

More on Complete Streets Policies and pedestrian safety appear regularly in the pages of Downtown Idea Exchange newsletter.

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Recommended Reading

Creating Vibrant Public Spaces: Streetscape Design in
Commercial and Historic Districts

Good public space and street design can dramatically improve a downtown’s walkability and enhance social and commercial activity.

In this very readable book, author Ned Crankshaw combines practical experience, compelling case studies, and design guidelines to help every downtown improve the quality of its public spaces while respecting their historic character.

Creating Vibrant Public Spaces draws examples mainly from smaller cities and larger towns, but the principles apply across a wide range of downtown districts. The design guidelines emphasize historic authenticity along with improvements suited to modern visitors, shoppers, residents, workers, and others.

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Creating Vibrant Public Spaces is just one of the many books on Good Design available from the Downtown Development Center.