Alerts

UPDATE January 4, 2021: Bill died in committee

HB 3663 was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 10, 2019. It has been assigned to the Subcommittee on Highways & Transit.

This bill would require all states to implement and fund a complete streets program within two years of enactment of the legislation. The focus of such programs will be “on modifying scoping, design and construction procedures to more effectively combine modes of transportation into integrated facilities that meet the needs of each of these modes of transportation in an appropriate balance.”

That last phrase, “in an appropriate balance,” is left undefined which is a primary reason the NMA opposes this bill. The Brookings Institution found, per U.S. 2016 Census data, that commuters using non-public transit, motorized transportation exceeded 85 percent. Pedestrians were at 2.7 percent, and bicyclists at 0.6 percent.

Public roads should be made safe (and safer) for all road users. There is no question about that. But if complete streets “appropriate balance” means severely restricting vehicular traffic to provide comparable road access levels to seriously underused modes of transportation, there will be unintended negative consequences to the free and efficient movement of people, goods and services, and therefore to the nation’s economy.