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Complete Streets Improve Street Safety & Health

We all want and deserve to live in safe, healthy communities. Complete Streets change the way your city designs and builds streets and roads. Instead of focusing solely on motor vehicles, neighborhoods would be designed and built for the safety of all users including those who walk, bike, use a wheelchair, use public transportation, and drive.

Quality of Life

Complete Streets improve the health and quality of life of the community. Children and families become more active with access to complete streets and sidewalks. Encouraging families to walk and bicycle helps to prevent diabetes, heart disease, and strokes.

Complete Streets Improve:

• Street Safety
• Health & Health Equity
• Economic Development
• Transportation
• Quality of Life
• Recreation
• Environment

Benefits: Older Adults

• By 2025, nearly 1 in 5 Americans will be 65 or older.
• About ½ of all non-drivers over the age of 65 would like to get out more often.

Benefits: Children

• More than 1/3 of kids and teens are overweight or obese.
• Unhealthy weight gain brings higher risk for pre-diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and joint problems.
• Dedicated, safe spaces for bicycling and walking help kids be active and gain independence.
• Being physically active helps kids learn and improves their mental health

Benefits: People with Disabilities

• Almost 1 in 5 Americans have some type of disability.
• Complete Streets = attention to detail for travelers with disabilities.
• Complete Streets can reduce isolation and dependence.

Benefits: Safety

• More than 40% of pedestrian fatalities occur where there is no available crosswalk.
• Slower speeds = improved safety
• Pedestrian crashes decreased 88% with sidewalks; 69% with hybrid beacon; 39% with medians; and 29% with road conversions

Benefits: Health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend adoption of Complete Streets as a strategy to prevent obesity.

1. Risk of obesity:
2. Increases 6% for each hour spent in a car.
3. Decreases 4.8% for each additional kilometer walked.
4. States with the lowest levels of biking and walking have, on average, the highest rates of obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
5. Women who walk or bike 30 minutes a day have a lower risk of breast cancer.
6. A 30-minute round-trip bicycle commute is associated with better mental health in men.
7. People who live in walkable neighborhoods get more exercise than those who do not.

El Paso Complete Streets Coalition

The El Paso Complete Streets Coalition is made up by a diverse group of national and community-based organizations working towards the common goal of promoting a complete streets to improve the safety, health and quality of life of all El Pasoans.