Complete streets are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users. Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and bus riders of all ages and abilities are able to safely move along and across a complete street.

“The Illinois Legislature recognized what is becoming common sense across the country – that our roads need to serve everyone using them, whether they are driving, walking, bicycling, or catching the bus.” says Barbara McCann, Coordinator of the National Complete Streets Coalition. “By routinely completing their streets, transportation agencies increase road capacity, avoid costly retrofits, encourage physical activity and help create the walkable communities that so many people want today."

Since the advent of the automobile, city planners, traffic engineers, and government officials have been asking, "How do we keep the traffic flowing?" And by traffic, they meant cars. Cars clog the streets; their noise, fumes, and deadly mass fray nerves, choke the air, and run people under their wheels. But now citizens are taking action, demanding that cities be built for people, not cars.

Bakfietsen, Dutch for “box bikes,” are bomb-proof, do-it-all urban machines. Load up the kids (as many as three!) and there’s still room to spare for the family’s grocery needs in the bak.

The front box has an impressive 180-lb recommended carrying capacity, and the rear racks can handle another 70 lbs.

Strong wheels, durable tires, a low-maintenance 8-speed Shimano Nexus internally geared hub that offers a huge gear range, a drum brake for all-weather stopping, stainless steel fenders, front and rear generator lights, and an option for a rain canopy round out the package.

The close to $3,000 sticker price may discourage some, but Bakfietsen are a legitimate alternative to a family’s vehicle. Certainly for multicar families this would make a reasonable replacement for one mobile. The end of gasoline or vehicle insurance expenses and the low maintenance fees make Bakfietsen a great choice for a family’s partial carectomy.

These rigs are available in the U.S. through The Dutch Bicycle Company in St Augustine, Florida; in Portland, OR through Clever Cycles ; and in Vancouver, Canada, through Rain City Bikes.

See Also: Bikes Rule in Amsterdam and Utilitarian Pedalling

Photo from Rain City Bikes

The UNC School of Public Health in Chapel Hill has the right approach: The best way to get people to exercise more is to incorporate it into their daily routines. Active Living by Design is the name of the national program they run, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to encourage community design that promotes physical activity.

From Active Living by Design:

There is growing evidence that segregated and spread out land use patterns make walking, biking, transit and other forms of active transportation very difficult, promote automobile dependency and increase health and safety risks for those who are active. A more compact and integrated land use system which is more supportive of active transportation and routine recreational use of parks and greenspace would help make healthy levels of physical activity more attainable for large numbers of people during their daily routine.

[The authors] warn that if sprawling development continues to fuel growth in driving, the projected 59 percent increase in the total miles driven between 2005 and 2030 will overwhelm expected gains from vehicle efficiency and low-carbon fuels. Even if the most stringent fuel-efficiency proposals under consideration are enacted, notes co-author Steve Winkelman, “vehicle emissions still would be 40 percent above 1990 levels in 2030 – entirely off-track from reductions of 60-80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 required for climate protection.”