A Renewed Focus on Street Safety for Hoosiers

When it comes to making Fort Wayne’s streets safer, Jeff Hale, 66, knows it’s not just about infrastructure. It’s also about mindset.

In 2016, Fort Wayne adopted a Complete Streets resolution—a citywide approach to making streets more accessible and safer for drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and public transit users of all ages and abilities. Now AARP Indiana and other advocates want the city to go a step further by making the plan a legally binding ordinance.

“Fort Wayne has an opportunity to really be a model of what can be done,” says Hale, who leads AARP Indiana’s Fort Wayne volunteer team. He notes that the city has expanded its pedestrian and bike trails in recent years.

Making Complete Streets a binding ordinance would help make implementation consistent and not dependent on any given city administration or department head, says Emily Gorman, AARP Indiana’s director of community engagement.

AARP Indiana has successfully advocated for other cities—including Indianapolis and Evansville—to adopt Complete Streets, a program of the nonprofit Smart Growth America. A “complete street” approach varies depending on a city’s needs and may include a variety of elements, such as frequent crosswalks, accessible pedestrian signals, median islands, bike lanes and roundabouts.

“It’s about changing the way we think about transportation as a part of our environment,” says Heidi Simon, director of thriving communities for Smart Growth America.

Cities can take incremental steps rather than overhauling their entire infrastructure, Gorman says.

“If you are repaving, you could also repaint a crosswalk or extend the time a light is red for someone to safely cross,” Gorman says.

The Complete Streets approach can also help encourage builders of new developments to consider planning for buses and bikes from the outset of projects. Several new high-rise developments in Fort Wayne have been designed to be pedestrian-friendly, Hale says.

“I feel like traffic has slowed down even from a few years ago,” he says. “I can find my way around. That’s indicative of developers who took this into consideration.”

The Active Transportation Coalition, a group focused on improving transportation in Allen County and Fort Wayne, is also pushing for an update to the existing Complete Streets policy. To get involved, go to activetransportationcoalition.org/complete-streets. Also learn more at aarp.org/in.

—David Lewellen