Battle Ground’s Complete Streets policy, which details the city’s commitment to plan, design and construct a transportation system that is beneficial to the community, has been named one of the nation’s best.
Smart Growth America, a national organization dedicated to researching, advocating for and leading coalitions to bring better development to more communities nationwide, evaluated and ranked 82 Complete Streets policies adopted by cities across the nation in 2015. Battle Ground’s policy came in as the tenth best in the nation and is the first Complete Streets policy adopted in Southwest Washington.
The key elements of Battle Ground’s Complete Streets policy include multi-modal transportation and connectivity. The policy supports the use of sidewalks, shared use paths, bicycle lanes and accessible curb ramps.
“Safe and efficient travel is essential to the livability of our community,” said Battle Ground Mayor Philip Johnson, “and we can achieve this in a fiscally responsible manner as we grow and make improvements.”
The policy has been incorporated into the city’s official transportation improvement plan, and will be implemented with new transportation projects and when improvements are made to existing roadways.
City officials said the formalized policy may also pave the way for Battle Ground to receive state and regional funding for future projects.