Phoenix, Ariz., October 29, 2013

Kicking off the final day of the Designing Cities conference in Phoenix, NACTO President and NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik‐Khan invited city transportation leaders across the country to join her in endorsing the NACTO Urban Street Design Guide as a leading resource for designing safe and economically vibrant streets.

“Transportation directors today are managing unprecedented changes and demands on our cities’ streets and this guide is key in designing them to a new national standard of safety and accessibility for everyone who uses them,” said Sadik-Khan. “Public health, climate change, and mobile technology present even more challenges for our profession while at the same time providing new opportunities for innovation that were inconceivable only a decade ago.”

NACTO cities recognize that city streets demand a unique approach unmet by conventional design guidelines. In creating the Urban Street Design Guide, NACTO has codified a new vision for city streets as attractive public spaces, foundations for thriving local economies, and safe channels for transit riders, bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists. Based on successful strategies from New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, and other cities, the Urban Street Design Guide represents today’s state-of-the-practice.

The endorsement campaign for the Urban Street Design Guide aims to cement a new paradigm for urban transportation policy that celebrates the unique nature of city streets. This effort follows NACTO’s successful endorsement campaign for the Urban Bikeway Design Guide. After more than 40 cities endorsed the Urban Bikeway Design Guide, USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood announced his endorsement, and Federal Highway Administration has since issued a memorandum recommending usage of its key design principles. The Urban Bikeway Design Guide has also garnered support at the state level, through policies such as Georgia DOT’s Complete Streets Design Policy and Massachusetts DOT’s Healthy Transportation Policy Directive.

The endorsement campaign for the Urban Street Design Guide will run through May 1, 2014. Cities, states and counties interested in endorsing the Guide should contact David Vega-Barachowitz, Director of the Designing Cities initiative, at [email protected] or 212.839.6421.

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About NACTO

NACTO is an association of 18 major US cities formed to exchange transportation ideas, insights and practices and cooperatively approach national transportation issues. Members include Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC. Affiliate members of NACTO include Arlington (VA), Austin, Burlington (VT), Cambridge, Hoboken, Indianapolis, Louisville, Memphis, Oakland, Salt Lake City, Somerville (MA), and Ventura (CA).