Stonington's Complete Streets Plan
A parade on Water Street in 1910
What it is and how it came to be
The stretch of Route 1 from New London through Stonington was originally called Pequot Path by Native Americans, and it was just that — a path. Settlers widened it gradually for horses and carriages, their descendants gravelled and paved it for automobiles and delivery trucks. Electrification came to the area in early 1900's, and roads became flanked with tall poles of Douglas Fir and crossbeams fastened on to carry the cables. Ferdinand Valenti opened his first car dealership in Wallingford during the early 1920's, and our love affair with the automobile took off flying on all cylinders.
As autos multiplied over the decades, so did accidents. A Progressive Insurance study from 2004 found that approximately 52% of all accidents occur within just five miles from a person's home. Generally, we're more likely to crash in our own neighborhoods than anywhere else. Why is that? One reason: narrow roads.
Today, pedestrians, bicycles, motorcyclists, cars, busses and trucks all compete on our local roadways, demanding calls for more sidewalks and new bikeways, better signage and safety measures, traffic mitigation plans. In 1971 Oregon enacted the first Complete Streets-like policy in the United States, requiring that new or rebuilt roads accommodate bicycles and pedestrians, and also calling on state and local governments to fund pedestrian and bicycle facilities in the public right-of-way. By specifying "new or rebuilt roads," Oregon acknowledged the difficulty of widening existing roadways held tight by ranks of utility poles and narrow bridges. That's why the new Complete Street paradigm offers various workarounds to help mitigate the hazards of narrow streets that can’t easily be widened.
According to Smart Growth America, “Complete Streets is an approach to planning, designing, building, operating, and maintaining streets that enables safe access for all people who need to use them, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities."
Stonington's first Complete Streets policy resolution was drafted and adopted by the Board of Selectmen in 2008 to, among other things, "Recognize the need for flexibility and direct that Complete Streets solutions fit in with context of the community," and "Direct the use of the latest and best design standards" to the benefit of all users of the Town's rights of way. Since then the Complete Streets methodology and practice have evolved to best deal with pre-existing conditions and take advantage of latest design practices.
The final Policy and Implementation plan was adopted November 8, 2023 after several years of hard work by the Plan of Conservation and Development Implementation Committee, specifically the Complete Streets Implementation Subcommittee, and can be downloaded here.
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Smart Growth America
Visit Smart Growth America’s “Basics of Complete Streets” website to learn more about Complete Streets projects in Connecticut, as well as resources on why they are needed, what they entail, what makes a strong policy, and where policies have been implemented.
Complete Streets Exchange
The CT Training and Technical Assistance Center has a Complete Streets Information Exchange website that highlights some of the projects underway to improve roadway safety throughout the state.