The township of Pemberton recently released its new Complete Streets Policy and Plan, putting forth a framework to guide municipal and county decisions concerning roadway improvements, as well as providing direction to public officials in establishing Township-wide Complete Street priorities, performance targets, and specific action items. Along with a Complete Streets policy, Pemberton has included a detailed plan of guidelines and strategies. The Complete Streets Policy and Plan, presented in one joint document, aims to provide the strategic foundation in guiding changes that will be made to the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of roadways throughout Pemberton Township, creating a comprehensive, integrated, multi-modal transportation network that provides safe and convenient travel along and across streets for all travelers, inclusive of people of all ages and abilities.
Typical Existing Street Section for ‘Village Main Street’ Typology // Pemberton Township
Typical Existing Street Section for ‘Residential Road’ // Pemberton Township
The extensive plan, developed in partnership with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, begins with an introduction to the background, purpose, and benefits of the Complete Streets initiative, taking a detailed look at the principles and approaches to Complete Streets. It continues with a multimodal Complete Street Typology, including guidelines on applicability, a matrix of different street types with corollary typology (commercial/rural highways, rural township connector, suburban township street, residential street, residential road, village main street, and alley/access road), and a detailed description of each typology. The plan follows with Complete Street Design Guidelines to ensure that all streets are designed to provide adequate mobility and balance the competing needs for access, safety, economic development, and traffic. That section includes a description, benefits, considerations, and typical applications for corridor treatments (i.e. sidewalks or bike lanes), intersection treatments, amenities and maintenance, and signage, each accompanied by useful graphics demonstrating the objectives.
A striped buffer area reduces the chance of a “dooring” accident when bicycle lanes are adjacent to parked cars. // NACTO
Example of a bicycle lane in Jersey City, NJ // Pemberton Township
Complete Streets project development workflow (click to enlarge) // Pemberton Township
The final section, on implementation, explains how addressing Complete Streets education, implementation tools, and project development and delivery can help effectively integrate the Pemberton Township Complete Streets policy into the normal course of business. The chapter includes implementation priorities (following a series of checklists), an explicit, directional, and critical approach to project development and delivery, and an outline of project development workflow. Their goal is to achieve acceptance and understanding from staff, elected officials, and stakeholders, consistency with other relevant policies and procedures, as well as a systematic relationship to administrative operations. The entire project relies on representative public engagement, accomplished through stakeholder interviews, presentations to community groups, and the distribution of materials through municipal offices and the Technical Advisory Committee, all in order to foster a positive impact on the quality of life in Pemberton Township.
New Jersey is a leader in Complete Streets, with seven counties and 128 municipalities that have Complete Streets policies. To see the full list of municipalities, click here. To learn more about Complete Streets and how the New Jersey Department of Transportation supports Complete Streets, click here.
This article was written by Robin Basaleav-Binder, a Summer Intern at the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center. She is currently pursuing a Master of Urban Planning at the School of Urban Planning at McGill University.