Most Fort Wayne residents don’t have to be convinced of the value of adding sidewalks and bike lanes to street projects. They’ve seen the benefits as improvements have been made to Illinois Road, Ardmore Avenue and others.

But the need to think of more than cars and trucks hasn’t sunk in everywhere, which is why an initiative to require Complete Streets policies is a good one. The program comes from an alliance of the AARP, American Planning Association and other groups interested in encouraging common-sense transportation policies. It could go a long way in helping all Hoosier communities ensure safer streets that allow and encourage residents to walk more than drive, to stay in their homes when driving is no longer an option and even to attract development.

Representatives of AARP Indiana met recently with legislators and local officials to talk about the Complete Streets program. Their goal is not a costly new program. AARP cites an Illinois example where a bridge was built in the early 1990s without a safe way to cross it on bike or foot. After several deaths and a successful wrongful-death lawsuit, the Illinois Department of Transportation was required to retrofit the bridge with a pedestrian path, at a cost of nearly $1 million.

Complete Streets is the transportation equivalent of architecture’s universal design – planning that accommodates all users. In the case of streets, that’s not just drivers, but also bicyclists, pedestrians, children and people with disabilities. Design can be improved by adding sidewalks, bike paths, wide shoulders, ample crossing areas, safety medians or even lengthening the pedestrian signal timing, depending on an area’s needs.

Dan Avery, executive director of the Northeastern Indiana Regional Coordinating Council, said costs are reduced when access is considered at the start of a project. The council’s draft 2030 transportation plan includes a pedestrian/bicycle component. Metropolitan planning organizations like the northeast council, which coordinates transportation in the Fort Wayne area, are generally tuned in to the need to consider pedestrian access in planning.

But Avery said the Indiana Department of Transportation has been slower to consider pedestrian and bicyclist needs. Its primary concern is cost, so the addition of right-of-way and other Complete Streets components are overlooked unless residents raise the issue in the planning stage. That can put small, rural communities bisected by state highways at a disadvantage. Those communities often have a higher percentage of older residents who need a safe way to reach the post office or grocery store down the block.

If the state of Indiana were to make consideration of Complete Streets policies the first step in transportation planning, it could make communities across the state more amenable to all residents. In a period when every tax dollar must be carefully spent, state policymakers would be wise to require planning that considers more than vehicles in designing roads.