Farmingdale, LI— Thursday, April 11: Four months ago, the Suffolk County Legislature unanimously adopted Suffolk County’s first ever Complete Streets bill, authored by Legislator Rob Calarco. Legislator Rob Calarco was invited to make introductory remarks at the Long Island Complete Streets Summit on April 11th. The Summit was hosted by Vision Long Island and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.

Legislator Rob Calarco’s bill (IR 2025), directed the Department of Public Works to consider all modes of travel when designing a road project. The bill also required the DPW to evaluate the feasibility of using a host of features to accommodate not only motorists, but also pedestrians, bicyclists, bus riders, senior citizens, people with disabilities etc. The Complete Streets program encourages and provides safe access to destinations for everyone, regardless of age, ability, income, ethnicity or how they travel. A Complete Streets policy ensures that transportation planners and engineers consistently design and operate the entire roadway with all users in mind – including bicyclists, public transportation vehicles and riders, and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.

At the summit, Legislator Calarco stressed the importance of County Executive Steve Bellone’s “Connect Long Island” initiative including a bus rapid transit system (BRT). A bus rapid transit system will be used to connect Long Island by giving people a high quality transit line to get from one train line to another as well as to and from major locations such as Stony Brook University.

Suffolk County is not the only area to adopt Complete Streets policies. To date, 488 Complete Streets policies are now in place nationwide, at all levels of government. Statewide policies are in place in 27 states as well as the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.