Complete Streets

The Community Traffic Safety Program in Northeast Florida is committed to education, outreach, and the Target Zero goal of reducing serious injuries and deaths on our roadways. This presentation explains why FDOT’s Complete Streets are essential for safety and mobility. Learn about the policy, design guidance, strategies, and project examples.

Watch the video presentation of Complete Streets:

Because most of Florida’s population growth and development occurred in the “age of the automobile,” our transportation system can be challenging to non-motorized road users—pedestrians and cyclists. Complete Streets are essential for the safety and mobility of vulnerable road users.

The presentation includes national and Florida bicycle and pedestrian crash trends. In 2019, Florida had the highest number of bicycle fatalities. Pedestrian crashes account for approximately 20 percent of the fatal crashes in the 18 counties comprising District Two.

Recognizing these challenges, the FDOT Complete Streets policy was officially adopted in 2014. The approach for the Department is to consider all users of all ages and abilities in how it plans, designs, builds, and operates its transportation system. Complete Streets are roads designed not only for passenger cars and trucks but also for transit riders, pedestrians, and cyclists.

Flip through the Complete Streets presentation:

The context classification system broadly identifies the various built environments in Florida based on the general characteristics of land use, development patterns, and connectivity along a state roadway. These attributes provide cues to the types of uses that will likely utilize the road. This is used to make decisions about design parameters. The presentation provides an overview of each roadway context class.

Eight Context Classifications can be found throughout Northeast Florida:

  • C1 Natural – lands preserved in a natural or wilderness condition, including lands unsuitable for settlement due to natural conditions.
  • C2 Rural – sparsely settled areas which may include agricultural land, woodland, and wetlands.
  • C2T Rural Town – rural and natural areas immediately surround small concentrations of developed regions.
  • C3R Suburban Residential – primarily residential uses within large blocks and a disconnected, sparse major roadway network.
  • C3C Suburban Commercial – mostly non-residential uses with large building footprints and parking lots. Buildings are within large blocks and a disconnected/sparse roadway network.
  • C4 Urban General – areas with a mix of uses set within small blocks with a well-connected roadway network.
  • C5 Urban Center -typically concentrated around a few blocks and identified as part of a civic or economic center of a community with a well-connected grid network.
  • C6 Urban Core – areas with the highest densities and building heights within large, urbanized areas. Buildings have mixed uses and are close to roadways with a well-connected grid network.
  • LA Limited Access – roadways with grade separation and limited access, such as interstates and expressways.

Examples of strategies used in District Two to make streets safer and more complete for all users:

Towards the presentation’s conclusion are examples of successful Complete Streets projects in the Northeast Florida area, including before and after photos. One project on US 17/Main Street in Jacksonville reduced lane widths to provide space for a landscaped median and introduced street trees, enhanced crosswalks, and other features to manage speeds. As a result, it improved safety and made the roadway more accommodating for pedestrians.

Another example is along Archer Road in a more suburban area of Gainesville; we see how lane widths were reduced to provide for bicycle lanes. For instance, the introduction of a mid-block crosswalk to improve pedestrian connectivity.

A shared-use path was constructed on the right-of-way along State Road 207, a rural highway in East Palatka. The design and operation of the roadway were left unchanged for motorists. However, the new pathway provides for safer mobility of cyclists and pedestrians along the road.

We hope you take this opportunity to learn about Complete Streets and try new transportation options. The state of Florida celebrates Mobility Week to promote awareness of safe, multimodal transportation choices. Additionally, please check out our bicycle and pedestrian resources, and share the traffic safety messages.

Target Zero

The Community Traffic Safety Program is ground ZERO for Target Zero! The Northeast Florida Community Traffic Safety Teams work to connect, interact, plan, design, educate, and solve traffic safety concerns as part of Target Zero.

Northeast Florida Traffic Safety

The Florida Department of Transportation is focused on Target Zero and employing the Safe System Approach in plans and projects. Everyone needs to share in the responsibility; everyone has a role!

FDOT District Two’s Community Traffic Safety Program has targeted traffic safety issues in Northeast Florida since 1994. We collaborate and solve local traffic safety concerns through education, enforcement, engineering, and emergency services. Click here to learn more about the CTSP and District Two Community Traffic Safety Teams.

Learn more about Florida’s Target Zero

On average, eight people are killed, and 49 are seriously injured on Florida’s roads daily. In most of those severe and fatal crashes, driver behavior is a contributing factor. This initiative focuses on connecting, interacting, and designing our transportation system to specifically relate to those (drivers) most involved in crashes resulting in serious injuries and fatalities.

In Florida, Target Zero builds upon the Vision Zero belief by focusing on influencing dangerous driver behaviors before serious and fatal crashes occur. Target Zero aligns resources and establishes actions for all safety partners to take evolutionary steps to improve how Florida connects, interacts, plans, designs, operates and maintains its transportation system.

Eliminating roadway fatalities is our highest priority. We recognize that achieving zero deaths and serious injuries will not be easy and will require commitment, energy, and innovation. Together, we can make progress to achieve our target of ZERO.  

Zero is our goal. A Safe System is how we will get there.

To address the high number of fatal and serious injuries resulting from vehicle crashes, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has made a commitment to zero deaths by adopting the Safe System Approach. This holistic view of the road system anticipates human mistakes and keeps impact energy on the human body at tolerable levels. Safety is an ethical imperative for everyone, including users, designers, and owners of the transportation system.

The Safe System Approach is based on six principles:

  • Death and serious injury are not acceptable.
  • Humans make mistakes.
  • Humans are vulnerable.
  • Responsibility is shared.
  • Safety is proactive.
  • Redundancy is crucial.

Five elements that work together for a safer and more accessible transportation system that aim to reduce severe injuries and fatalities:

  • Safer Roadways – This includes design and planning to make roadways more forgiving of human mistakes by separating users in time and space. Examples include dedicated bicycle lanes or the implementation of pedestrian scrambles where only pedestrians are given dedicated time and space to navigate intersections.
  • Safer Speeds – The magnitude of speed is directly correlated to the survivability of a crash. Mitigation examples include implementing countermeasures such as lane narrowing or speed feedback signage or designing context-based roadways that set “target speed” goals to ensure that if a crash occurs, it is at a speed at which humans can survive.
  • Safer Road Users – This includes ALL road users and encompasses shared responsibility. Users must practice safe behavior, such as using raised medians that protect pedestrians when crossing and make them more visible.
  • Safer Vehicles – Employing safety measures in vehicles that help prevent crashes or reduce the magnitude of a crash can reduce fatalities and serious injuries. Examples include autonomous braking, lane departure warnings, and driver alcohol detection systems.
  • Post-Crash Care – This can ensure that when a crash occurs, the proper emergency response is deployed, and all traffic incident management systems work in unison. This includes the integration of emergency vehicle preemption or automatic crash notification systems.

Safe System Approach vs. Traditional Road Safety Practices

Whereas traditional road safety strives to modify human behavior and prevent all crashes, the Safe System approach also refocuses transportation system design and operation on anticipating human mistakes and lessening impact forces to reduce crash severity and save lives.

Traditional Approach

Prevent crashes
Improve human behavior
Control speeding
Individuals are responsible
React based on crash history

Safe System Approach

Prevent deaths and serious injuries
Design for human mistakes/limitations
Reduce system kinetic energy
Share responsibility
Proactively identify and address risks

Additional information and resources available:

Traffic Safety Virtual Backgrounds

Since things have gone virtual and may remain this way for the unforeseeable future, we invite you to browse our traffic safety virtual backgrounds. These graphics are from the Florida Department of Transportation District Two’s Community Traffic Safety Program. They include educational campaigns for emphasis areas within the Florida Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP), the state’s strategy to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities across the transportation system.

These virtual backgrounds were initially created during the COVID pandemic. Since then, the FDOT has introduced Target Zero, a statewide initiative to reduce the number of transportation-related serious injuries and deaths across Florida to ZERO. We have recently added the Target Zero logo to these graphics to help promote this goal and engage with Northeast Florida road users.

Check out our traffic safety inspired virtual background options!

Download free wallpaper backgrounds. First, click on a traffic safety topic that is important to you. Then save it to your computer and upload it to your virtual meeting platform(s). They may also be used as computer monitor desktop backgrounds or screen savers. Finally, use and share to help change driver behaviors and reach ZERO deaths on our local roadways.  

This is a great and free way to share important traffic safety topics in a fun and interactive way while disguising your home or workspace. These graphics are simple, colorful, and the perfect way to stand out from the crowd during any meeting or class. Also, an excellent conversion starter idea!


Learn more about Florida’s Target Zero

On average, eight people are killed, and 49 are seriously injured on Florida’s roads daily. In most of those severe and fatal crashes, driver behavior is a contributing factor. This initiative focuses on connecting, interacting, and designing our transportation system to specifically relate to those (drivers) most involved in crashes resulting in serious injuries and fatalities.

The Northeast Florida Community Traffic Safety Program is working to improve how we connect, interact, plan, design, educate, and solve traffic safety concerns as part of Target Zero.

In Florida, Target Zero builds upon the Vision Zero belief by focusing on influencing dangerous driver behaviors before serious and fatal crashes occur. Target Zero aligns resources and establishes actions for all safety partners to take evolutionary steps to improve how Florida connects, interacts, plans, designs, operates and maintains its transportation system.

Eliminating roadway fatalities is our highest priority. We recognize achieving zero fatalities and serious injuries will not be easy and will require commitment, energy, and innovation. Together, we can make progress to achieve our target of ZERO.