Southern California may have a reputation as the car capital of the world, but walking and biking is apparently becoming more important.
This week, the National Complete Streets Coalition ranked three SoCal cities among the Top 10 best Complete Streets policies nationwide. The beachfront town of Hermosa Beach was #2. The poor Latino city of Huntington Park was #3. And the affluent inland city of Rancho Cucamonga was #10.
Overall, the Complete Streets coalition found that more than 100 Complete Streets policies had been adopted in 2012, increasing the national total to almost 500.
"complComplete Streets policies encourage the redesign of roadways to accommodate travelers by many modes, not just cars. California's Complete Streets policies may be moving quickly because of the state's Complete Streets law, which requires local plans to incorporate Complete Streets concepts.
The Complete Streets policies were ranked by 10 criteria:
Vision and Intent
All users modes
All projects and phases
Clear, accountable exceptions
Network
Jurisdiction
Design
Context Sensitivity
Performance measures
Implementation Steps
-- Hermosa Beach, Huntington Park, and Rancho Cucamonga -- as being in