ST. LOUIS—St. Louis takes another step foward in its efforts to make the city's streets, sidewalks and surrounding infrastructure more pedestrian friendly. Mayor Tishaura Jones signed a bill Thursday modernizing the City's Complete Streets policies which will also allow the public to be more involved with the process.

The bill, sponsored by Ald. Anne Schweitzer, established a new Complete Streets Advisory Committee (CSAC). The committee will review, assess, and recommend transportation projects for St. Louis City. Each meeting shall be advertised, open to the public, and provide the public an opportunity for comment.

Jones said, “streets in St. Louis should be welcoming to everyone, no matter how they choose to get around.” 

“So when we upgrade our transportation infrastructure, we have to make sure that the designs are people-friendly. Updating our Complete Streets legislation helps us achieve that goal," explained Jones.

Members of the CSAC will include:

  • 2 members of City’s Board of Public Service. 

  • 2 members from the Planning and Urban Design Agency including the Sustainability Director 

  • 2 members from the Streets Department, the Office on the Disabled, Department of Public Safety, Health Department

  • 1 member of the public by Mayoral appointment who is a resident of the City of St. Louis and shows a vested interest in safety and expansion of a multimodal transportation network

CSAC will have multiple responsibilities, including overseeing the City's transportation and mobility plan; monitor relevant transportation and safety metrics, develop benchmarks for performance; among other things.

St. Louis unfortunately made national headlines over the past few years with the disfigurement of Janae Edmundson and the deaths of Laticha Bracero and Alyssa Cordova, each were the result of vehicular accidents involving pedestrians.

The Mayor’s office reports over $300 million of transportation infrastructure projects will be built in St. Louis before 2028. Among these projects are redesigning more than 30 miles of arterial streets, improving safety at hotspot intersections, and building miles of new pedestrian and bike trails. The recently announced new web page called "Friendly Streets" provides more information on the planned improvements.