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Leaders in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, wanted to make it easier for people to visit the city’s cultural districts, which were disconnected from the heart of downtown and didn’t get the attention they merited. Twelve years later, the city, through a public-private partnership, completed the construction of an eight-mile, separated facility that forms a loop around downtown with spurs to connect five cultural districts and neighborhoods, as well as the city’s greenway system.

Featured Case Study

State Highway 5 Corridor Context Sensitive Transportation Study

The State Highway 5 Corridor Context Sensitive Transportation Study will formulate a corridor master plan that includes the “public realm” as well as the “private realm” in order to transform the entire length of the corridor, including the historic Town Center of McKinney, into a multi-modal thoroughfare that provides a strong economic basis for development while improving mobility and safety for all users.

Featured Case Study

U.S. Route 62 Village of Hamburg

Twelve years ago the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) proposed an overhaul of U.S. Route 62 to improve the road's utility and level of service by adding a lane, removing parallel parking, and narrowing sidewalks. The community rejected this proposal because it threatened the livelihood of Hamburg's main street. In turn, NYSDOT implemented CSS principals to improve the road and help Hamburg achieve their goals.

Featured Publication

San Juan County Scenic Roads Manual

The value of our County roads is found in the unique visual experience they offer. Washington’s San Juan County Scenic Road Manual shows us that context, aesthetics, and following engineering requirements may be mutually beneficial. As such, the manual strives to implement rural road guidelines that not only take in user safety, and mobility, but also are successfully integrated with surrounding natural landscape.

Featured Report

Context Sensitive Rock Slope Design Solutions

The objective of this report is to provide design, construction, and maintenance solutions for rock slope excavation, stabilization, and mitigation in context sensitive regions. It addresses state-of-the-art and state-of-practice technologies for the evaluation, design, and construction of context sensitive rock slopes. Key features of the report include the following:

Advantages and limitations of existing and developing technologies and their acceptability for use on context sensitive projects.
Relative cost comparisons of design, construction, and maintenance options.
Design methods and examples for each application.

Featured Policy

Florida Greenbook Chapter 19: Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND)

In May of 2011, Florida Department of Transportation revised their Manual of Uniform Minimum Standards for Design, Construction and Maintenance for Streets and Highways. The document, commonly referred to as the Florida Greenbook, contains a wealth of innovative updates that address the needs and safety of all users. However, Chapter 19 stands out as especially ground breaking. The Chapter entitled Traditional Neighborhood Development takes a context sensitive approach to transportation and land use. With a focus on network functionality and design standards supporting a livable community, this is a model for 21st Century transportation.

Featured Case Study

Houghton, MI Streetscape and Brick Street Re-Installation

Michigan DOT took what would have been a basic resurfacing of US-41 in downtown Houghton, and ended up with a $4.6 million storefront-to-storefront revitalization where 2/3 of the funding came from local sources. The outcomes: traffic is flowing, underground utilities were replaced, 100 new jobs were created, interest in downtown living has led to private mixed-use development, and MDOT is on great terms with the citizens of Houghton.

Featured Website

Rightsizing Streets Guide

The Rightsizing Streets Guide aims to help planners and community members update their streets to make them ‘right’ for their context. The centerpiece of the guide is a set of rightsizing case studies that highlight impressive outcomes using before and after data on mobility, crashes, and other parameters. These are just a few of the projects that have been built and many more are being planned all over the country. The glossary of common rightsizing techniques and the best practices guide to street selection criteria and before and after measurements can help facilitate similar changes in your community.

Featured Publication

Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach: An ITE Recommended Practice

This report has been developed in response to widespread interest for improving both mobility choices and community character through a commitment to creating and enhancing walkable communities. Many agencies will work toward these goals using the concepts and principles in this report to ensure the users, community and other key factors are considered in the planning and design processes used to develop walkable urban thoroughfares.