The streets of our cities and towns are an important part of the livability of our communities. They ought to be for everyone, whether young or old, motorist or bicyclist, walker or wheelchair user, bus rider or shopkeeper. But too many of our streets are designed only for speeding cars, or worse, creeping traffic jams.

Now, in communities across the country, a movement is growing to complete the streets. States, cities and towns are asking their planners and engineers to build road networks that are safer, more livable and welcoming to everyone.

When streets are designed only for cars, they deny people the opportunity to choose more active ways to get around, such as walking and biking. Even where sidewalks exist, large intersections and speeding traffic may make walking unpleasant or even unsafe - discouraging any non-motorized travel.

Obesity in America has reached epidemic proportions in recent years. The latest data show that 32% of adults are obese, the number of overweight or obese American children nearly tripled between 1980 and 2004. Health experts agree that a big factor is inactivity – 55 percent of the U.S. adult population falls short of recommended activity guidelines, and approximately 25 percent report being completely inactive. Inactivity is a factor in many other diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Incomplete streets mean many people lack opportunities to be active as part of daily life.

Mark Plotz and Sharon Roerty of National Center for Bicycling and Walking; Mayor Kant of Fairhope, Charlene Lee, Mayor Small of Daphne and Wendy Allen	Mayor Byron Pittman and Planning Director Craig Carnes of Chickasaw

Smart Coast has a committee called "Complete Streets" that has begun to establish a sub-committee of its Walkable Communities Group to begin introducing the concept of Complete Streets to towns and cities in the coastal region of Alabama. These volunteers are communicating with civic leaders and organizations to encourage them to support policies that would promote the development of streets that are useable by all residents. Their campaign has successfully engaged three cities in the coastal region of Alabama to adopt a Compete Streets policy which will be incorporated into their comprehensive plans. The cities are Fairhope, Daphne and Chickasaw (in that order).