Minnesota Social Entrepreneurs Launch "Green Complete Streets"

Community Design Group LLC, Alta Planning + Design, and BLUE&GREEN introduce Green Complete Streets, a new approach to design and redevelopment of streets and roadways.  Green Complete Streets combines innovative approaches above and below ground to sustainably address water catchment, reuse and infiltration while improving walking, biking and transit infrastructure in our cities and responding to our region's unique climate and landscape characteristics.

Sustainable or green practices for water catchment, reuse and infiltration have been in development for years. Hundreds of cities in the U.S. are facing water conservation and runoff restrictions and have moved to wide implementation of best management practices to capture stormwater on site.

Complete Streets are becoming an established design practice as communities across the nation are recognizing the need to provide safe space and access for all road users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders.  A Complete Streets approach ensures that streets are people-oriented places and that they work for people of all ages and abilities, including seniors, children and people with disabilities.

Green Complete Streets integrates state-of-the-art stormwater management practices with Complete Streets planning and design principles to maximize the redevelopment potential of outdated municipal street systems.  Green Complete Streets recognizes that it is most cost-effective to make street-level changes when making underground improvements.  This approach can apply to urban, suburban and rural areas, and encompasses aspects of both green streets and Complete Streets infrastructure.

Community Design Group LLC (c-d-g.org) is a Minneapolis planning and design firm specializing in bicycle and pedestrian planning, placemaking, and community engagement.

Alta Planning + Design (altaplanning.com), headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with offices nationwide, is the nation's leading non-motorized transportation planning firm, with extensive experience in Complete Streets designs and sustainable landscape practices.

BLUE&GREEN (sustology.org), based in Minneapolis, are sustainable development professionals that specialize in: green infrastructure; renewable energy development; sustainable building and land use development; energy efficiency consulting; green product representation, and; sustainable pedagogical development.