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Urban Thoroughfares Manual
Designing a Context Sensitive Approach
Concerned about traffic and street design in your community? Want to learn about a new resource for creating livable streets? Leading engineers, elected officials, planners, and others are now using a new resource created by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) for local communities. The newly-released recommended practice, Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach, advances the successful use of context-sensitive solutions (CSS) in the planning and design of major urban thoroughfares for walkable communities. It provides guidance and demonstrates how context-sensitive design principles and techniques may be applied where community objectives support new urbanist and smart growth principles, such as walkable, connected neighborhoods, mixed land uses, and easy access for pedestrians and bicyclists. The manual is a partnership between the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and CNU. Under contract to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the two organizations have created a context sensitive design guide dedicated exclusively to major thoroughfares in cities and towns.
The Path to Approval: Past ResourcesThe release of the ITE Manual is culmination of several years of work. In February 2010, CNU leaders met with city officials and planners from Elgin, Illinois for the first implementation of the new guidelines. In May of 2011, the City of El Paso passed a resolution adopting Designing Walkable Thoroughfares: A Context Sensitive Approach as a recommend practice for "use in the design and construction on new roadways and redesign and reconstruction of existing roadways." Below you will find news and resources compiled from the prior work CNU has done on the issue. Presentations from prior CNU workshops:
Previous News about the CNU/ITE Manual
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You can purchase the manual from the ITE website. It is also available for download.
CNU has held numerous workshops that focus on the manual. These workshops help communities create streets that build character and long-term value, as outlined in Designing Walkable Urban Thoroughfares. Workshop participants learn hands-on about how to change standards in street design, the impacts of street design on a community, how to use the manual as a guiding resource, and key urban design features that support a strong community. Check back for details on upcoming events and workshops dedicated to moving the ITE/CNU principles forward.
Resources About context-sensitive design and the manual:
- Master PowerPoint presentation covering manual contents (joint ITE/CNU)
- Fact sheet 1 -- Overview
- Fact sheet 2 -- A Framework for CSS in Urban Thoroughfare Design
- Fact sheet 3 -- Design Controls in Context Sensitive Solutions
- Fact sheet 4 -- Using Context Zones and Thoroughfare Types in Design
- Fact sheet 5 -- Designing Boulevards and Avenues in Highly Urban Mixed-Use Areas
- Fact sheet 6 -- Designing Residential Avenues
- Fact sheet 7 -- Main Street Design
- ITE's web site about Context-Sensitive Solutions and the manual
Contact Please contact Heather Smith.
