CASE STUDY
Complete Streets
Engaging diverse perspectives to shape road design policy for climate, equity, and priorities.
CLIENT: Hennepin County
Key Points
Hennepin County was the first county in Minnesota to adopt a Complete Streets policy in 2009, showing an early commitment to offering a safe and diverse mix of transportation options for all residents. Twelve years later, Hennepin County began working to update its Complete Streets policy and engaged SDK to facilitate stakeholder input.
Client Need
Hennepin County more recently passed a number of consequential policies, including the County’s racial equity commitment, the Climate Action Plan, and the Toward Zero Deaths Plan. Street design plays an important role in implementation of these policies, and Hennepin County decided to update its Complete Streets policy to support their larger policies and directions.
SDK Contributions
SDK was engaged by Hennepin County to facilitate stakeholder input to the proposed policy, with a special focus on Modal Hierarchy. SDK designed a multi-sector approach, holding listening sessions with community-based groups to hear the unique perspectives of different interests and used that to develop policy recommendations.
After analyzing the stakeholder feedback received through the meetings and surveys, SDK created a set of recommendations by interpreting the stakeholders’ hopes and goals for the future of Hennepin County and what they look like in practice. Using that information, they identified the core priorities for the development of the refreshed Complete Streets policy.
The research and recommendations provided by SDK were used by a cross-functional team of Hennepin County staff representing transportation design and delivery, planning, public works and green infrastructure, and other key perspectives to update the county’s Complete Streets policy.
