Austin develops new Street Design Guide

Updated Jun 30, 2017

Austin Street GuideIn preparation for continued growth, the city of Austin, Texas, updated its Street Design Guide for the first time in nearly 10 years, kxan reports.

The updated guide, which was developed by the Austin Transportation Department in coordination with other city departments and Capital Metro, will work with the city’s new Austin Strategic Mobility Plan to help engineers use the same approach, whether designing new streets or modifying current ones.

“Our current design criteria is outdated,” Lianne Miller with the Austin Transportation Department told the news agency. “So, when a designer looks to design a street, they may want to use more modern guidance. That’s what this design guide will provide for them.”

The previous street design guide focused on a car-centric community, while the designers of the new guide gave bike and pedestrian paths a bigger role in the design process.

“Streets are vibrant places and it’s important that we get them right,” Miller told the news agency, adding that it’s about developing the best, but most consistent, design that takes future transportation modes into consideration. The new approach to multi-modal street design will be consistent with city policies and will take into consideration community context, street level, right-of-way, mode specific plans, design considerations, and number of lanes.