This course, based on Jeff Speck’s engaging presentation “Going Both Ways in Austin” hosted by Safe Streets Austin, explores practical strategies for transforming urban streets to prioritize walkability, safety, and vitality in downtown environments. Drawing from Speck’s expertise as a leading urban planner and author of Walkable City, participants examine the ongoing U.S. pedestrian safety crisis, the advantages of Vision Zero principles over traditional traffic engineering, and evidence-based approaches to street redesign. Key topics include the risks of high-speed, multi-lane one-way streets versus the safety, economic, and accessibility benefits of converting them to two-way configurations, supported by real-world case studies from cities like Oklahoma City, Louisville, New Albany, and Austin’s own Great Streets successes.

The presentation highlights how lower-speed, narrower streets—achieved through lane reductions, restriping, center-line removal, and all-way stop signs—can dramatically reduce crashes, enhance pedestrian and cyclist comfort, support local businesses by improving visibility and foot traffic, and align with multimodal goals like those in Austin’s ACT Plan. Attendees learn about balancing traffic capacity, transit, and bike needs while preserving essential features such as parallel parking, and why systematic network-level modeling is crucial for successful implementation.

This course offers actionable insights into creating safer, more livable downtowns. It emphasizes evidence over theory, encourages rethinking forgiveness-based highway standards in urban contexts, and inspires incremental yet impactful changes to foster vibrant, people-centered places.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the key factors contributing to the U.S. pedestrian safety crisis, including vehicle size, street design practices rooted in highway engineering, and the limitations of forgiveness-based standards, and explain how Vision Zero principles offer a more effective alternative for urban contexts.
2. Evaluate the safety, economic, and accessibility advantages of converting multi-lane one-way streets to two-way configurations, using evidence from case studies (such as Oklahoma City, Louisville, New Albany, and Austin’s Great Streets) to assess impacts on crash rates, business vitality, pedestrian comfort, and equitable access.
3. Apply practical street redesign strategies—including lane reductions, center-line removal, restriping over reconstruction, and replacement of signals with all-way stop signs—to reduce vehicle speeds, enhance multimodal safety, and support downtown livability while preserving essential features like parallel parking.
4. Analyze how traffic volume data, network-level modeling, and systematic evaluation of curb-to-curb widths can inform decisions about two-way conversions, left-turn accommodations, dedicated bus and bike facilities, and compliance with guidelines such as the MUTCD and fire code clearance recommendations.
5. Critique common barriers to walkable urban design (e.g., over-signalization, green wave misconceptions, and one-way system disorientation) and propose incremental, evidence-based policy and design interventions that balance traffic capacity, transit efficiency, cycling needs, and economic development goals in downtown settings like those described in Austin’s ACT Plan.itage and promote physical activity in underserved communities.