The “Best Improvement for Public Safety” recognized the successful implementation of the Lancaster Auto Mall Pedestrian Safety Improvements, while the Master Plan of Complete Streets ordinance received “Innovative Design of the Year.”
“These distinctions validate the focus our city has placed on ensuring a higher level of safety and quality of life for our citizens,” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said in a news release. “It is the implementation of new and innovative projects which have afforded our city such great honors.”
The Lancaster Auto Mall now includes striped bike lanes on all streets and enhanced mid-block pedestrian crosswalks. Additionally, all T-intersections have been converted into all-way stops. These new features garnered Lancaster the award for “Best Improvement for Public Safety.”
The city’s Master Plan of Complete Streets ordinance, in compliance with the California Complete Streets Act, encourages the development of a system of streets, sidewalks, and public rights-of-ways throughout Lancaster, thus creating a balanced multimodal transportation network. This garnered the city the award for “Innovative Design of the Year.”
[Information via news release from the city of Lancaster.]
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Designer says
“It is the implementation of new and innovative projects…”
There is nothing new and innovative about bike lanes, mid-block crosswalks, and T-intersections converted into all-way stops. This certainly does not justify an award.