Since the days of the horse and buggy (not that I would know personally), streets have been planned and designed as a means of getting from Point A to Point B, thereby fulfilling the typical role of streets as a linear corridor. The image in the classic western movies of horse and buggy competing in space with gentlemen and lady pedestrians hurrying to cross the town main street conjures up those early images of conflict between traffic and pedestrians.

Conventional street function and classification has been hierarchical. Road designers are very familiar with the functional classification relationship between streets providing access to adjacent lands and streets providing mobility to the road users. The higher the road functional classification the more attention is paid to mobility with less emphasis to access to adjacent lands. This has been the conventional approach to the establishment of street functional classification for decades.

The conventional approach to street design suggests that the higher the classification of the street, the more emphasis is paid to speed, capacity, and volumes, and less attention is given to accessibility. This approach has often resulted in local streets that are narrow, confining, and restrictive, while the major arterial streets are typically wide, expansive, and often are seen as barriers to pedestrians and cyclists due to the speed and high volumes of traffic and heavy trucks. In fact, traditional arterial streets are often seen by community residents as divisive barriers to their own communities, with limited opportunities for linkages from one side of the community to the other side.

Complete Streets represents a change in roadway design philosophy. Complete Streets design is intended to represent a holistic approach to the design and function of the road. A Complete Street is a place that is designed to be safe, attractive, comfortable, and welcoming to all street users. In the context of Complete Streets, roads are seen more as a social space where people have the opportunity to live, work, and play, rather than just the link from Point A to Point B.

This change in street design philosophy has the most profound effect on streets in urban centres. This change in philosophy is only restricted to our largest urban cities in Canada, however, as towns and cities, large and small, appear to be embracing this philosophy. Many urban centres have produced their own standards and manuals to guide the design and development of their Complete Streets. No wonder that these standards and manuals on Complete Street design have value and culture statements woven into them that reflect the unique and individual values of the communities they serve. Having said this, the Transportation Association of Canada, which in the past has been seen to mostly represent a rural constituent, has produced policies and guidelines on designing for Complete Streets in a trend to providing more codes and standards in an urban context.

It can be argued that the embodiment of Complete Streets design in North America is no stronger advocated than by the National Complete Streets Coalition. This group is a non-profit, non-partisan alliance of public interest organizations and transportation professionals based in Washington, D.C., and committed to the development and implementation of Complete Streets policies and practices. In the USA in 2013, it was reported that 15 agencies had developed Complete Street policies and guides for implementation. Currently the National Complete Streets Coalition reports that over 610 jurisdictions have developed Complete Street policies. 

It has been well documented that a number of key benefits await those jurisdictions who implement Complete Streets policies and standards.