ITE and CNU: Designing better streets in urban areas

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Guidelines from the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) on Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) to improve walkability by addressing street design in urban areas.

What is CSS?

"Context sensitive solutions (CSS) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that involves all stakeholders to develop a transportation facility that fits its physical setting and preserves scenic, aesthetic, historic and environmental resources, while maintaining safety and mobility. CSS is an approach that considers the total context within which a transportation improvement project will exist." -- Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) 

Context Sensitive Solutions in Designing Major Urban Thoroughfares for Walkable Communities

The ITE Proposed Recommended Practice, Context Sensitive Solutions in Designing Major Urban Thoroughfares for Walkable Communities, advances the successful use of context sensitive solutions (CSS) in the planning and design of major urban thoroughfares for walkable communities. It provides guidance and demonstrates for practitioners how CSS concepts and principles may be applied in roadway improvement projects that are consistent with their physical settings. The report's chapters are focused on applying the principles of CSS in transportation planning and in the design of roadway improvement projects in places where community objectives support walkable communities-compact development, mixed land uses and support for pedestrians and bicyclists, whether it already exists or is a goal for the future.

This document was produced in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and in partnership with the Congress for the New Urbanism.