Barbara McCann

Barbara McCann

Barbara McCann is the director of the Office of Safety, Energy and Environment at the US Department of Transportation. She was the founding Executive Director of the National Complete Streets Coalition, working with groups from AARP to the YMCA to develop and advance the adoption of policies to make streets safe for all users. More than 500 jurisdictions, including more than half the states, have now adopted Complete Streets policies. McCann co-created the Complete Streets Workshop program and speaks widely. In 2011 the NY/NJ Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers recognized her with the 2011 Transportation Advancement Award, given annually to a non-engineer "for contributions in advancing transportation programs through outstanding leadership."
Barbara founded McCann Consulting in 2003 to work with government agencies, non-profits, and researchers, authoring numerous reports and articles on transportation, health, and land use. McCann is also a co-author of Sprawl Costs. Prior to establishing her own firm, McCann served as Director of Information and Research at Smart Growth America (SGA) where she authored the report Measuring the Health Effects of Sprawl, the first research report documenting the relationship between sprawl and obesity. She worked at CNN as a writer and producer for 13 years during her first career as a journalist.
She lives in Washington, DC with her husband Bob Bloomfield.

#FOREWORDFRIDAY: Complete Streets Edition

This week, NACTO held its fourth annual Designing Cities conferencein Austin, TX. The Designing Cities conference convenes transportation leaders and practicioners from across the country to discuss key trends in urban street design and transportation policy.
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Sustainable Streets are Safe Streets

Sustainability is often approached as a technical challenge, something we “should” do, for the good of the planet and for the good of the next generation. But a push toward a more environmentally responsible future will not happen unless we care deeply. Such an emotional connection comes naturally only when an activity sustains us, right now.
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Complete Streets: Changing Design AND Decisions around the Nation

The stories of success keep rolling in. Portland Maine turned summer maintenance projects into Complete Streets improvement opportunities. Detroit’s Woodward Avenue will be redesigned as a major transit corridor, while Lansing has received the state’s first counterflow bicycle lane, courtesy of MIDOT. And Helena, Montana is requiring sidewalks in new subdivisions.