Community Highlights

Gainesville is designated a Bronze-level community due to its outstanding enforcement practices, complete streets implementation, and land development ordinances that support walking. Walking in the City of Gainesville is also supported by good transit and parking policies. Highlights of Gainesville’s application include:

• In response to road safety concerns, the City established a Vision Zero program and dedicated funding and staff resources toward eliminating roadway fatalities.
• The City reconstructed South Main Street to better accommodate nonmotorized travel, reducing the overall cross-section from five to two lanes and adding medians, crossings and bicycle facilities.
• The City is working to expand its trails network, with more than five miles of trails in construction or under design.
• Gainesville is implementing a non-motorized count program and is using the data to identify locations with high pedestrian volumes and crash incidents, and support decision making regarding walkability improvements.
• The City of Gainesville is commended for using interagency collaboration to improve pedestrian safety.
• There is strong local support for a complete streets approach to roadway projects in Gainesville so most new roadway projects are focused on providing additional connectivity for all users. Sidewalks, multi-use trails, bicycle lanes, and other non-motorized traffic facilities are routinely included in roadway projects.
• The City takes steps to monitor pedestrian and bicyclist activity and maintain count data for use in project planning and evaluation. They use mobile and permanent counters along bike lanes, sidewalks, and trail locations.