We're excited to honor Bill Schultheiss with the Complete Streets Champion Award at Celebrate Complete Streets on January 11 in Washington, DC! For more than 30 years, Bill has helped make streets safer across the country, most recently playing a key role in the fight to save DC's 15th Street protected bike lanes from the Trump administration's efforts to remove them. Get your tickets to Celebrate Complete Streets today >>

The heroes of the Complete Streets movement are the people in communities on the front lines every day, fighting for safer, more accessible, more joyful streets for all users. These heroes wear many titles:  local elected officials, engineers, planners, public health professionals, and advocates. What unites them is the belief that we can and should approach transportation differently, putting the people who use our streets and public spaces first.

Bill's decades of dedication to safer streets, including his willingness to speak up and defend them, set an example for engineers, advocates, and others working to make Complete Streets a reality. That's what makes him the perfect choice for the 2027 Complete Streets Champion Award.

Our 2027 Complete Streets Champion: Bill Schultheiss

Bill is a shining example of what can happen when engineers move beyond the pavement and status quo performance measures to consider the lived experience of everyone who uses our streets. In doing so, he’s pushed other engineers to think differently about the way they approach their work and who they’re designing for.

Bill is Director of Engineering and a principal at Toole Design, where he leads the firm's national engineering practice. Over his career, he's helped redesign more than 300 miles of streets to better serve people walking, biking, taking transit, and driving. He's also helped shape national engineering guidance, including resources from AASHTO and FHWA, and has been a steadfast champion of making Complete Streets the standard rather than the exception.

Standing up for Complete Streets in the nation's capital

In 2026, Washington, DC, became a target of the Trump administration's efforts to label bike lanes as DEI and remove painted crosswalks, despite decades of evidence showing how these and other proven safety strategies make streets safer for all users. To advance its agenda, the administration set its sights on the protected bike lanes along 15th Street, right through the heart of DC, where thousands of residents, commuters, and tourists travel every day. And they did this in spite of the data showing crashes along the corridor had fallen by 46 percent, including a staggering 91 percent reduction in bicycle-injury crashes.

Working with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) and its lawyers, Bill put his engineering expertise to work, using crash data and technical evidence to dismantle the administration's weak arguments for ripping out the bike lanes. The judge even cited his expert declaration in her decision. The effort succeeded, with a blistering court decision overturning the removal and keeping the 15th Street bike lanes in place. It's an example that engineers and advocates across the country can look to when they need to stand up for Complete Streets in their own communities.

As someone who straddles the line between engineer and advocate, Bill represents the many people working from within their professions to make streets safer. His leadership shows how important technical expertise can be, not only in designing Complete Streets but also in defending them. We’re proud to honor his contributions to the Complete Streets movement.

Join us on Monday, January 11, at Celebrate Complete Streets as we honor Bill Schultheiss for his leadership and commitment to safer streets.

Get your tickets to Celebrate Complete Streets!