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Language Guide

Person riding on an off-street protected bike lane

The DPW language guide establishes specific guidance for word choice, formatting, and nomenclature to be used in all public-facing materials.

For questions about language not listed in this guide, ask a MarCom officer (Sarah McClanahan at [email protected] or Tiffany Shepherd at [email protected]). 

DPW conforms to AP Style unless otherwise noted in this guide. 

Language Guide

The Language Guide can be found on Pages 17-27 of this document.

 

Guide Table of Contents

The following topics are covered in the language guide: 

  • People-Centric Language
  • Date/Time Listings
  • Numbers
  • Oxford Comma
  • Hyphenated & Non-Hyphenated Terminology 
  • Project Locations 
  • Project Types 
  • Project Phases 
  • Programs 
  • Traffic Calming Measures
  • Types of Bikeways
  • Street Lighting 
  • Miscellaneous 
    • Capitalization of “City”
    • Vision Zero 
    • Complete Streets
    • Reduce Speeding vs. Slow Speeds
    • Public Information vs. Public Involvement
    • Crash vs. Accident 
    • Alternate Route vs. Detour Route

Select Guide Content

Below is a small selection of content from the language guide

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People-Centric Language

Instead of using the terms “pedestrians,” “bicyclists,” “motorists,” use people-centric language and say “people walking,” “people biking,” or “people driving” whenever possible

Oxford Comma
  • DPW adheres AP Style in its public-facing materials
  • However, for clarity in lists, DPW uses the Oxford comma 
    • Ex: The new street design will include traffic calming measures of curb extensions, raised crosswalks, and pedestrian refuge islands.  
Project Locations
  • When writing street names, abbreviate the directional with a capitalized initial and a period after it
    • Ex: N. Oakland Avenue NOT North Oakland Avenue
  • When writing street names, spell out the suffix in page titles or in copy. 
    • NOTE: Suffixes may be abbreviated (ex: “Street” to “St” or “Avenue” to “Ave”) in uses of smaller space, i.e. DPW Project Map listings, listings on maps. 
  • When writing the project street and its project limits, list the name of street being worked on first with the suffix spelled out, and then a dash and the starting (from) street name and ending (to) street name with directional and suffix abbreviated 
    • Ex: N. Sherman Boulevard - W. North Ave. to W. Capitol Dr.
    • “From” and “To” project limits should be listed as south to north, or west or east 
Crash vs. Accident
  • DPW uses the word “crash” to describe a traffic-related incident on a street rather than “accident.” 
  • Accident implies there was no one at fault and the incident could not have been prevented. 
  • Crash implies that users of the street could have made different decisions to result in a different outcome. 
Reduce Speeding vs. Slow Speeds
  • DPW uses the phrase “reduce speeding” to describe a project goal rather than “slow speeds” 
  • DPW seeks to execute projects that create conditions where people drive the speed limit (i.e. people do not speed); DPW does not seek to create conditions of gridlock or traffic back-ups (i.e. traffic slowdowns)