Des Moines Sun

DES MOINES, IOWA — Monday, June 26, 2023 — After extensive analysis and stakeholder meetings, the City Council has officially approved Des Moines’ Vision Zero Transportation Safety Action Plan. During Monday's meeting, the Council passed the plan with a 6-0 vote. The City Council also gave the green light to proceed with the Safe Streets For All (SS4A) Implementation Grant process.

Utilizing data-driven insights, the Vision Zero plan takes a proactive approach to road safety with the goal of eliminating crashes resulting in traffic deaths and severe injuries. Over the past 12 months, the City of Des Moines and consultant Toole Design processed internal crash data from 2017-2021 and overlaid that with Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) data to create High Injury Network (HIN) maps for all crash corridors. The HIN maps were utilized to identify the most fatal and severe injury crash corridors and where improvements would have the highest impact.

“We are dedicated to designing safe infrastructure for all modes of transportation,” City Traffic Engineer John Davis said. “By adopting Vision Zero and moving forward with the Safe Streets For All Grant, our goal is to accelerate the process of achieving our goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries.”

With the approval of Vision Zero, the City is wasting no time in pursuing additional funding opportunities for infrastructure enhancements. There are five priority areas City staff have identified for immediate improvements:

• Eucild Avenue Corridor – estimated cost of $3.4 million
• Forest Avenue Corridor – estimated cost of $3.6 million
• Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway/19th Street Corridor – estimated cost of $4 million
• Douglas Avenue Corridor – estimated cost of $10 million
• SE 14th Street Corridor – estimated cost of $6 million

The application for the SS4A Grant will be submitted in July, with the awards expected in Winter 2023. Achieving the goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries is a challenging and ongoing process, and it’s not one objective toll or measure versus another, but rather the use of complementary objectives working together to reach zero. City leaders remain steadfast in their commitment and believe that with the right guidance and dedication, the ultimate goal of zero traffic fatalities and severe injuries will be achieved.

Original source can be found here.