Austin to receive $22.9 million federal grant for safer roads

On Feb. 1, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced an $800 million grant award through the new Safe Streets and Roads for All, or SS4A program, allocating $72.7 million to cities and counties throughout Texas. Over the next five years, the grant program will provide $5 billion for “regional, local and tribal initiatives to prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways.”

Austin will receive $22.9 million, allowing the city to further implement and advance its transportation safety projects, a majority of which are led by Vision Zero.

City Council adopted Vision Zero in October 2015, as part of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan. The initiative approaches its goal of zero traffic deaths through a combination of safer street design, targeted law enforcement, evidence-based public policy, and community participation.

Heyden Walker, a board member of Safe Streets Austin, and Jay Crossley, the executive director of Farm & City, spoke with the Austin Monitor about Vision Zero’s importance in the context of Austin’s need for street safety improvement. 

“About 10 people die in traffic each day in Texas, and across the country it’s about 90 to 100,” Walker said. “And for each death there are about five people seriously injured who will have their lives irrevocably changed.”

Lewis Leff, a city transportation safety officer, shared with the Monitor some of the most effective strategies employed by Vision Zero so far.

“We’ve seen major differences made with our investments in intersections where we’ve seen a history of severe crashes,” Leff said. “Going in and introducing new designs, new operations of the traffic signal, being able to implement bikeways throughout those intersections … seeing those specific design changes have resulted in a 30 percent reduction in severe crashes at those locations.”

Leff emphasized that it takes a lot of time and money to make those kinds of structural changes. The SS4A grant will help the city commit “to scaling up the work we’ve been doing here, and making a greater impact over time at more locations throughout our community.”

An important element of Vision Zero is its emphasis on “equity impact.” In a press release about the grant, U.S. Rep. Greg Casar commented that “(t)raffic violence is a public health crisis that affects everyone, especially poor communities. I’m thankful to the USDoT for putting emphasis on resources where they are needed the most.”

Crossley said that the city and the U.S. Dept. of Transportation have done analysis to show where investments are most needed around the city. Vision Zero also has visuals on its website to exhibit the disproportionate impact of traffic-related deaths and injuries in communities of color around Austin. 

Crossley pointed out that Austin’s Vision Zero program belongs to the Vision Zero Network, which is a growing coalition of U.S. cities committed to eliminating all traffic fatalities.

“Austin’s government was one of the first to make a commitment to goals for ending traffic deaths, and our city has been really good at getting things done on the ground and in terms of policy change,” Crossley said. “But the next step is for cities in the surrounding regions to develop their own action plans.”

Crossley is confident that, with this grant money, Vision Zero’s strategies will be implemented and that “by summer 2024 we should be very smart cities in terms of our approach to ending traffic deaths.”

Leff also expressed his excitement about the grant. “What it really does is reflect that our federal government is now aligned with our city’s goal of reducing fatalities to zero,” he said. “It’s a transformative investment into our entire nation to be able to scale up the efforts and achieve that goal.”

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