Background/Discussion
Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) is a competitive grant program through the US Department of Transportation that will provide $5 billion over 5 years to improve traffic safety by supporting local communities in the development of safety action plans, and the implementation of projects which reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries on the local road network. In 2023, MAPA was awarded grant funding to develop a regional Comprehensive Safety Action Plan (CSAP).
Nationwide, traffic deaths are increasing at an alarming rate, particularly in disadvantaged and underrepresented communities. From 2016-2020 the MAPA region has experienced a higher rate of nonmotorist fatalities than either the Nebraska or Iowa state averages, with a disproportionately high impact on disadvantaged communities.
The SS4A project aims to make streets safer within the Greater Omaha-Council Bluffs region. The team is focused on reducing traffic fatalities to zero and improving safety for all road users. After gathering safety data relating to the City of Council Bluffs and other communities, the CSAP was developed with potential safety-related solutions. Another outcome of these discussions was what considerations needed to be included to help governing bodies procure formal resolutions, through a memorandum of understanding (MOU), to focus on achieving zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries and alignment with the CSAP’s goals, recommendations, and tools.
The Safe System Approach, the comprehensive strategy behind this plan, emphasizes the importance of redundancy throughout our transportation system and how responsibility is shared amongst all of us; through this Memorandum of Understanding, all communities can align behind the message that death and serious injuries are unacceptable and that, together, we can utilize the CSAP and coordinate at a regional level to make a positive impact on our communities by creating safer roads for all road users.