Richard Korman
Photo courtesy of Richard Korman
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin basically decided “we have a problem” when it came to road and traffic safety. Fatal and serious car crash rates that had been declining since 1994 stagnated around 2010 and had been increasing since about 2014. County data showed crashes were concentrated in the city of Milwaukee. That’s what made the federal government’s recently announced award of $25 million under the federal Safe Streets and Highways for All program welcome news. What could be more important? not much
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D), who sought the funding, said in a statement that the thoroughfare where the work will be done, Center Street, is a vital link to the city, but is “one of the most dangerous corridors “of town
The two-mile segment involved is characterized by wide travel lanes, unprotected bike lanes and underutilized parking lanes where many drivers recklessly pass on the right. The rate of accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists is highest in this section, which is also located within disadvantaged census tracts.
The US Department of Transportation has so far awarded $2.7 billion of the $5 billion available for these grants. The funds, ENR’s Tom Ichniowski reports, come from the Jobs and Infrastructure Investment Act of 2021. The Safe Streets and Highways for All program got a big boost with funding from the act, which provides the 80 % of the total cost of an individual project.
Communicating the importance of the IIJA legislation has been one of the most difficult aspects of the soon-to-be-ending Biden administration. There can be no better way than to look at the safe streets program. These are not the large infrastructure projects that are usually the focus of ENR’s functions. Grants typically exceed $25 million, with many much smaller. It’s singles and doubles, rather than home runs, that we mean when we talk about infrastructure’s potential to save lives and prevent injuries.
The DOT recently awarded $13.1 million to Memphis, Tenn., to rebuild the city’s most dangerous intersection. The six-way intersection to be rebuilt leads to every other intersection in the city with accident frequency. Another grant will go to Harrisburg, Pa., which won nearly $1 million in funding to address rising fatalities by reprogramming 25 signalized intersections in its core downtown area.
Kansas City, Missouri, will get $10 million to implement safety countermeasures on Prospect Avenue, an important north-south connector for black communities there and one of the most dangerous, with lots of reckless driving and speeding. Kalamazoo, Mich., will also collect $25 million to improve safety and eliminate hazards on 130 miles of mostly rural roads, with the goal of reducing deaths and serious injuries, 74 and 30 respectively in the past five years, many of which involve lane departures.
Infrastructure is meant to promote life, health and quality of life, and sometimes it’s the small projects that really matter the most.
