Title
Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan and Community Advisory Committee
Description
Request City Council approval of the Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan and formation of the Vision Zero Community Advisory Committee. Further request City Council approval of the allocation of $10 million annually for the implementation of the Plan.
Report
Summary
The Street Transportation Department (Streets) is requesting Council approval of the Road Safety Action Plan - Moving to Vision Zero (Attachment A). The Road Safety Action Plan (RSAP) is a comprehensive road safety plan applying a data-driven, decision-making process to identify and prioritize transportation safety improvements with a “Five E's” approach (Evaluation, Education, Engineering, Enforcement, and Equity). Phoenix's efforts on the RSAP align with the framework of a Vision Zero Action Plan, with its emphasis on meaningful community engagement, equity, and data-driven, systems-based strategies to improve road safety for all Phoenicians. The RSAP vision is clear: to ultimately reduce the number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries to zero by 2050.
Streets is also requesting Council approval to form the Vision Zero Community Advisory Committee, which will provide feedback and recommendations regarding implementation of the RSAP. Additionally, Streets is requesting Council approval to allocate $10 million per year in funding for implementation of the RSAP, with $3 million allocated from the City’s general fund, $2 million from Transportation 2050 (T2050) funds, and $5 million from the Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF).
Background
Traffic fatalities within the City of Phoenix have been increasing over many years. The unofficial data indicates that 231 people died on Phoenix streets in 2021, which is an increase of 25 percent from 2020. In reviewing the fatal crash information over the last two decades, 2021 is the year with the highest number of fatalities on Phoenix roads. According to unofficial information from the Vehicular Crimes Unit within the Phoenix Police Department, as of July 31, 2022, there have been 137 fatalities this year. If this trend continues for the remainder of the year, the number of fatalities in 2022 will surpass those in 2021.
On March 2, 2021, City Council approved the development of a RSAP to reduce injuries and fatalities on Phoenix roadways, and on Feb. 16, 2022, City Council approved a resolution for Phoenix to adopt the Vision Zero strategy and incorporate Vision Zero goals into the RSAP.
RSAP Development
The RSAP is the culmination of a comprehensive planning effort that includes a detailed five-year crash analysis, results from a two-phase public engagement process, and 42 actionable strategies that are prioritized for implementation. The planning effort included a two-tiered internal City of Phoenix working group endeavor that established guidance and partnerships at the beginning of the planning effort, and then worked to develop the RSAP objectives and strategies together. This working group included both technical staff and executive leadership to ensure that the strategies, implementation plan, and performance measurements are both realistic and highly beneficial to reduce the amount of people killed or seriously injured on Phoenix streets. Supporting this cross-departmental effort, the consultant project team built a user-friendly crash analysis tool for City staff to access and analyze crashes in development of capital projects and implementation of RSAP strategies.
The RSAP established six pillars to provide guidance in the planning process and development of the plan: use data to drive decisions, establish a culture of safety, establish performance measures for evaluation, engage the public through an inclusive engagement process, develop and implement strategies and counter measures, and embrace the five E’s of traffic safety. The RSAP identifies an implementation plan for foundational process improvements and establishes continuous road safety evaluation, education, and enforcement countermeasures. The RSAP also identifies a series of 31 performance measures linked to the implementation of strategies to meet the goal of zero traffic deaths by 2050. Benchmarks include a 25 percent reduction in traffic deaths by 2027 and a 65 percent reduction by 2035. To ensure accountability of meeting the RSAP goals, an annual Vision Zero status report including updated crash statistics and status of performance measure targets is recommended.
Community Engagement
The RSAP implemented a comprehensive two-phase public involvement process that included an interactive online tool that allowed users to take a survey, prioritize goals, and provide comments specific to locations throughout the City (phase I) and an online survey that presented the RSAP strategies for input (phase II). The project team also hosted 21 community touch points throughout the City at in-person events, online/virtual meetings, Vision Zero pledge tables at 10 Phoenix libraries, backpack giveaways, and neighborhood meetings. This effort resulted in over 5,000 comments related to residents’ opinions and perspectives about roadway safety.
Vision Zero Task Force
The Vision Zero Network (VZN) is a collaborative, nonprofit campaign helping communities set and reach the goal of eliminating serious injuries and fatalities on roadways. The VZN emphasizes the importance of creating a task force and describes it as being one of the first crucial steps in building and implementing a city's Vision Zero action plan. Although the structures of Vision Zero task forces vary across the United States, each has the core function of helping create or advise on the implementation of the action plan and provide progress updates. After assessing the structure of other VZN cities' task forces and common practices, Streets recommends a three-tiered Vision Zero task force framework for the City of Phoenix. This recommendation aligns well with how other Vision Zero cities are operating yet remains unique to Phoenix and will help create a strong foundation for the action plan to grow. The three tiers are identified and described below.
RSAP Implementation Team
The RSAP Implementation Team would meet monthly and work with the Executive Task Force to provide quarterly Vision Zero updates to the Community Advisory Committee related to the status of the City's Vision Zero goal and incorporate recommendations from the Executive Task Force and Community Advisory Committee into the RSAP.
Executive Task Force
The Executive Task Force would guide the RSAP Implementation Team through the implementation of the RSAP, including any updates to the RSAP. The Executive Task Force would meet once each quarter and would be comprised of a Deputy City Manager and multiple sponsors from relevant City departments. The final role of the Executive Task Force is to ensure department liaisons remain engaged and are assisting with RSAP Implementation Team objectives.
Vision Zero Community Advisory Committee
The Vision Zero Community Advisory Committee would hear quarterly updates from the RSAP Implementation Team, provide feedback and recommendations regarding the RSAP to both the RSAP Implementation Team and Executive Task Force, request future agenda items, and coordinate with related City Council offices. The Vision Zero Community Advisory Committee would meet each quarter and will include 11 members of the public. Each of the eight City Council members will appoint one community member representative, and the Mayor will appoint the other three members from key stakeholder groups as well as the initial committee chair. The formation of this committee requires Council approval.
Financial Impact
$10 million per year is proposed for implementation of the RSAP, with $3 million allocated from the City’s General Fund (including an additional $1.2 million from the General Fund), $2 million from T2050 funds, and $5 million from HURF. The City Council approved a total of $1.8 million in General Fund per year for the Roadway Safety Action Plan through the 2022-23 budget adoption process; this item would result in mid-year General Fund addition of $1.2 million, bringing the annual General Fund total to $3 million.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
The Citizens Transportation Commission:
- Recommended City Council approval of the development of the RSAP on Jan. 28, 2021, by a vote of 15-0;
- Received an update on the RSAP on Oct. 28, 2021; and
- Received an update on the RSAP and recommended Council approval to allocate up to $2 million per year of T2050 funds for the implementation of the RSAP on Aug. 25, 2022, by a vote of 9-1.
The Transportation, Infrastructure and Planning Subcommittee:
- Recommended City Council approval for the development of the RSAP on Feb. 3, 2021, by a vote of 4-0; and
- Received updates on the RSAP on Oct. 20, 2021, and June 15, 2022.
The City Council:
- Approved development of the RSAP, completion of near-term projects, and additional staffing resources on March 2, 2021;
- Received an update on the development of the RSAP and approved moving forward with the Vision Zero strategy and incorporation of Vision Zero goals into the RSAP on Jan. 25, 2022, by a vote of 7-2; and
- Approved the Vision Zero Strategy Resolution (Resolution 21995) to incorporate Vision Zero goals into the RSAP on Feb. 16, 2022, by a vote of 7-2.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Street Transportation Department.