Title
Pedestrian Safety Improvements
Description
This report requests City Council approval of the proposed fiscal year 2019-20 pedestrian safety improvements under the Council-adopted Street Transportation Department Office of Pedestrian Safety $2 million Capital Improvement Program budget.
Report
Summary
Preliminary numbers from the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) show the City of Phoenix experienced 112 pedestrian fatalities on its roads in 2018. These preliminary numbers represent a dramatic increase of 67 percent over the last five years and more than 200 percent over the last 10 years.
However, so far in 2019 Phoenix has seen a decrease in pedestrian fatalities compared to a year ago. For the first six months of 2019, the Phoenix Police Department Vehicular Homicide Unit (VHU) reported 37 fatalities, a 24 percent decrease in pedestrian fatalities from the 49 fatalities in the first six months of 2018.
The Office of Pedestrian Safety has continued to seek funding for pedestrian safety related grant opportunities, providing increased educational outreach to neighborhood groups and residents, collecting data on our existing pedestrian safety infrastructure, increasing collaboration with outside agencies, and prioritizing capital improvement projects with an emphasis on pedestrian safety. The Office of Pedestrian Safety leads and participates in the interdepartmental staff Pedestrian Safety Task Force, created by the City Manager's Office in April 2018. The Pedestrian Safety Task Force includes representatives of the Street Transportation and Police Departments, the Communications Office, and the City Manager's Office. The Office of Pedestrian Safety utilizes the four "E"s of traffic safety to enhance pedestrian safety in Phoenix: Evaluation, Engineering, Enforcement and Education.
Pedestrian Safety Funding
To address the increase in pedestrian fatalities throughout the City of Phoenix, the City Council authorized the Street Transportation Department to allocate $2 million annually in Capital Improvement Project (CIP) funding to the Office of Pedestrian Safety to increase the implementation of pedestrian improvements beginning in fiscal year 2020. The funds are proposed to be expended in the following areas (Attachment A - Pedestrian Safety Improvements):
- Improve pedestrian visibility by adding streetlights on both sides of streets in high pedestrian collision areas where only single-sided lighting exists.
- Address gaps in street lighting by adding streetlights at some existing crosswalks or roadway segments.
- Add four HAWK signals at high pedestrian activity and/or collision locations.
- Install raised medians at arterial hot spot locations with the highest pedestrian activity.
- Fund research through Arizona State University to analyze the variety of factors leading to the increasing pedestrian collisions in Phoenix.
- Leverage a $15,000 grant from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety to create and print Pedestrian Safety Activity Book for children in grades three to six in both Spanish and English.
- Purchase a variety of safety related and age appropriate items to conduct educational outreach to schools.
- Upgrade mid-block, unsignalized arterial and selected collector road crosswalks to high-visibility crosswalk standards.
The Street Transportation Department intends to utilize City staff and existing contracts to complete the proposed work.
Concurrence/Previous Council Action
- This item was recommended for approval at the Transportation, Infrastructure and Innovation Subcommittee meeting on Oct. 2, 2019, by a vote of 3-0.
- The City Council approved $2 million annually for pedestrian safety improvements beginning in fiscal year 2019-20 as part of the City's five-year Capital Improvement Program on June 19, 2019 (S-45820).
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Mario Paniagua and the Street Transportation Department.