Title
Vision Zero - Road Safety Action Plan Update
Description
This report provides the Transportation, Infrastructure and Planning Subcommittee an update on the Street Transportation Department's efforts related to the development of a Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Report
Summary
This update addresses the status of the Vision Zero-Road Safety Action Plan (RSAP) and near-term safety improvements at three intersections specifically identified for funding at the March 2, 2021, City Council meeting as well as an update on staff's efforts to be recognized as a Vision Zero community by the Vision Zero Network.
Background
Traffic fatalities within the City of Phoenix have been increasing over many years. The unofficial data indicates that 231 people died on City of Phoenix streets in 2021. This 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. To provide an update on the current year, as of May 31, 2022, there have been 112 fatalities this year, according to unofficial information from the Vehicular Crimes Unit within the Phoenix Police Department. These numbers are very concerning and sobering, because if this trend continues for the remainder of the year, the number of fatalities in 2022 will surpass the number of lives lost in 2021.
On March 2, 2021, City Council approved the development of a RSAP, 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. The primary purpose of the RSAP is to reduce injuries and fatalities on Phoenix roadways. The RSAP will provide a roadmap of priorities for implementing enhanced roadway safety programs modeled on the Four E's: Evaluation, Engineering, Education, and Enforcement. With the incorporation of the goals of Vision Zero, Equity has been added to the RSAP as the fifth 'E' to improve the traditional approach to transportation safety. Three broad strategies for integrating equity include: invest where the needs are greatest, re-think the role of enforcement, and engage the community. All five E's of transportation safety play a valuable role in supporting safety but are most effective when implemented in a coordinated fashion. Key to the RSAP effort is the coordination and engagement with community and business stakeholders, other City departments, and elected officials.
Community Engagement - Phase I
Public engagement is crucial to developing and implementing a successful RSAP, so the Street Transportation Department (Streets) developed a Public Involvement Plan to establish a website for public information and comments, and interactive participation in Citywide meetings and Council District-specific meetings for each phase of the two-phased development of the RSAP.
The first phase of community engagement was conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. The purpose of this phase was to learn what the public feels is most important regarding traffic safety and what they’d like to see the RSAP accomplish. It is to be recognized that during this time period, the COVID-19 pandemic continued which limited the opportunity to have in-person meetings and activities. Understanding this, the core of the public involvement activity utilized an online engagement tool - MetroQuest.
The first virtual public meeting was hosted by the City of Phoenix on Nov. 16, 2021, which included a live Spanish-speaking interpreter for Spanish-speaking attendees, engaged participants with polling, included breaks for questions and discussions, and included a presentation about the project. To ensure that different parts of the City had an opportunity to learn about the RSAP, how to engage and use MetroQuest, and have time to discuss the project with Phoenix staff, a series of community touch points were completed after the initial public meeting.
The MetroQuest survey was open online and accessible from the RSAP webpage from Nov. 16, 2021, through Feb. 28, 2022, and:
Educated and informed survey users about the RSAP and crash data;
Asked participants about their safety concerns;
Had participants prioritize the focus of safety work efforts;
Provided a mapping exercise to mark specific locations and provide comments about observed safety issues; and
Collected e-mail addresses and zip code information from the participants.
The website had over 4,000 visitors, and more than 2,500 people completed the engagement exercise, a response rate of 63 percent. The following is what was learned and how the feedback connects to the RSAP:
The number one priority that Phoenicians want the RSAP to focus on is preventing fatal crashes. This aligns well with the adoption of Vision Zero and supports the prioritization of strategies for reducing and eliminating Killed and Serious Injury (KSI) crashes;
Over 60 percent of survey respondents think Phoenix streets are unsafe. This aligns with the overarching goal of the RSAP and reinforces crash data findings from the public perspective;
The majority of comments (~1,500) and concerns (from survey responses) focus on driver behavior and enforcement. This aligns with adding strategies around enforcement and education concerning driver behavior; supports additional engineering solutions that address speeding, red-light running, not yielding, turn restrictions, and other countermeasures; and encourages prioritizing strategies around driver behavior;
The second highest number of comments (~1,000) revolved around missing and/or inadequate infrastructure, bike facilities, street and roadway design, pedestrian crossings, pedestrian facilities, and intersections. This feedback supports focused engineering solutions that can be deployed as individual projects and/or integrated into existing project development processes through the Street Transportation and Planning and Development departments;
Intersections and traffic operations ranked high in a number of different areas of input. This reinforces emphasizing identification of intersection-related safety improvements and connecting objectives and strategies that address intersections and traffic operations; and
Through the map marker exercise, survey participants also indicated that vehicle congestion was a concern.
The Phase I Public Engagement summary is posted to phoenix.gov/roadsafety.
Draft Road Safety Action Plan
Streets with input from the public as well as the Police, Fire, Planning and Development, Public Transit, and Neighborhood Services departments moved forward in drafting a series of actionable strategies for the RSAP that:
Are data driven;
Respond to community engagement;
Crosscut City departments;
Connect to the five E’s: evaluation, engineering, education, enforcement, and equity;
Support safety improvements targeted along the High Injury Network (HIN); and
Address integrating Vision Zero into the way the City approaches Phoenix's transportation system.
Leading with a data-driven evaluation of crash information coupled with public input and city staff knowledge, a series of strategies were drafted that respond to the RSAP vision. For this plan, the group of strategies are considered the roadmap for implementation and alignment with internal City work processes, environment, and efforts to achieve the goal of Vision Zero. It is noted that many safety strategies and work efforts are underway at the City, and this plan acknowledges those, and in some cases, recommends expansion and/or a shift in focus.
From the crash data evaluation, five focus areas were developed:
City processes;
Vulnerable users (pedestrians and bicyclists);
Intersections;
Corridors and nighttime; and
Driver behavior, younger drivers and motorcyclists.
For the five focus areas, staff developed 16 objectives, which serve to link the focus areas with actionable strategies to make our streets safer. Streets staff outlined 40 actionable strategies and each strategy includes the lead implementing and supporting City departments, and the type of traffic safety ‘E’ that the strategy aligns with.
The RSAP report is proposed to include a section entitled “Taking Action” and a draft of this section of the report is included as Attachment A. The focus areas, objectives, and strategies found in Attachment A will be reviewed, discussed, and shared with City staff and leadership, outside agency collaborators, and the public for input and refinement.
The RSAP report is also planned to include a section entitled “Engaging Phoenicians.” A draft of this section of the report is included as Attachment B, which contains a summary of the community engagement efforts through the first phase of community engagement. This section will be expanded to include additional community engagement activities.
Following the next phase of community engagement, the final RSAP report will be developed, and the strategies will be expanded to include information about the implementation timeline, needed funding and staff resources, application type (HIN, systematic, location specific or programmatic), and the projected impact of the strategy if implemented. The final plan, to be completed in October 2022, will incorporate the feedback about this draft and its strategies, and include an implementation plan that outlines performance measures, time frames, focus areas for applications, funding needs, and staff support options.
Community Engagement - Phase II
Recognizing the importance of creating a plan that the community participates in, the second phase of community engagement is planned to start at the end of June and continue through August 2022. This will include a survey to review and provide input on the objectives and proposed strategies; an online public meeting; community touch points throughout the City focusing on meeting people where they are, such as recreation centers, libraries, and community events; possible focus groups; and a pledge that will allow Phoenix residents a choice to join the City in meeting the Vision Zero goal.
Near-Term Safety Projects
In March 2021, City Council approved the completion of near-term safety projects, which includes expedited traffic safety improvements at three intersections (16th Street and Camelback Road, 19th and Southern avenues, and 75th Avenue and Indian School Road) in a two-phase effort. The following are updates to these projects:
Phase I: Traffic signal modernizations are currently under construction at all three intersections and are expected to be completed by the end of this summer; and
Phase II: The 16th Street and Camelback Road intersection is currently being scoped for additional improvements. The intersection at 19th and Southern avenues is currently on hold due to major development on the northwest corner. The 75th Avenue and Indian School Road intersection is currently undergoing a streetlighting assessment for potential lighting and visibility improvements.
As communicated to Council, if the previously allocated funding for near-term safety projects was sufficient, Streets staff would identify additional intersections to receive safety improvements. Streets has identified four additional intersections to receive traffic signal improvement projects. All four intersections rank in the top 20 on the Maricopa Association of Governments Top 100 Intersections by Crash Risk (2016-2020 Crash Data). Design work on the following four intersections will begin in the next month, with construction scheduled to be complete by June 2023.
67th Avenue and McDowell Road (Rank #3);
67th Avenue and Indian School Road (Rank #4);
75th Avenue and McDowell Road (Rank #6); and
75th Avenue and Thomas Road (Rank #18).
Vision Zero Network
As part of the City's resolution to adopt the Vision Zero strategy and develop a RSAP incorporating Vision Zero goals, Phoenix is seeking to be recognized as a Vision Zero community by the Vision Zero Network. The Vision Zero Network is a U.S.-based non-profit organization that advocates for cities to adopt the core philosophy of Vision Zero: that traffic-related deaths and serious injuries are preventable. The Vision Zero Network will recognize as Vision Zero communities those who are taking demonstrable and significant actions to advance the principles of Vision Zero to ensure safe mobility for all people. At a minimum, this includes meeting the following criteria:
The Council publicly, officially committing to Vision Zero within the set time frame and directing the appropriate city staff to prioritize the work;
A Vision Zero action plan or strategy is in place, or the Council and key departments have committed to creating one in a specified time frame, which includes a focus on being data-driven, equitable, and including community input;
Setting a clear goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries among all road users within an explicit time frame;
Key city departments are actively engaged as leaders and partners in the process of developing the Vision Zero plan, implementing it, and evaluating and sharing progress; and
A Vision Zero task force is implemented and meets regularly to lead and evaluate efforts.
The City has already met some of the criteria by adopting the Vision Zero resolution and working on the development of an RSAP incorporating Vision Zero goals. The City is also working to develop and implement a Vision Zero task force and recommend, as part of the adoption of the final RSAP, a set time frame for eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries on Phoenix roadways. Staff will continue to focus on Vision Zero efforts and plans to submit the application requesting recognition as a Vision Zero community in conjunction with the finalization of the RSAP in October 2022.
Financial Impact
The City Council approved the allocation of $3 million in the Street Transportation Department's Transportation 2050 (T2050) revenues and $3 million in general fund resources over five years to support near-term road safety projects. Additionally, in the proposed Fiscal Year 2022-23 City budget, an additional $1.2 million in annual funding is included to support the implementation of the RSAP.
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; and
Was provided with an update on the RSAP on Oct. 28, 2021.
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
Was provided with an update on the RSAP on Oct. 20, 2021.
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.