The Vision Zero Action Plan has been approved for OKC. How will it make roads safer?

Yahoo

03-03-2025

An ambitious plan to reduce fatal crashes and improve roadway safety for pedestrians in Oklahoma City is officially moving forward.
Oklahoma City Councilmembers unanimously approved a local Vision Zero Plan last week aimed at creating a safer transportation system throughout the city.
'It sets that lofty goal of reaching zero fatalities, ultimately, and zero of serious injuries on our roadways,' City Manager Craig Freeman said. 'The recommendations that are in this plan accomplish this through capital projects, through changes in standards and policies, as well as education to help us get there. It's something that gets incorporated in our bond planning and will be incorporated in projects going forward.'
The Vision Zero Action Plan took a full year for the city's planning department to research and draft, with assistance from longtime consultant engineering firm Kimley-Horn.
Brian Shamburger, principal engineer with Kimley-Horn, said that an $800,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation was crucial in getting the project started.
'One of the safety data insights that led for the city applying for the grant is the fact that … the number of crashes and collisions were going down, but the number of fatalities were going up,' Shamburger said. 'That was a little bit alarming and concerning (because) we would normally see that trend would be in the same direction.'
Crash data collected from 2017 to 2021 showed that, out of more than 75,000 total crashes, at least 385 of them had been fatal. Many deaths were on high-speed, poorly-lit roads. Consultants and planners used the crash analysis to develop what they've called a high injury network, where areas and roadways were showing disproportionate rates of serious injuries and fatalities.
Seven study corridors totaling 15 miles, where 87% of deadly crashes had been tallied, were identified for further research on how best to determine solutions.
More: What are the most dangerous roads and intersections in OKC? The worst might surprise you.
Similar Vision Zero plans have been carried out to demonstrable success in European countries and major cities throughout the U.S. The plans take the holistic approach that no fatality or serious injury on public roadways is acceptable and that crashes can be prevented by intentional design of the infrastructure.
That would mean implementing many recommended systemic countermeasures — including the installation of more speed limit signs and roundabouts to reduce speed; building more sidewalks and adding more bike lanes; and constructing more crosswalks, dedicated turn lanes, median barriers, and 'refuge' islands where pedestrians can cross the roads more safely.
Action items center around five pillars: Safer People, Safer Roads, Safer Speeds, Safer Vehicles, and Post-Crash Care.
'We recognize, again, that many of these interventions and these actions, if you look at them just in isolation, they may have small impacts,' Shamburger said. 'But as they're done collectively underneath all of these five pillars, it's the combined impact that will have a significant impact on increasing traffic safety throughout the city.'
The Vision Zero Action Plan also was developed with feedback from community outreach events and surveys. An advisory board involving city councilmembers, traffic and planning commissioners, city staff and community leaders helped guide the planning process.
Related: An ambitious proposal to reduce fatal crashes in OKC is being finalized. How to look at the plan
Now that the plan has been approved, the city is looking to apply for additional implementation grant funding under the US Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads for All program as it becomes available.
Justin Henry, transportation program planner with the city, believes the plan could potentially receive supplemental funding in partnership with the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG), which has developed a regional safety plan of its own for the metro area.
'City staff from Planning, Public Works and Police will immediately start to dive into implementing this plan by reviewing our internal policies, revising our city standards, and proposing infrastructure safety improvements for some of our streets,' Henry said in a news release. 'I am grateful to the Council, staff, and most importantly, our residents for engaging with us on this important topic and providing us with vital feedback for making our streets safer.'
Planners acknowledge, however, that infrastructure can't fix all of the problems, and education and enforcement will be just as important.
'People go, 'Really, we're going to go to zero, really?' A handful of cities have done it,' Shamburger said. 'Now, that's a very small percentage of all of the plans across the country nationwide, but it can be done.'
More: Safe Streets grants are supposed to save lives. Why are they missing so many deadly roads?
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Vision Zero plan approved by OKC council to reduce fatal crashes