MARC receives $400,000 federal grant for transportation safety plan

MARC received a $400,000 federal grant to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to improve transportation safety in the Kansas City region. The grant, from the Safe Streets and Roads for All program, will fund the Destination Safe Comprehensive Safety Action Plan (CSAP), which aims to reduce fatalities and serious injuries on the roads.

The CSAP will involve a public engagement effort, an equity analysis, a data-driven approach to identify and prioritize safety issues, and countermeasures and coordination with MARC’s Complete Street Assessment. The plan will cover 13 counties in Missouri and Kansas where the Destination Safe Coalition, a partnership of federal, state, regional and local agencies, works to enhance transportation system safety.

The Comprehensive Safety Action Plan will include:

• Identifying high-injury intersections and corridors and proposing short-, mid-, and long-term solutions.
• Developing a list of low-cost, high-impact strategies to address transportation safety issues.
• Creating a project prioritization scoring matrix to help the Destination Safe region select the most effective transportation safety projects.
• Aligning and analyzing MARC’s Complete Street Assessment with transportation safety issues and developing a project prioritization strategy. 
  

Supplemental planning activities include: 

• Implementing an enhanced and user-friendly crash data dashboard to encourage all Destination Safe jurisdictions to use a data-driven approach to proactively identify and address transportation safety issues.
• Conducting a vulnerable road user assessment to identify high conflict areas between vehicles and pedestrians, cyclists, and other VRUs, and focusing project funding on those areas.

The CSAP will also incorporate equity considerations by analyzing the population characteristics and identifying underserved communities, especially those who walk, bike, and roll in the region. The CSAP is a commitment by MARC and its Destination Safe Coalition to make the region a leader in transportation safety and build a stronger transportation safety culture.

The Safe Streets and Roads for All program is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and awarded 387 grants totaling $817 million to local communities for the fiscal year 2023.