Title
Approving a resolution of the City of Pflugerville, Texas adopting a goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2035, pursuing the completion of a Safe Streets and Roads for All action plan, and supporting and approving the submittal of an application to the United States Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads for all Funding (SS4A) grant program.
Summary
The purpose of the US Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program is to improve roadway safety by significantly reducing or eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries through safety action plan development and refinement and implementation focused on all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, public transportation users, motorists, personal conveyance and micromobility users, and commercial vehicle operators (e.g., freight trucks).
The SS4A program funds two types of grants: planning and demonstration grants and implementation grants. To qualify for the SS4A implementation grants, a city must have in place a goal of eliminating traffic-related deaths and serious injuries and a comprehensive safety action plan. The City of Pflugerville does not have a safety action plan; therefore, the application being submitted is for a planning grant to support the development of a safety action plan for the City of Pflugerville. The SS4A has over $1.2 billion available for FY24 grants, with $461 million expected to be set aside for planning and demonstration only grants. For those grants, the SS4A program generally expects a minimum of $100,000 and maximum of $10,000,000, with a required 20% match by the city.
This is an important grant opportunity for the City of Pflugerville for several reasons.
Addressing transportation safety is a critical need for the city. Below is a list of the fatalities and serious injuries in the last five years within the city limits (according to the TxDOT Crash Records Information System)
In 2023, 3 fatal and 22 serious injury crashes
In 2022, 3 fatal and 19 serious injury crashes
In 2021, 3 fatal and 12 serious injury crashes
In 2020, 2 fatal and 7 serious injury crashes (one crash resulted in two fatalities)
In 2019, 5 fatal and 11 serious injury crashes
In total in the last five years, 16 fatal crashes (resulting in 17 fatalities) and 71 serious injury crashes have occurred within the city. The goal of the SS4A program is to reduce those totals to zero. The proposed resolution sets a goal for the City of Pflugerville to have zero fatal and serious injury crashes by the year 2035.
The completion of a safety action plan will open up additional grant funding opportunities to support implementation of safety strategies and roadway projects.
There are 8 components required by the SS4A program for a safety action plan:
1) Leadership commitment and goal setting- a resolution, policy, or ordinance by a high-ranking official and/or governing body (e.g., City Council) with a timeline to an eventual goal of zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries.
2) Planning structure- establishment of a committee, task force, or similar body charged with oversight of the Action Plan development, implementation, and monitoring
3) Safety analysis- an analysis of existing and past conditions to identify higher-risk roadway segments and intersections
4) Engagement and collaboration- engage the public, private sector, community groups, and agencies for overlapping jurisdictions to obtain feedback.
5) Equity- use inclusive and representative processes, identify the underserved communities and their needs, and include initial equity impact assessments.
6) Policy and process changes- identify policies, plans, guidelines, and standards to improve to prioritize transportation safety.
7) Strategy and project selections- develop prioritization criteria and a prioritized list of specific strategies and projects that use a Safe System Approach and include interventions focused on infrastructure, behavioral, and/or operational safety to achieve the goal of zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries.
8) Progress and transparency- develop a method to measure progress over time and transparent reporting of progress at a minimum on an annual basis.
To assert the city's commitment to zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries and to meet the minimum SS4A requirement that there be a resolution, policy, or ordinance, this resolution states the city's goal of eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries by 2035.
This item is supported by the Safety and Infrastructure pillars of the Strategic Plan.
Prior City Council Action
City Council approved by resolution a Strategic Plan 2021-2025 on September 28, 2021 that set a goal of having the City of Pflugerville become the safest city in Texas.
Deadline for City Council Action
May 14, 2024
Funding Expected: Revenue __ Expenditure __ N/A _X_
Budgeted Item: Yes __ No _X_N/A __
Amount: ___N/A_____
1295 Form Required? Yes __ No _X_
Legal Review Required: N/A _X_ Required __ Date Completed: __________
Supporting documents attached:
Proposed resolution
Safe Streets and Roads for All action plan components
Recommended Action
Approve a resolution of the City of Pflugerville, Texas adopting a goal of zero traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2035, pursuing the completion of a Safe Streets and Roads for All action plan, and supporting and approving the submittal of an application to the United States Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads for all Funding (SS4A) grant program.