PRESENTER: Presenter
Garry Ford, Transportation and Capital Improvements Director
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SUBJECT: Title
Approval of a resolution adopting the New Braunfels Street Safety Action Plan.
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DEPARTMENT: Transportation and Capital Improvements
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COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The New Braunfels Street Safety Action Plan (SSAP) outlines a vision for a safer New Braunfels where no fatalities and serious injuries result from traffic crashes. The SSAP is based on Vision Zero principles, a global safety initiative positing that traffic-related deaths and injuries are not inevitable; they can be entirely prevented through planning, design, enforcement, and education. The SSAP analyzes the factors that have historically contributed to serious crashes in New Braunfels and recommends designs, programs, and policies that the City can implement to prevent future severe crashes and achieve the goal of zero serious or fatal crashes on City-owned roadways by 2040. The plan guides City staff, elected officials, and New Braunfels residents on how they can take action to make every street safer. It analyzes why crashes happened in the past, confirms these issues with the community, defines key priorities for street safety, and provides tools to address the issues programmatically.
The SSAP discusses and prioritizes the key changes that will make the plan most effective, organizing all programs, policies, and projects on a 16-year timeline to zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries. The City should pursue measures to reduce speeds, protect and expand multimodal spaces, inform and educate the public on the benefits of such infrastructure, and work towards more streamlined implementation of safety measures. The plan also details funding options for proposed projects.
ISSUE:
Between 2018 and 2022, 6,588 crashes occurred within the New Braunfels and its ETJ. Thirty-eight of these crashes were fatal, and 216 of these crashes caused serious injuries.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The adoption of the Street Safety Action Plan provides the opportunity to submit for the U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Program.
Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION:
Transportation and Traffic Advisory Board
The Transportation and Traffic Advisory Board unanimously recommended approval of the New Braunfels Street Safety Action Plan at their March 14, 2024, meeting.
Staff
Staff recommends approval of a resolution adopting the New Braunfels Street Safety Action Plan.