The Smithfield Planning Board voted Oct. 16 to recommend that the Town Council adopt the Smithfield Safe Streets and Roads for All safety action plan, a data-driven framework aligned with the USDOT initiative designed to reduce fatal and serious-injury crashes.

Planning staff reviewed the report’s methodology and findings, noting the plan used a combination of sliding-window crash analysis and risk-based analysis to identify corridors and intersections with elevated risk. Staff reported that, between 2019 and 2023, Smithfield recorded 3,725 reported crashes, 48 of which were fatal or serious-injury collisions, and that pedestrian and bicycle collisions — while a small share of total crashes — made up nearly 20 percent of serious or fatal events.

The plan identifies a town high-injury network and proposes 15 potential safety projects ranging from intersection studies and small-scale treatments (reflective signage, crosswalk upgrades, pavement markings) to corridor-scale improvements that would require coordination with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. Staff emphasized adoption would not obligate the town to implement every recommendation but would make Smithfield eligible for federal Safe Streets implementation grants and better align local goals with RIDOT and regional priorities.

Board members who spoke in favor said the plan exposed higher-than-expected crash rates and would bring data and “teeth” to local improvement requests. The board voted to forward a positive recommendation to the Town Council; the motion passed unanimously as the chair announced “the ayes have it.”

Adoption by the council would set a long-term target included in the plan — a 50 percent reduction in fatal and serious-injury crashes by 2035 and a goal of zero fatalities by 2045 — and would create a framework for tracking progress and prioritizing safety projects.