Nantucket commission to release draft Traffic Safety Action Plan for 21-day public review

The Nantucket County Commission voted to release a draft Traffic Safety Action Plan for a 21-day public comment period beginning Aug. 1 and ending Aug. 21, the commission decided after a presentation by consultants from Nelson Nygaard and Kittelson Associates.

The plan, prepared with support from Nelson Nygaard and Kittelson Associates, uses a “safe systems” approach and aims to reduce fatal and serious-injury crashes on the island. Drew Van Hengel of Nelson Nygaard told the commission the plan sets a goal to cut fatal and serious-injury crashes from an average of about 3.8 per year to roughly 2 per year by 2030 and to an average of about 1 per year by 2040, with an ultimate long-term goal of zero such crashes.

Consultants described the plan as both data-driven and community-informed. It relies on a crash analysis (2018–2022), public engagement that yielded about 1,200 survey responses and more than 2,200 map “dots,” and a network screening that prioritized corridors and locations for interventions. Zach Gable of Nelson Nygaard summarized crash patterns, saying single-vehicle crashes — often run-off-road events involving trees, fixed objects or deer — accounted for most fatal and serious crashes, and that severe crashes were…