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Advisory council authorizes 21-day public review of draft Traffic Safety Action Plan
Summary
The council voted unanimously July 28 to release a draft Traffic Safety Action Plan for public comment Aug. 1–21; consultants said the plan uses a Safe Systems approach and identifies five priority corridors and a package of infrastructure and non‑infrastructure actions to reduce fatal and serious injury crashes.
The Nantucket County Advisory Council voted July 28 to release a draft Traffic Safety Action Plan for a 21‑day public comment period beginning Aug. 1 and closing Aug. 21, a step consultants said will position the island to compete for further federal Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) implementation funds.
The plan, prepared by Nelson Nygaard with Kittelson Associates and partners, recommends a Safe Systems approach focused on reducing fatal and serious injury crashes through a mix of roadway changes, targeted enforcement and education, and improved post‑crash care. Drew Van Hengel of Nelson Nygaard told the council the plan “emphasizes that no one should be killed or seriously injured on island roads.”
Why it matters: consultants said adoption and use of the plan will strengthen Nantucket’s eligibility for federal SS4A implementation grants and create a formal, data‑driven road map the town can reference when scoping capital and maintenance projects. The draft sets interim targets — a roughly 50% reduction in annual fatal/serious crashes by 2030 and a further reduction by 2040 — and identifies systemic and corridor‑level priorities to reach those goals.
Key findings and recommendations
- Crash analysis (2018–2022) found the highest crash counts in summer months and a concentration of severe crashes in town and at transition points; single‑vehicle crashes (run‑off road) accounted for a majority of fatal and serious outcomes. Consultants said vulnerable road users were about 5% of overall crashes but about 20% of crashes with injury.
- Public engagement: project staff reported about 1,200 survey responses and roughly 2,200 map “dots” identifying locations of concern or ideas for safety improvements.
- Priority corridors: the draft highlights five corridors for initial focus — Old South Road, Surfside Road, Sparks Avenue, Bartlett Road and Pleasant Street — and provides concept‑level treatments ranging from restriping and high‑visibility crossings to larger intersection projects.
- Systemic measures: the plan lists lower‑cost, island‑wide actions such as routine maintenance of markings and signs, standardized side‑path crossings, and coordinated education/enforcement campaigns aimed at distracted driving and ebike safety.
Data limits and next steps
Zach Gable, a consultant on the project, cautioned that police crash reports currently do not differentiate traditional bicycles from ebikes in the dataset. “We don’t have the ability with the existing crash data to differentiate a traditional bicycle from an ebike right now,” he said; consultants recommended local tracking changes so future analyses can identify ebike involvement and severity.
Council staff and consultants asked the council to authorize release of the draft for a 21‑day public comment period. The council approved the motion by roll call vote; the consultants said the council would consider formal adoption of the plan at its Aug. 25 meeting, contingent on public comments and any resulting edits.
The draft and appendices (engagement memo, crash history and treatment descriptions) will be posted for review during the comment period; staff said they would synthesize input and consider modest extensions to the timeline if substantial new material is submitted.
The presentation and discussion included questions from multiple commissioners about enforcement, vegetation encroachment that limits sightlines, the suitability of roundabouts, and how to prioritize short high‑risk segments versus longer corridors. Consultants said the corridor ranking used a severity‑weighted, length‑normalized index and that staff would provide more granular segment information in the appendices to help with local prioritization.
Ending
Staff said the public comment window will run Aug. 1–21 and the council will consider adoption Aug. 25, contingent on the comment period. Consultants and staff encouraged residents with local safety concerns not reflected in the crash data to submit comments during the review so they can be incorporated into the final plan or into near‑term work orders.
