Beatrice adopts SS4A safety action plan, targets high-crash corridors on U.S. 77, Court and Lincoln streets

The Beatrice City Council on March 3, 2025, unanimously adopted a Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Safety Action Plan after a presentation from consultants with JEO outlining priority projects to address fatal and serious-injury crashes across the city.

Mark Lucha Harms, consultant with JEO, told the council that the plan was developed from a decade of crash data and public outreach, and that Beatrice is the first Nebraska community to complete an SS4A plan: "Beatrice is actually the first community in Nebraska to complete a safety action plan using Safe Streets and Roads for All funding," he said. Lonnie Berkland, also a JEO consultant, called the plan data-driven and described a prioritized set of spot and corridor projects.

The nut of the plan is identifying a high-injury network and assembling both spot fixes and larger corridor projects to address them. JEO said its review of crash records from 2011–2020 found just over 2,200 crashes in Beatrice; 503 of those involved at least one injury or fatality, and 46 were fatal or severe-injury crashes. Of those 46, 41 involved vulnerable road users such as pedestrians or bicyclists. Consultants reported that 64 percent of fatal or severe-injury crashes were located in or adjacent to federally defined disadvantaged census tracts.

Consultants recommended three corridor-level project groupings as the highest priorities: a reconstruction and three-lane cross-section with set-back sidewalks and intersection improvements along U.S. Highway 77 (from Dorsey north to Mulberry south), targeted safety and truck-route changes in the Court Street corridor (roughly First to Tenth Street) linked to downtown redevelopment work, and additional improvements on Lincoln Street that build on previous study work and ongoing projects. JEO said the Route 77 grouping would address nine of the top 20 high-crash locations identified in the plan.

In addition to infrastructure projects, the plan lists policy and program steps the city can take—such as access-management review, sidewalk and trails programs, targeted enforcement and education campaigns, and continued pursuit of federal and state safety grants—to reduce risk and document progress. JEO also recommended tracking crash data annually and tying grant applications to an adopted plan to improve the city’s competitiveness for implementation funds.

On countermeasures, Berkland emphasized the safety benefits of roundabouts where appropriate: "Roundabouts have been shown to reduce 90% of fatality crashes, 75% of serious-injury crashes, and about 50% of all crashes," he said, while noting not every location is appropriate for a roundabout. Consultants said the plan includes an implementation toolbox with candidate spot treatments (crosswalks, ADA ramps, signal upgrades, rapid-flashing beacons), trail crossing enhancements, and design guidance for rehabilitation projects.

Tobias (city staff) told the council the resolution before them would formally adopt JEO’s document as the city’s safety action plan. Council members thanked the consultants and the advisory committee—James Burrows (city staff), Brian Carver (Police Department), Dr. Jackie Nielsen (Beatrice Public Schools), Councilman MacLean and Jessica Daborski—for their time and engagement during the study process.

The council passed Resolution No. 7507 adopting the SS4A Safety Action Plan by an 8–0 vote. Adoption makes Beatrice eligible to compete for implementation funding tied to an SS4A safety action plan; consultants and several council members cited the plan as a tool to strengthen future grant applications.