College Place advisory commission hears update on comprehensive safety action plan

College Place Utility and Transportation Advisory Commission members received an update Jan. 9 on the city’s federally funded Comprehensive Safety Action Plan and the timeline for applying for implementation funds.

Spencer Montgomery, an engineer with JEB Engineers (the city engineer consultant for College Place), told the commission the study—funded through the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All program with local match—covers all travel modes, requires robust public involvement, and is intended to identify priority projects the city can submit for implementation funding. "The big goal nationwide, and we hear this a lot, in the transportation world is, having a goal of 0 fatalities and serious injuries," Montgomery said.

The plan will compile collision history and safety analysis, consider equity and vulnerable users, review existing policies and programs (including the city’s ADA transition work and a 2021 local road safety study) and produce a prioritized list of countermeasures and projects for intersections and roadway segments. Montgomery said the city already has a resolution adopting the goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries and that the study’s results would be used to target implementation grants due in late spring–early summer.

Montgomery summarized five years of collision data the team reviewed: 440…