Wayne adopts Safe Streets for All plan to unlock federal safety funding

Wayne City Council on Sept. 16 adopted a resolution approving the Safe Streets for All Unified Safety Action Plan, a multi-jurisdictional study developed with Westland, Inkster and Garden City that outlines projects and actions to reduce serious injuries and deaths on local roadways.

The plan, presented to council by Ashley Jankowski, a planner with McKenna, compiles a year of traffic-data analysis, field validation and community engagement across the four cities. Jankowski said the plan’s adoption is intended to make the region eligible for implementation grants from the federal Safe Streets for All program created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. “Once you have a plan, it unlocks another bucket of funding to actually implement those projects,” Jankowski said.

Why it matters: adoption does not itself authorize construction but creates eligibility for competitive implementation grants and other state or federal funding sources. The plan includes both Wayne-specific projects and joint projects — for example safer routes to school and multimunicipal trail connections — that McKenna said could be more competitive when submitted by multiple communities together.

The presentation described three main types of interventions in the plan: design and infrastructure improvements, behavior/code enforcement changes, and education. Jankowski said the team conducted transit tours, roundtable discussions with engineers and public works officials, and quantitative traffic analysis to identify high-risk corridors and intersections.

Council members asked whether the plan guarantees full federal funding and how the school district was engaged. Jankowski said the initial planning grant required a small local match and that the planning effort included invitations to school districts; she said the districts did not play a large role in the planning process but recommended continued engagement as Wayne pursues implementation projects. The presenter said the planning grant required a “small match” and that each participating community provided a modest local contribution (one presenter referenced $1,200 as the local match used for the planning phase).

Council also praised Lori (a city project working-group member identified in the presentation) for helping secure the planning grant. After questions, the council approved the resolution by voice vote.

The plan’s adoption clears a procedural step: it does not itself obligate Wayne to specific construction contracts or local match amounts beyond those already described in the planning phase. Staff said they will continue to assist with grant identification and application once the council has the adopted plan.

The resolution was adopted by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the meeting minutes.