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Safe Streets study maps 22 priority sites in South Kingstown and readies implementation grant applications
Summary
Consultants presented a Safe Streets and Roads for All safety action plan to the council identifying 22 prioritized locations, analysis focused on vulnerable road users, and an implementation grant opportunity that would require formal council adoption of the plan to qualify for federal funds.
Consultants from Bowman Engineering presented the draft South Kingstown Safety Action Plan funded through the USDOT Safe Streets and Roads for All planning grant. The plan analyzes five years of crash data, prioritizes 22 locations for countermeasures, and outlines low-cost proven safety countermeasures and potential project costs.
The consulting team described three analysis steps used to identify priorities: a baseline crash review, a high risk network showing corridors whose characteristics predict future crashes, and a high-injury network that combines actual injury crashes with predicted risk. The consultants said they emphasized vulnerable road users (pedestrians and bicyclists) because crashes involving those users yield disproportionately serious injuries and fatalities.
The draft plan includes 22 prioritized sites across the town and a menu of 28 evidence-backed countermeasures (for example, enhanced edge-line striping, geometric and corner radii changes, and targeted intersection changes). One example presented was Salt Pond Road at Canyon Avenue where recommendations include installing a three-way stop or tightening curb radii to lower turning speeds; the plan provides graphics and rough costs for each site in an appendix.
Consultants said the town will need to formally adopt the safety action plan to be eligible for an implementation grant from the Safe Streets and Roads for All program; that implementation grant opportunity is open now. The consultants and staff will provide a final draft in the coming weeks and recommended the council consider formal adoption to make the town eligible for implementation funds.
Why it matters: the plan identifies specific, prioritized safety improvements and creates the eligibility pathway for federal implementation funds that could pay for on-street and intersection safety improvements on both town- and state-owned roads.
What happens next: Bowman will finalize the draft after incorporating state agency comments and return the final plan to the council for formal adoption; staff also recommended applying for implementation funding once a plan is adopted.
