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Planning commission backs safety action plan, clears way to seek federal implementation grants
Summary
Mount Juliet planning commissioners voted to recommend that the Board of Commissioners adopt a federally funded Safety Action Plan that targets fatal and serious-injury crashes and establishes project prioritization for 18 high-injury corridors.
Mount Juliet planning commissioners on April 17 voted to forward a positive recommendation to the Board of Commissioners for a Safety Action Plan developed with federal Safe Streets for All grant funding.
The plan, presented by Leo Espellet of Kimley-Horn & Associates and Public Works Director Matthew White, responds to 57 fatal or serious-injury crashes in the city over the last five years, including 10 fatalities and 47 serious injuries. Espellet said the plan focuses on reducing those types of crashes and, if adopted, would allow the city to apply for federal implementation grants in the next funding cycle.
The plan ranks candidate projects using six criteria the steering committee set, including counts of fatal and serious crashes, vulnerable users (pedestrians and bicyclists), segment crash rate, a cellphone-derived risk index, equity measures and corridor exposure. Espellet described an 18-corridor “high-injury network” that accounts for about 80% of the city’s fatal and serious crashes and said staff included fact sheets so project recommendations can be carried forward during development review and capital planning.
“The plan requires that the leadership of the city commits to moving towards a 0 fatal and serious injuries within the roads,” Espellet said. “...the recommendation is that the city commits to making progress towards a long-term goal of 0 traffic deaths and serious injuries with an interim goal of a 20–25 percent reduction in fatal and serious injury crashes by the year 10 years from the projected trend.”
Commissioners and staff asked for a few editorial corrections to the draft and for clarity about published engagement numbers; staff said the city will post the final plan to its website and implement a public tracking table so residents can see project status and countermeasure completions.
A motion for a positive recommendation to the Board of Commissioners passed on a voice vote. Planning staff told the commission that final adoption by the Board of Commissioners is required before Mount Juliet can apply for implementation funding under the federal Safe Streets for All program.
Why this matters: adoption of the plan is a prerequisite to apply for competitive federal implementation grants under the Safe Streets for All program, which is funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The planning commission’s recommendation moves Mount Juliet closer to accessing implementation dollars to fund roadway countermeasures on corridors the plan identifies as the greatest risk for fatal and serious crashes.
What’s next: the plan will be on the Board of Commissioners’ agenda for formal adoption; if adopted the city will be eligible to apply for implementation grants. Staff said they will incorporate the plan’s recommendations into development reviews and post a public dashboard for tracking progress.
