City planner updates council on "Safe Streets for All" study; outreach and equity review under way

City planner Chris Frank told the Willmar City Council that the federal Safe Streets for All program, funded through the Federal Highway Administration, is producing a safety and equity plan that will be folded into the city’s comprehensive plan updates and later used to pursue construction grants.

Frank said the city received the grant in February 2023 and Bolton & Menk was selected following an RFP. Outreach to date includes roughly 682 individual interactions, 261 survey responses and 35 map comments; staff are preparing a high‑injury network analysis and an equity review to identify historically underserved groups and locations. The plan will produce design concepts and a priority implementation matrix; adoption by the council is expected in December, with a transmittal to FHWA in January.

Council members asked about education and enforcement components to accompany engineering changes and raised railroad crossing safety as a notable risk in several locations. Frank said phase‑2 outreach will target groups underrepresented in the first round and that the study will help the city qualify for larger federal grants when specific projects are selected.

Frank told the council that once the plan is finalized the DOT expects either a mayoral letter or council resolution committing the city to a goal of reducing roadway fatalities toward zero; staff said they will return with a proposed resolution and final plan for council approval.