Haines Borough launches Safe Streets planning effort, seeks public input for federal SS4A grant

Ethan Romling, a civil engineer with ProHNS, told attendees at a Haines Borough public meeting that the borough won a federal planning grant through the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program and will use the award to develop a comprehensive roadway safety plan.

"This is the Safe Streets Roads for All project public meeting," Romling said, explaining the project will collect historical crash data and local input to prioritize safety improvements and to make the borough competitive for later implementation grants. "It stands for Safe Streets of Roads for All. It's a federally funded grant program," he said.

Romling said the SS4A grant is structured in two phases — planning and implementation — and that the current funding covers the planning phase. He said the plan will identify locations for safety projects and create a prioritized matrix that the borough can then use to pursue implementation funding, which could come through SS4A or other grant programs.

Consultants assisting the borough include ProHNS and a technical partner identified in the meeting as NW Transportation Engineers; Romling said a data analyst partner (referred to in the transcript as "10 w") will compile agency crash and incident records for technical analysis. The project team will also run a local safety survey, available in paper and online formats, that lets residents indicate which transportation modes they use, how safe they feel and to drop a pin on specific locations of concern.

Participant questions focused on access to the survey and data transparency. An attendee asked where to find the survey; Romling said the team will host it on the project website and will post a link on the borough website. When a resident asked how compiled research and survey results will be made available, Romling said finalized documents and survey summaries will be posted on the project website and that raw agency data used in analysis are public; raw individual survey responses can be provided to specific requesters on request.

The team described outreach plans that include flyers and QR codes, paper surveys in local pickup locations, and a sign‑in tally at meetings to document participation. Romling said steering‑committee recruitment will be voluntary; he invited interested residents to email the project address to be considered for a first steering meeting planned for next month. He described the steering committee meeting cadence as roughly monthly, about an hour per meeting.

On timing, Romling said the project aims to have a draft plan this spring to present to the planning commission, with a target to complete the final plan and seek assembly acceptance by next September. He emphasized the plan will go through the planning commission for review and then to the borough assembly for adoption as required by the grant.

The meeting included questions about coordination with other road owners inside borough limits (state DOT, state park roads and the borough). Romling said known DOT contacts are already on the project email list and invited attendees to suggest other agency contacts for inclusion.

The team encouraged public participation and closed by asking attendees to sign the meeting sheet and take paper surveys if they prefer. "Thanks everyone. Appreciate your attendance," Romling said as the meeting ended.

Next steps: the project team will keep a project page updated with documents, publish survey summaries, form a volunteer steering committee and schedule a first steering meeting next month; a draft plan is expected this spring and formal review will proceed through the planning commission before assembly consideration.