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Council adopts Safe Streets & Roads for All action plan with clarifying amendments to graphics and reporting language
Summary
Bloomington’s Common Council adopted Resolution 2024-20 to incorporate the Safe Streets & Roads for All safety action plan into the city transportation plan, passing amendments to correct graphics and clarify performance measures and reporting language; adoption was unanimous (8–0) after extended Q&A on implementation, public engagement and grant timing.
The Bloomington Common Council voted unanimously on Dec. 4 to amend the city transportation plan to incorporate the Safe Streets & Roads for All (SS4A) Safety Action Plan and approved amendments to clarify graphics, citations and reporting language.
Councilmember Piedmont Smith introduced amendments that staff said correct typographical errors, update graphics for legibility and improve clarity in three action items and the performance-measures and annual-reporting section. "The revisions to the performance measures and annual reporting section add language specifying that some reported performance measures will…" the sponsor read, describing clarifications to what will be tracked and reported annually.
Planning staff and project leads fielded extended questions from council about grant deadlines, coordination with Monroe County Community School Corporation (MCCSC) on Safe Routes to School, and how the new Advisory Transportation Commission (ATC) would interact with implementation.
Ryan Robling of Planning and Transportation said the grant funding opportunity historically has shifted dates but staff expect the next notice of funding opportunity to open in March; that made council comfortable proceeding now rather than waiting. Staff said they have begun outreach to MCCSC to pilot Safe Routes to School at individual schools and plan to expand the model across schools.
Council and staff also discussed public-engagement practices and equity measures included in appendices; staff said the plan includes an equity-framework flowchart and that engagement methods (inform, consult, involve, collaborate, empower) will be applied based on project scale and need.
On implementation and oversight, staff said routine traffic-calming measures (for example, certain bump-outs or parking adjustments) may be handled through engineering processes, while major roadway modifications that would change Title 15 conditions or require formal code changes would return to council review. The plan also recommends an ATC review for transportation projects through a safety lens; council members debated whether the ATC’s future role should bring more items to council for review.
Councilmember concerns included the speed of implementation, whether the plan would allow staff to make changes without council input, and the timing of grant windows. "Many of the changes to community streets can occur as a result with no say by the council," one councilmember warned, noting intent to introduce code changes to require council review for certain modifications. Other councilmembers urged moving forward to avoid missing federal funding opportunities.
Council adopted the amendments and then adopted Resolution 2024-20 as amended by a roll-call vote of 8–0.
Next steps: the amended plan will return to Plan Commission because staff made amendments after the commission process; staff will continue outreach to MCCSC for Safe Routes to School pilots and will finalize performance measures and the crash-dashboard link described in the amendment.
