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Consultant previews Lincoln Safe Streets plan; town urged to adopt to unlock state funding
Summary
A consultant presented Lincoln’s draft Safe Streets safety action plan, highlighting a data-driven crash analysis, community engagement and an estimated $200,000 in technical-assistance funds; councilors were told adopting the plan would improve eligibility for state and federal grants.
A consultant for the Safe Streets for All program presented a draft safety action plan to the Lincoln Town Council on Sept. 9, saying the document is intended to help the town reduce severe crashes and position projects for state and federal funding.
Dr. Quinn Malloy, a transportation geographer who led the consultant team, said Lincoln’s public engagement ranked among the highest in the state and that the plan uses crash and outreach data to identify a ‘high‑injury network’ of road segments where pedestrians and cyclists face the greatest risk. He told the council the plan includes short‑, intermediate‑ and long‑term countermeasures — from targeted engineering fixes and enforcement campaigns to infrastructure changes — and that the plan should be treated as iterative rather than prescriptive.
“The analysis shows crashes that involve people walking or biking are overwhelmingly likely to result in injury,” Dr. Malloy said. He urged a combined approach of design, enforcement and education to reach the plan’s goal of far fewer serious injuries and fatalities.
Malloy said the planning effort helped Lincoln secure technical‑assistance funding valued at roughly $200,000 and that having an approved safety action plan would strengthen grant applications for larger construction projects. He noted that some of the roads identified in the plan are state‑owned and that the plan documents the need for intergovernmental negotiation on jurisdiction and maintenance responsibilities.
Council members pressed for clarity on which sidewalks and crossings the plan targets and whether new sidewalks would be built or existing sidewalks repaired. A councilor emphasized that many sidewalks in Lincoln are on state roads and said the state’s ownership complicates the town’s ability to act. Malloy said the plan flags those jurisdictional issues and recommends strategies for pursuing state cooperation and a standing municipal data request to improve local planning.
The presentation identified several local priorities — including the Chapel/Walker Street intersection — that town staff have already used to seek additional state planning funds and conceptual design support. Council members praised the public engagement and urged the administration to return with implementation steps and funding requests.
The Safe Streets plan is published on the town website in draft form; Malloy told the council it would be finalized after local review and formal adoption. The council did not vote on adoption at the Sept. 9 meeting; the consultant recommended using the plan to pursue grants and to return with a staged implementation approach for projects that the town and state can fund.
