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Detroit presentations outline Complete Streets program, $62 million in federal safety grants and local engagement plans
Summary
Deputy director Christina Paltier told the council the Complete Streets team is pursuing layered safety investments — two FHWA awards (~$31M each), a $12.5M Gratiot demonstration, and an updated non-motorized plan — with community engagement and consultant procurement next.
Deputy Director Christina Paltier of Detroit’s Department of Public Works presented the city’s Complete Streets program at the Public Health and Safety Standing Committee meeting on March 9, describing grant-funded safety work, planning updates and outreach the city plans over the next two to four years.
Paltier said the Complete Streets effort focuses on designing streets so everyone can walk, bike, roll and take transit safely. “A complete street…is where everyone can walk, roll, be safe,” she told the committee, and added the program emphasizes safety, equity, economic access and public health.
The administration is advancing multiple grant-funded projects. Paltier said the city was awarded two Federal Highway Administration grants (each roughly $31 million) to address the 17 most dangerous corridors and improve safety at dozens of bus stops, and that community engagement and design procurement are under way. She also described a $12.5 million award for a Gratiot Avenue demonstration project that will use low-cost, data-driven interventions such as paint-and-post treatments and striping.
Paltier outlined near-term planning steps: an RFP to update the city’s 2006 non-motorized plan, updates to the 2022 comprehensive safety action plan, and expanded community meetings. She said the city expects to start community engagement on the non-motorized and safety plans in roughly six months once contracts are in place.
On Safe Routes to School, Paltier said the typical grant-funded effort per school is limited (she characterized the typical allocation as about $2.2–$2.5 million per year across programs and noted the full MDOT process can take about two and a half years). The department is piloting a "traffic garden" at Kaiden Elementary to teach children bike and pedestrian safety.
Council members pressed the administration about lighting, agency coordination and federal grant limitations. Paltier said lighting can be funded through the Detroit Safe Access to Transit program and that the city’s recent FHWA grant agreement explicitly prohibits removing travel lanes (so-called "road diets") under the current grant conditions, which limits some design options.
The committee encouraged DPW to coordinate further with the public lighting authority, police and community groups and to bring designs and outreach plans to forthcoming meetings; councilmembers were asked to share community event dates for public engagement.
