St. Louis Park advances Safe Streets action plan, sets ‘Vision Zero’ goal for 2050

City staff and consultants presented a draft Safe Streets action plan to the St. Louis Park City Council on a study-item night, describing a data-driven program meant to reduce serious and fatal traffic crashes across the city.

Jack Sullivan, the city’s assistant engineer and the plan’s staff lead, said the plan—funded in part by MnDOT and the Federal Highway Administration—uses a “safe systems” approach and sets a long-range goal of eliminating fatal and severe-injury crashes by 2050, with a benchmark of a 50% reduction by 2040. Sullivan told the council there was no adoption request that night and that staff will return April 6 for a formal vote.

Chelsea Morici of consulting firm SEH, who led the public engagement work, said more than 600 residents contributed feedback and staff collected over 830 mapped comments that helped prioritize locations. She said the plan organizes measures into seven strategies and 18 action items ranging from low-effort/high-impact quick wins to longer-term capital projects.

Tom Sacchi, a stakeholder committee member and registered professional engineer, said the plan’s prioritization used crash history, proximity to schools and senior housing, and upcoming reconstruction to identify a high-injury network that comprises 7.5% of city roads but accounts for roughly 61% of fatal and severe crashes. Sacchi urged the council to pursue both “attainable” short-term improvements and longer-term projects.

During council Q&A, Council member Budd asked about roundabouts. Sullivan said the city’s installed roundabouts have reduced severe crashes compared with signalized intersections where they fit, but he cautioned roundabouts are not appropriate at every location because of traffic volumes and right-of-way limits and said interagency coordination with MnDOT and Hennepin County will be required.

Members of the public supported the plan and proposed additional steps. Ian Thomas, a stakeholder committee member, urged rapid adoption and singled out action item 2.c, which would explore safety technology for city-owned fleet vehicles. Thomas proposed piloting intelligent speed-assistance (ISA) on some fleet vehicles, describing ISA as a GPS- and map-based system that can limit vehicle acceleration to posted speeds; he estimated an installation cost of about $1,500 per vehicle and suggested fuel savings could recoup that cost within one to two years.

Resident Sylvie Hyman urged the council to create a standing transportation commission to increase resident review of projects and argued some recent lane configurations (she referenced Louisiana Avenue) exceed FHWA guidance on lane widths; she asked the council to use stronger traffic calming and resident engagement earlier in project development.

Council members voiced broad support for prioritizing non-auto modes and for using the LRT opening as an impetus to optimize pedestrian and bicycle access. Staff said they will compile comments from tonight’s meeting and the public-comment period and return a revised plan for council consideration on April 6.

The next procedural step: staff will post an updated draft incorporating the comments received and will ask the council to consider formal adoption at the April 6 meeting.