Raleigh unveils Vision Zero safety plan and seeks adoption to pursue federal implementation funds

Sean Driscoll, the city’s Vision Zero program manager, presented a comprehensive safety action plan during a City Council work session, saying the plan will help the city prioritize investments to reduce and ultimately eliminate serious and fatal traffic crashes.

Driscoll told council members the plan is built from a decade of crash data and public input and includes two mapped approaches: a reactive high‑injury network and a proactive high‑risk network. "About 20 to 25,000 reported crashes happen every year in the city; of those, roughly 250 are serious or life‑altering and about 40 are fatalities," he said, calling those roughly 290 incidents the focus of the plan.

The plan identifies nine priority improvement projects — five corridor projects and four intersection projects — and a set of 38 safety countermeasures for engineers and planners, including leading pedestrian intervals, accessible pedestrian signals and positive offset left turns. Driscoll said the city has worked with NCDOT through the Highway Safety Improvement Program to identify about $15 million in projects at 35 locations; about $3 million has been spent and the remainder is expected to be delivered over the next five to seven years.

Council members pressed staff about clarity on maps, pedestrian crossings and operational capacity. "If there's some way you can redo this so we know what some of these connections are because I don't live in your transportation world every day," Councilor Branch said, asking staff to label state road numbers more clearly. Driscoll agreed to provide clearer maps for council review.

Councilor Silver focused on midblock crossings along long arterials such as Capitol Boulevard and asked whether signalized crossings, stop bars and improved ADA ramps could reduce risky crossings. Driscoll said the plan recommends evaluating additional signalized crossings, relocating transit stops closer to signals and upgrading pedestrian infrastructure where needed, and noted many of the high‑injury corridors are NCDOT roadways that will require partnership.

On behavioral strategies, Driscoll said speeding and seat belt nonuse were major contributors in the 2013–2023 dataset, and emphasized a mix of targeted enforcement, public outreach and school‑based education. "We worked with RPD, Raleigh Fire and Wake EMS to develop recommendations that include targeted enforcement within our high‑injury network and educational awareness campaigns," he said.

Staff also described a tiering for schools: of about 140 schools within Raleigh city limits, 14 were identified as tier‑one for immediate Safe Routes to School focus based on safety proximity, Title I/equity considerations, walking population and existing infrastructure. A councilor requested the full list of those 14 schools; Driscoll said staff would provide it.

Transportation staff said they will continue the Vision Zero/SS4A task force, create a public dashboard with the plan maps and metrics, and return to the council to seek formal adoption of the plan — a required step before applying for the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) implementation grant. Driscoll said the consultant under contract will prepare the grant application when adoption is complete.

Bradley Campbell, also with the transportation department, said staff plan a phase‑one update to the street design manual later this spring or early summer and a phase‑two integration later in the calendar year to reflect Vision Zero recommendations.

The work session closed with council questions about tactical urbanism and quick‑build options; staff said they are developing a tactical urbanism web page and seeking ways to partner with community groups for rapid, lower‑cost pilots. The session adjourned after the Q&A.

Next steps: staff will provide the draft plan to council for review, supply requested materials (clearer maps and the list of tier‑one schools), and return to the council to request formal adoption that would allow Raleigh to pursue federal implementation funding.