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Transportation director cites drop in severe crashes and outlines $1.2 billion safety pipeline
Summary
Richmond’s transportation director presented crash‑trend data showing reductions in deaths and serious injuries and outlined a citywide safety program that combines speed tables, bump-outs, cameras and quick‑build paint‑and‑post projects, plus a roughly $1.2 billion project pipeline heavily funded by grants.
Andy Bana, Richmond’s director of transportation, told the committee the department’s systems approach to speed management is producing measurable safety improvements and described a large pipeline of projects funded primarily with outside grants.
Bana cited a three‑year comparative average showing deaths and serious injuries from traffic crashes fell from an average of 207 to 177 in the most recent reporting period, a reduction of 30 incidents. He also said pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries for January through April 2026 dropped to nine from an average of 16 in comparable earlier windows, and total severe crashes in the same January–April period declined from an average of 62 to 51.
"We're tracking a combination of treatments — speed tables, bump outs, safety cameras, education and quick builds — because they work together," Bana said, citing before‑and‑after speed maps on projects such as Main and Cary streets that showed reductions in measured speed. He described "quick build" tools — paint, flex posts and, where cost‑effective, speed tables — that can be deployed ahead of full design and construction to provide interim safety benefits.
Bana said roughly $1.2 billion in transportation safety improvements are planned over the next five to six years and that more than 90% of that funding is expected to come from federal, state and regional grants. He acknowledged long project timelines — eight to ten years from idea to construction for large grant‑funded projects — and said the department prioritizes projects on a "high injury network" that accounts for the majority of severe crashes.
Committee members asked about a pipeline of quick‑build projects and how the department measures before‑and‑after effects. Bana said the department will provide more detailed lists and that it is building internal capacity to share before/after assessments with council members and neighborhoods; he also invited councilors to a public speed‑management symposium at Main Street Station.
The presentation emphasized equity by mapping the high‑injury network’s overlap with historically disadvantaged census tracts and tying project prioritization to areas with the greatest safety need. The committee requested a list of near‑term quick builds and ongoing before/after evaluation data.
