Rhode Island Safe Streets for All

Safety is a serious concern for everyone traveling in Rhode Island. Through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Safe Streets for All (SS4A) program, RIPTA secured funding to support the state and participating communities in planning for infrastructure improvements that will prevent injuries and save lives. With the SS4A grant award and other efforts through the Division of Statewide Planning and the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, the state is ready to focus on improving safety on all roadways.

The RI SS4A planning project will create municipal Safety Action Plans (SAPs) for 32 participating communities, as well as a statewide SAP. The project will make recommendations for roadway improvements to effectively implement a tangible version of the Safe Streets for All mission in a way that feels right for each community. This will cover shifting safety needs, known and emerging areas of safety improvement, and identification of priority projects. Ultimately, the SAPs will put the State of Rhode Island and its municipalities in position for further federal implementation funding.

Project Approach and Timeline

The SS4A program addresses roadway safety through the Safe System Approach, which builds and layers multiple types of protections into the transportation system to prevent crashes and minimize injuries and fatalities. It provides a holistic approach acknowledging six guiding tenets: that death and serious injuries are unacceptable, humans will make mistakes, humans are vulnerable, responsibility is shared, safety is proactive, and redundancy is crucial. These principles promote safer people, roads, vehicles, speeds, and post-crash care.

The RIPTA statewide SS4A project will focus on a three-tier safety analysis that will identify an overall view of statewide roadway safety, a location-based crash record of the past 5 years, and an analysis of potential future crash areas. Throughout the summer of 2024, the project team will also come to each participating community to share information about this project and gather input from the public.

The following general steps will take place over the next 12 months:

• Setting project goals
• Engaging with stakeholders and the public to understand local road safety concerns
• Conducting tiered analyses – Descriptive Safety Analysis, High-Injury Network, and Systemic Safety Analysis
• Identifying infrastructure solutions/projects
• Prioritizing projects with local and State guidance
• Developing SS4A-compliant Safety Action Plans – one statewide and one each for the participating 32 communities

Please learn more about the project and find ways to participate by visiting: https://us.planengage.com/RI_SafeStreets.