Challenge
The City of Springfield, Massachusetts was experiencing a high rate of serious and fatal injury crashes on their roads. The City wanted to go after Safe Streets for All (SS4A) funding to address these crash sites and improve road safety for the community. Rather than applying for planning money in the first round of the grant program, they decided to fast-track the development of a safety action plan and go after implementation money to get improvements on the ground more quickly.
Solution
In the span of just two months, Kittelson helped the City develop a safety action plan and then use that plan as the foundation to apply for a Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Implementation Grant. Following a Safe System Approach, the Kittelson team facilitated eight meetings with the City’s implementation partners (MassDOT, fire department, and public schools), identified high-crash, high risk locations across Springfield, and confirmed priority locations through a field visit. Our team also identified engineering and non-engineering countermeasures to address each risk factor and reduce the frequency and severity of crashes at Springfield’s high-crash intersections and corridors.
The Outcome
$15 Million for Safer Streets in Springfield
The successful grant application resulted in an award of $15 million to implement safety improvements in locations across Springfield with a disproportionately high number of fatal and serious injury crashes. Springfield’s Safety Action Plan will serve as a model for other Massachusetts localities who work with MassDOT to apply for future rounds of SS4A funding. The City will be working to design and build the improvements over the next few years.
