~ Funding to support Vision Zero safety initiatives and projects creating safer streets for all ~                  

RICHMOND, VA. – The Department of Public Works has been awarded a $762,400 Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant to provide safety improvements throughout the City. When a resident of Richmond leaves their home - they should arrive to their destination safely. Commuters, visitors, and guests deserve the same. Between 2019 and 2021, 44 lives were lost as they traveled on Richmond's City streets. This is unacceptable. The city is dedicated to creating safer streets for every road user regardless of age or ability. The $953,000 grant (comprised of federal grant funding of $762,400 and $190,600 matching funds from the city), will focus on the following Five Safety Planning Initiatives:

1. Better managing speed
2. Improving accessible routes for people of all ages and abilities
3. Creating a comprehensive street light management plan
4. Screening and assessing people with mental health and substance use disorders to connect them to available services, and
5. Conducting roadway safety assessments using a multi-disciplined approach. 

Additional details include:

• Speed Management Plan
  
  • In 2022, the City recommended the installation of 20 speed safety cameras in 10 school zone locations. These are the City’s first automated speed enforcement cameras, and the City is committed to ensuring equitable delivery of this innovative technology. This proposed budget will fund follow-up stakeholder engagement and collaboration in support of the equitable roll-out of the automated speed enforcement program in Richmond. This will include engagement strategies recommended by the 2022 Neighborhood Traffic Management Program.

• ADA Transition Plan
  
  • In 2021, the City successfully conducted an ADA Audit in the downtown area. This budget will expand the City’s ability to conduct ADA Audits by focusing along the HIN and within HDC tracts.

• Lighting Management Plan
  
  • Enhanced lighting is one of the safety planning goals enumerated in the Vision Zero Action Plan. The SS4A grant will fund a citywide lighting management plan that will use a data driven approach to create an implementation plan and identify areas that need safety, security, and access pedestrian lighting upgrades.

• High-Risk Impaired Driver Action Plan
  
  • In 2022, the City completed a High-Risk Impaired Driver Action Plan that focuses on addressing the challenges and opportunities associated with high-risk impaired drivers. The City, alongside the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority, will use the SS4A grant funds to act on recommendations from that plan, including pilot programming that addresses upstream mental and behavioral health issues through patient screening and assessment to address substance use disorders prior to a KA crash through appropriate treatments and supervision. The plan will improve street safety for all road users - especially the most vulnerable road users.

• HIN Roadway Safety Assessments (RSAs)
  
  • FHWA encourages RSAs as a proactive approach to create safer streets. RSAs are an important element of the City’s Vision Zero Program and will be used to evaluate short, mid-, and long term solutions along high priority, high-risk roadways along the HIN and HDC tracts. RSAs are also a useful tool in taking a multidisciplinary approach to identify opportunities for future safety improvements for all road users.

Over the next year, a standard project agreement between the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the City of Richmond will come before City Council for review and approval.

The Department of Public Works appreciates the partnership with the Federal Highway Administration, the Volpe Center, and the USDOT to further its Vision Zero objectives through its Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program.  Additionally, the Vision Zero Task Force would like to thank the following organizations who supported Richmond’s Safe Streets and Roads for All grant application as well as all the other supporters who are involved in changing our built environment to shift our safety culture:

• AAA Mid-Atlantic
• Capital Area Partnership
• Complete Streets Richmond Coalition
• Drive Smart Virginia
• Greater Richmond Fit4Kids
• Mayor Levar M. Stoney
• Resources for Independent Living
• Richmond Ambulance Authority
• Richmond City Council
• Richmond City Health District
• Richmond Regional Transportation Planning Organization
• Safe and Healthy Streets Commission
• Sportable
• Sports Backers
• State Delegate Betsy B. Carr
• State Delegate Jeffrey M. Bourne
• State Delegate Dawn M. Adams
• State Senator Ghazala F. Hashmi
• US Congressman A. Donald McEachin (posthumously)
• US Senator Mark R. Warner
• US Senator Timothy M. Kaine
• VCU Health Systems
• Virginia Commonwealth University
• Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles
• Virginia Department of Transportation

For more information on Vision Zero, please visit us online at https://www.rva.gov/public‐works/vison-zero or email us at AskPublicWorks@rva.gov

We’re Social! For updates on DPW‐related projects, activities and events visit us on Twitter @DPW_RichmondVA

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The City of Richmond Department of Public Works (DPW) is one of only 195 currently accredited public works agencies in the United States. DPW’s portfolio comprises a wide array of services to include leaf collection; street, sidewalk and alley maintenance; trash collection; recycling; grass cutting;  graffiti removal; parking enforcement; urban forestry; street signs; traffic signals and pavement markings and civil engineering. In addition, DPW maintains upkeep on most city buildings; issues permits for working in the city’s right-of-way; manages the RVA Bike Share program and maintains the fleet of city vehicles. DPW’s operating budget comes from the general fund of the City of Richmond.  For more information about DPW services, click here or call 3-1-1.

The City of Richmond, Virginia, in 1966, codified one of the oldest continuously operating transportation safety commissions in North America - The Safe and Healthy Streets Commission (SHSC). Since its inception, the SHSC has advised the Richmond City Council on all transportation safety matters. The SHSC has a diverse membership and includes citizens, transportation safety professionals, a city council member, the Chief of Police, the Director of Public Works, the Superintendent of Schools, and the City Transportation Engineer.

The SHSC sets annual priorities focused on executive, legislative, budgetary, and cultural changes. These priorities work towards the Richmond City Council’s 2016 goal, backed by Mayor Stoney, to reduce traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries to ZERO by 2030. The SHSC’s annual priorities reflect the City’s commitment to Vision Zero, the Safe System approach (SSA), and Complete Streets policies. The SHSC adopted the twelve strategies and five supplemental planning needs, based on their set annual priorities, to improve Richmond’s built environment and strengthen the culture of safety. With its high-functioning Vision Zero organizational structure, Richmond is well positioned to implement these projects and supplemental planning activities that showcase the impact of the SSA using proven safety countermeasures and low-cost, high-impact strategies.

The Safe and Healthy Streets Commission (SHSC) adopted Richmond’s Vision Zero Action Plan in 2018, and is charged with monitoring and reporting progress on the Action Plan. The Mayor and the SHSC established a Vision Zero Task Force, made up of City department leaders, charged with implementing the strategies, projects, and policies set out in the Action Plan.