Regional Comprehensive Safety Action Plan

Interactive Map and Survey Now Closed - February 2

Thank you to everyone who provided comments on the interactive map and survey. Our team is looking at your concerns related to walking, biking, driving, and taking transit in Cass and Clay counties.

Project Background Information

A comprehensive safety action plan (CSAP) is a powerful way to prioritize safety improvements and justify investment decisions within area jurisdictions. These plans can serve as the basic building block to significantly improve roadway safety by reducing and eliminating serious injury and fatal crashes, communicating and collaborating with stakeholders and community members, and providing information on funding opportunities.

As a recent recipient of a FY22 Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Action Plan Grant, this first-of-its-kind regional CSAP for the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area will provide a framework of innovative strategies and implementation actions intended to reduce transportation-related fatalities and serious injuries while also supporting federal safety initiatives. The CSAP will identify safety issues and specific actions that can be implemented to improve safety for people traveling by any mode throughout the region. The plan will develop recommendations for both motorized and non-motorized modes in the roadway network as well as other elements including land use, transit, freight, and other community factors to create a comprehensive course of action. The plan will address federal and state regulations, including design guidance as well as performance management goals, measures, and targets, and will promote equitable outcomes.

Project Narrative

The Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Council of Governments (Metro COG) and area jurisdictions understand our shared responsibility in eliminating fatal and serious crashes for all roadway users, including those who walk, bike, drive, ride transit, and travel by other modes in our community. We are committed to a holistic approach in how we think about transportation safety and how we prioritize investments across the entire transportation system so that we can build a safe and better system for all users of all modes.

By developing the first regional comprehensive safety action plan for the Fargo-Moorhead MSA, our area will commit to providing a framework of innovative strategies and implementation actions that will ensure crash reductions and support federal safety initiatives. Through expanded collaboration with regional stakeholders and community members, as well as guidance from FHWA’s Safe System approach and SS4A’s Action Plan Components, Metro COG and area jurisdictions will develop a joint comprehensive safety action plan that is founded upon the following:

• Stakeholder and public engagement plan, with a strong emphasis on equity and outreach to BIPOC, New Americans, historically marginalized communities, and economically disadvantaged communities.
• Data collection and review, including a summary of existing programs, policies, and studies as well as a peer review of comparable metropolitan areas.
• Safety analysis, including an analysis of regional trends, contributing factors, and patterns of transportation-related accidents in the region.
• Transportation equity review, including an assessment of regional equity indicators related to accessibility, connectivity, environment, health, engagement, and effectiveness, and how transportation systems affect and/or influence safe and equitable outcomes.
• Dashboard and toolkit, including graphic visualizations that illustrate safety countermeasures, context-sensitive solutions, user educational components, and performance measure tracking.
• Implementation matrix for implementing safety measures including:
  • Policies, programs, innovative practices, and low-cost/high-impact strategies; and
  • Specific construction projects with scope, budget, and time frame.