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Adopt a Resolution Supporting a Grant Application to the Governor's Highway Safety Program.
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Staff:
Department:
Britany Waddell, Director
Planning
Bergen Watterson, Mobility and Greenways Manager
Ben Berolzheimer, Mobility and Greenways Planner
Kurt Stolka, Vision Zero Coordinator
Overview: On January 31, 2024, staff submitted a preliminary application for the North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program (GHSP) grant program for Fiscal Year 2025. Council must adopt a resolution to finalize the application and accept $172,700 of federal funding from the grant program. If received, the grant funds would pay a full-time Vison Zero Coordinator, part-time Vision Zero Intern, contribute to Chapel Hill Police Department crosswalk enforcement efforts, and support additional pedestrian safety and education campaigns. This grant application is a continuation of the existing GHSP grant the Town originally received in FY21.
Over the past four years, the formerly part-time GIS/Complete Streets Specialist (now Vision Zero Coordinator) has become an important position within the Planning Department (now in the Office of Mobility and Greenways), managing the Vision Zero Task Force and Executive Committee, analyzing existing crash data, improving systems to collect the data, creating a data-driven system for ranking crash risk, and developing quick-build projects to treat high-risk roads and intersections. Additionally, staff conducts outreach campaigns with community stakeholders, hosts events and workshops to engage and educate the public, and will travel to safety related meetings and conferences. The Town's grant application for FY25 includes a request for additional funding to make the position full-time.
Promoting bicycle and pedestrian safety and increasing law enforcement efforts that will increase the safety of vulnerable road users, especially at marked crosswalks at intersections with histories of crashes, is an important step in moving The Town o...
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