Safe Streets and Roads for All
Analysis for the Omaha-Council Bluffs Region, 2022
Grant Description
The purpose of the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program is to significantly reduce or eliminate roadway fatalities and serious injuries to all roadway users. The grant funds are eligible to be used for:
- Safety action plan development
- Safety action plan project implementation
Users include pedestrians, bicyclists, public transportation users, motorists, personal conveyance and micromobility users, and commercial vehicle operators.
Justice40
The Justice40 initiative aims to deliver 40 percent of the overall benefits of federal investments in climate and clean energy, including sustainable transportation, to disadvantaged communites. (Quoted from article below).
The U.S. Department of Transportation has developed an interim definition for disadvantaged communities (DACs) to help grant applicants identify if locations of proposed projects lie within these areas.
Disadvantaged Communities
The interim DOT methodology evaluates each community at the census tract level against six categories. Each category has one or more measurable indicators which are ranked nationally. The categories are:
- Transportation
- Health
- Economy
- Equity
- Resilience
- Environment
A census tract is deemed a "disadvantaged community" if four or more of these transportation categories are above the threshold.
Within our study area disadvantaged communities account for 112,785 residents. This is just over 13% of the total regional population.
Populations are determined using American Community Survey (ACS) 2019 5-year data.
Transportation access
This category identifies communities and places that spend more, and take longer, to get where they need to go.
The disadvantage indicators are measured as a percentile and averaged to calculate an overall score by tract. The indicator and corresponding measure are listed below.
- Dependency on a single form of transportation
- Households with no vehicle available
- Longer commute times
- Mean commute time to work
- Transportation cost burden
- Calculated burden per income
- Walkability
- National Walkability Index
Click on any census tract to see a summary of the indicators.
Health
Identifies communities based on variables associated with adverse health outcomes, disability, as well as environmental exposures.
The disadvantage indicators are measured as a percentile and averaged to calculate an overall score by tract. The indicator and corresponding measure are listed below.
- Age (over 65)
- Uninsured
- Disability
Click on any census tract to see a summary of health indicators.
Environmental
Identifies communities with disproportionately high levels of certain air pollutants and high potential presence of lead-based paint in housing units.
The disadvantage indicators are measured as a percentile and averaged to calculate an overall score by tract. The indicator and corresponding measure are listed below.
- % pre-1960 housing
- Lead paint indicator
- Diesel particulate matter in the air
- Air toxics cancer risk
- Air toxics respiratory hazard index
- Ozone level in air
- Particulate Matter (PM2.5) level in air
Click on any census tract to see a summary of environmental indicators.
Economic
Identifies areas and populations with high poverty, low wealth, lack of local jobs, low homeownership, low educational attainment, and high inequality.
The disadvantage indicators are measured as a percentile and averaged to calculate an overall score by tract. The indicator and corresponding measure are listed below.
- High school diploma
- Rentership
- Unemployment rate
- Income
- Areas of persistent poverty
- Gini Index
- Measure of income inequality
- Housing cost burden
Click on any census tract to see a summary of economic indicators.
Resilience
Identifies communities vulnerable to hazards caused by climate change.
The disadvantage indicator is taken directly from the National Risk Index. This Federal Emergency Management Agency assessed value represents the risk from 18 natural hazards for the given census tract.
- Expected annual loss of life, building value and agricultural value from 18 climate hazards.
- Resilience Indicator (NRI)
Click on any census tract to see a summary of resilience indicators.
Equity
Identifies communities with a high percentile of persons (age 5+) who speak English "less than well."
The disadvantage indicators are measured as a percentile and averaged to calculate an overall score by tract. The indicator and corresponding measure are listed below.
- Linguistic isolation
- Percentile percentage of persons (age 5+) who speak English "less than well"
Click on any census tract to see a summary of the equity indicator.
Crash Analysis
The SS4A notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) provides very specific guidance on the presentation of fatal crash impacts. Fatal crash data from the Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) from 2016-2020 within the MAPA SS4A study area was retrieved and is analyzed in the following slides.
For the period 2016-2020, 264 fatal crashes resulted in 290 deaths in the MAPA SS4A study area.
Local Road Crashes
The SS4A grant was created to support local jurisdictions to conduct comprehensive safety planning and then to implement projects on local roads.
From 2016-2020, 53% of fatal crashes occurred on local roads, accounting for 155 of the region's 290 automobile-related fatalities.
Crash Rate - All Roads
The underlying map presents a summary of total fatalities and the corresponding crash rate by population. The number of fatal crashes within a census tract are influenced by many factors such as the total mileage and type of roadways, traffic volumes, and urban setting.
The regional fatality rate (2016-2020) on all roads is 7.05 per 100k population.
Within disadvantaged communities, the fatality rate is 9.58 per 100k population.
Crash Rate - Local Roads
Selecting only crashes which occur on local jurisdiction (county, city, town) roads generally shifts the number of crashes and corresponding crash rates toward the region's more populated areas, with a few outliers in rural areas.
The regional fatality rate (2016-2020) on local roads is 3.77 per 100k population.
Within disadvantaged communities, the fatality rate is 4.79 per 100k population.
Although SS4A allows for partnering with the State Department of Transportation to address local issues on the state network, the initial goal of a safety study is to better understand the nature of, and means to reduce fatal crashes on local roads, not the state network.
Crash Rates - Nonmotorists - Local Roads
Selecting only crashes which involve pedestrians, bicyclists, or other non-motorized devices on local roads again changes the regional distribution.
From 2016-2020 there were 9 nonmotorist fatalities from 9 crashes in disadvantaged communities. These account for 31% of the regional nonmotorist fatalities.
Disadvantaged Local Road - Non-motorist
Looking closer at crashes involving non-motorists, several occur on roadways which create the census tract borders. To account for these fatalities which happen just outside the disadvantaged communities, a buffer (100 ft) was established to identify crashes which border disadvantaged areas.
Considering these four additional crashes, local road non-motorist fatalities in or near disadvantaged communities make up 45% of the total.
Action
MAPA and our member jurisdictions are already working hard to address fatal and serious injuries on our region's roadways.
- Implementing safety-related projects and programs.
- Setting Federal Safety Performance Targets (in coordination with FHWA, State, and local partners).
- Providing publicly available safety dashboards .
- Prioritizing safety in regional funded project selection processes.
- Planning and hosting pedestrian safety Block Talks with neighborhood assocations.
- Hosting FHWA-provided Complete Streets Training.
But we are ready to do more. MAPA has submitted an application for a planning grant through the Safe Streets and Roads for All program. Keep up to date at the link below. Reach out with any questions or comments at safestreets@mapacog.org.
