Two years ago, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled an ambitious plan to combat an epidemic of traffic crashes that had created a “public health crisis” with a disproportionate impact on poor people and minorities.
With African-Americans more than twice as likely to die in traffic accidents than whites, the plan called for improvements at 300 intersections, 25 CTA stations and assorted bus stops. It included more speed cameras, lower speed limits, fewer traffic lanes and designs that made streets safer for pedestrians — all bankrolled by “new revenue streams.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has yet to identify a dedicated revenue stream for the project known as “Vision Zero” with the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2026.
But, she is chipping away at the problem, nevertheless.
On Thursday, the mayor stood at Madison Street and St. Louis Avenue to announce a $6 million commitment to improve traffic safety on Chicago’s West Side.
“Residents who live in communities that experience economic hardship are three times more likely to die as a result of a traffic crash. Which is why our Vision Zero plan and investments are as much about equity as they are about safety,” Lightfoot, who has appointed Chicago’s first ‘chief equity officer,’ was quoted as saying in a press release.
“We must change how we design and use streets. … Any traffic-related death is unacceptable when we as a city have the tools and strategies to prevent the conditions that lead to these tragedies.”
Most of the $6 million is federal money, but some tax increment financing funds will be used for work on Madison and North Avenue.
The money will be used to implement 15 recommendations crafted with input from residents of neighborhoods that have borne the brunt of pedestrian crashes. That includes Austin, North Lawndale and East and West Garfield Park.
A so-called “street transformation” project will reconfigure the “Five Corners” intersection where Ogden Avenue crosses Pulaski and Cermak roads.
The plan also includes such “traffic-calming” devices such as bump-out curbs that force motorists to slow down and make wider turns, pedestrian refuge islands and targeted safety improvements around CTA stations.
Of the eight so-called “high crash areas” pinpointed by City Hall in 2017 as part of the “Vision Zero” plan, seven were on the South and West Sides.
Last year, the Active Transportation Alliance argued Chicago needs more speed cameras, lower speed limits and a $20 million-a-year fund to re-design local streets to combat a “very troubling” surge in pedestrian fatalities.
Since then, the trend has been reversed. The city’s decision to implement “Vision Zero” in smaller bites appears to be paying dividends.
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Through August, there had been traffic fatalities in Chicago; that’s down from 82 during the same period last year, which bucks a national trend showing traffic fatalities on the rise.
Moved by a 2015 truck crash that mowed down a Mexican immigrant and her children, Chicago aldermen agreed to spend $5 million to retrofit the city’s truck fleet with safety-equipment and require private contractors to do the same.
In 2017, the city completed over 90 pedestrian improvement projects. Those traffic-slowing projects included pedestrian refuge islands, bump-outs that make speeding difficult, speed feedback signs and high-visibility crosswalks.
Sixteen miles of new bikeways were created; 22 miles of existing bikeways were re-striped. Dashed bike lanes were installed on Milwaukee Avenue, along with narrower vehicle lanes and a new and lower 20 mph speed limit.
Ron Burke, the now-former executive director of the Active Transportation Alliance, has acknowledged the subject of photo enforcement is “highly-charged and controversial” and there is “not a huge appetite to re-open that conversation” in an Illinois General Assembly that has restricted speed cameras to being used near parks and schools.
But he has nevertheless argued it’s a debate worth having after a “comprehensive assessment” of where speed-related crashes and pedestrian fatalities occur.
“All around the world and in the United States, all of the research shows that, when speed cameras are deployed properly and used to really improve safety and not just to create revenue, they work. They really do work. They save lives,” said Burke, now overseeing Lyft’s bike-sharing expansion.
Lightfoot campaigned on a promise to audit the city’s network of red-light cameras and “sunset those cameras that are only being used for revenue — not safety.” Against that back-drop, she would be hard-pressed to add more speed cameras to Chicago’s existing complement of 151.
