Safe Streets for All

Death and injury on our city streets can be dramatically reduced or minimized by creating better public spaces. Public safety is a top priority for the Cantrell Administration. With the leadership of the Department of Public Works and Office of Resilience and Sustainability, New Orleans officially embraces a new commitment to dramatically increase the safety of the City’s streets.

With funding from the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Program, the City of New Orleans will develop a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan to address traffic fatalities and severe injuries on roadways in New Orleans. Funding for this effort will begin in the first half of 2024.

Development of this Action Plan will build on the City’s previous analysis and planning efforts, including the Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, Moving New Orleans Transportation Action Plan and the Safer Streets Priority Finder. Upon completion of the Action Plan, the City will be eligible to apply for Safe Streets and Roads for All Implementation Grants for construction funding in future grant cycles. It will also provide the City a data-driven Action Plan to strengthen the City’s pursuit of roadway safety funds from the Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development (DOTD), including the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), the Local Road Safety Program (LRSP) and the Safe Routes to Public Places Program (SRTPPP).

This grant from USDOT will fund planning efforts, community engagement and acquisition of big data to inform in-depth analysis. Funding will also go toward activities to enhance the Safe Streets Priority Finder (SSPF), a tool previously developed by a City of New Orleans-led team funded by the USDOT Safety Data Initiative in 2020. The SSPF in its current form will be a valuable part of the data analysis included in the Action Plan development. The proposed enhancements will improve its use and functionality for the city and for communities across the country seeking to develop analyses to inform data-driven roadway safety action plans.