Greensboro will use federal grant to develop a regional traffic safety plan

The City of Greensboro is going to use federal grant money to develop a regionwide traffic safety plan. 

The city is teaming up with the Greensboro Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization to utilize a U.S. Department of Transportation grant of just over $755,000.

The money will be used to develop a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan, based on a detailed study of traffic crashes and safety conditions in the area.

Greensboro Director of Transportation Hanna Cockburn says the area is seeing rising trends in traffic crashes and fatalities. She adds that the study, a part of the Vision Zero Greensboro program, is meant to identify underlying causes and practical solutions to traffic issues.

"We really take a safe systems approach, which includes a holistic look at everything from the road system itself, the people who use it, the vehicle enforcement activities, and then what happens when a crash does happen," says Cockburn. 

The research will focus on the city of Greensboro, along with surrounding jurisdictions including the towns of Summerfield, Sedalia, Oak Ridge, Pleasant Garden and Stokesdale, and parts of rural Guilford County.

Cockburn says that there will be opportunities for residents to participate in the study.