2030 TRANSPORTATION & MOBILITY PLAN

Year 2030
Metropolitan Transportation and Mobility Plan

Time for New Directions

Transportation Safety Plan and Strategy

The BSMPO initial Transportation Safety Planning Component for the Year 2030 Plan is comprised of 13 Elements.  Each Element has a series of sub-elements that serve as a guide to the ultimate implementation of the goals for the overall safety component of the Plan.  The 13 Elements have not been prioritized as to their individual importance because it is the position of the BSMPO that all transportation safety goals and initiatives are of the highest priority.  The order in which these are addressed and subsequently implemented will be, in part, based on the timeliness of the initiative relative to local, regional, state, and federal participation and resources.  This is not to say that the BSMPO will not undertake anyone of these initiatives independent of the availability of additional resources. Rather, the opportunities for outside assistance will elevate and advance an individual initiative within the BSMPO transportation safety planning activities.

Although the BSMPO has not prioritized these Elements in the traditional sense, individual safety improvement or enhancement projects that are identified through the various processes that addressed below will be assessed and prioritized by the local jurisdictions according to their own project selection procedures.  It is anticipated that these selection procedures would, at a minimum consider such factors as the age of the resident population, the historically underserved within the community, frequency and severity of personal injury accidents and property losses, and outdated design and construction characteristics.

Element #1

Safe Routes to School

The BSMPO will develop a Tool Kit for use by local school districts with the BSMPO area.  This planning aid will present the necessary steps in the successful development of a Safe Route to School educational and marketing program.  It will also assist the individual school within a district in the preparation of an application for financial assistance from the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department.  The BSMPO staff will offer to any school within the BSMPO area any technical assistance that it can in the development of a plan, educational program, or a marketing strategy pertaining to the initiation of a Safe Route to School program.

Element #2

Development of a Transportation Safety Educational Campaign

The BSMPO, in cooperation with the region’s law enforcement departments, school districts, parent teachers associations, AARP, and other interested parties will research available educational materials regarding safety in transportation and prepare appropriate transportation safety campaigns for the BSMPO area.  Once these campaigns have been prepared and materials developed, the BSMPO will utilize its website and informational brochures in the dissemination of the campaign materials.  These dissemination venues will be further addressed under Elements #3 & 5 of the BSMPO Transportation Safety Planning Component.

Element # 3

BSMPO Website Improvements

During fiscal year 2008, the BSMPO website will be overhauled to provide an interactive GIS platform as the basis for the data, information, and documentation presentations of the MPO operations.  The new website will also be used for conducting interactive transportation safety surveys, presentations of various transportation safety campaigns, Amber Alert notifications, and relative Highway Watch Program information.  The website will also be one of two servers (Fort Smith Transit will the other server) for the Bi-State Advanced Traveler Information System, ATIS.  It is envisioned that the ATIS will use the BSMPO regional GIS platform in its construction and implementation.  The GIS capabilities will, in real time, enable the MPO and Fort Smith Transit to present to the general public as well as the transit dependent public important information pertaining to traffic safety, work zones, incident/event locations and other travel related data.  This information will be offered as an aid for the travelers’ convenience and motoring safety.

Element #4

Walking Audits for Seniors and Children

The BSMPO will initiate walking audit programs for the region’s senior population as well as the region’s younger population.  The audit for the later group will also be a key activity in Element # 1 Safe Routes to School. The BSMPO walking audit will utilize the Honolulu model that was developed through the Hawaiian AARP offices.  This model combines the talents of the local planning officials and volunteers within the AARP membership in conducting the audit.  It also relies upon the local radio and TV media for coverage and subsequent awareness campaigns.

The children’s walking audit efforts will be an outgrowth of the Safe Route to Schools program.  However, it will not be conducted only in and around school facilities.  These audits will be along transportation routes or specific locations that will be identified through discussions and listening sessions with neighborhood associations, boys and girls clubs, local jurisdictions’ park and recreation departments, and other appropriate groups and individuals.

Element # 5

Transportation Safety Informational Brochures

The BSMPO will periodically prepare, in concert with the appropriate entities, jurisdictions, and interest groups, informational brochures pertaining to transportation safety issues, concerns, initiatives, and proposed safety improvements for general dissemination within the BSMPO area.  It is envisioned that these brochures will be targeted to specific user groups as well as the motoring public in the attempts to inform, educate, and alert members of each group to the region’s safety challenges and opportunities.  These brochures will also be one of the two venues as proposed under Element #2 for the distribution of pertinent information generated by the various safety campaigns developed through the BSMPO.

Element #6

Promote and Support the Highway Watch Program

During fiscal year 2007, the BSMPO Staff became certified under the High Watch Program sponsored by the US Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA).  The BSMPO Staff will continue to support the Highway Watch Program and will, to the extent possible, recommend participation in this Program to the region’s interested parties, organizations and individuals.  The BSMPO will also offer itself on an on-going basis as a host for the required training subsequent to certification by the TSA.

 

THE SAFETY PLAN CONTINUES WITH
ELEMENTS 7 - 13. [Click here for more...]