With the belief that everyone has the right to move safely along Toledo streets no matter the mode of transportation, city officials unveiled Toledo Vision Zero, the city’s comprehensive transportation plan that works to reduce traffic violence.
Efforts to create a proposal began several years ago and at Monday’s Toledo City Council Streets, Public Services, and Utilities Committee meeting, city officials presented the action plan that grew out of that culmination of work. For five years beginning in 2017, nearly 800 people experienced serious injuries and 160 people died while traveling in Toledo.
“This is like our roadmap to get us to zero deaths by 2031,” Toledo Deputy Mayor Abby Arnold said before the meeting. “This really is an important day. There is a lot to the plan.”
Toledo Vision Zero incorporates a series of recommendations focused on several areas of concern, such as speed, by creating transportation systems to slow traffic.
The primary indicator as to whether or not a traffic crash will result in a fatality or severe injury is speed, said Catherine Girves, principal planner with Toole Design, who put the plan together for the city.
“There are a series of recommendations that really focus on street design and creating streets that are comfortable to travel at safe speeds,” Ms. Girves said Monday before the meeting.
Other recommendations will focus on equity, which will address the populations that are disproportionately impacted by fatalities and serious injuries.
Funding stream investments in transportation have focused on the wealthiest travelers rather than systems that are comfortable and dignified for people traveling in other modes of transportation, she said.
“People who have been historically, persistently, and systemically marginalized are more likely to die in traffic crashes,” Ms. Girves said.
Policy decisions will be data-driven and other recommendations will focus on culture change in which expectations of human life and health are prioritized when making decisions regarding a community transportation system. Once a plan is implemented, it will be reviewed and updated regularly, she said.
“Vision Zero is not a program. It's actually systematically changing the way we do business,” she said.
City officials plan to present at the April 18 meeting a resolution asking council to formally adopt the Toledo Vision Zero Plan with the goal of starting an implementation process, Ms. Arnold said. Demonstration projects could begin this summer, which will allow the city to test some of the suggested strategies on city streets, she said.
The city is using federal relief dollars to fund the Toledo Vision Zero Plan, with $60,000 allocated to creating the plan, and $1 million has been set aside to implement the program.
In addition to Toledo Vision Zero representatives behind the Lucas County Active Transportation Plan presented information about a proposal that calls for creating a community where individuals can walk, cycle or use public transportation as part of everyday travel behavior.
The proposal, presented by the YMCA of Greater Toledo and the Toledo Lucas County Health Department, works to enhance connectivity within the county.
Throughout Lucas County, the goal would be 47 miles of shared-use paths, five miles of buffered or separated bike lanes, 21 miles of bicycle lanes, 11 bicycle boulevards, and 20 miles of wide shoulders. The plan would include existing and proposed upgrades, the representatives said.
First Published March 20, 2023, 10:19 p.m.
