OKC Receives Grant To Reduce Pedestrian Roadway Fatalities

Oklahoma City is one of the most dangerous cities when it comes to fatal crashes involving pedestrians, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. 

Now Oklahoma City officials are taking steps to address this devastating problem.  

 The City has identified the most dangerous roads in OKC and is putting together an action plan to make them safer for everyone with the help of a federal grant.  

 “When we were evaluating for this grant, we found that we were the fourth highest fatality rate of major cities in the United States,” Justin Henry, the Oklahoma City Transportation Program Planner, said.  

 According to their research between 2016 and 2020 Oklahoma City saw 402 vehicle-involved fatalities with a fatality rate of 12.3 per 1,000 people. Jacksonville ranked the highest with a 15.7 fatality rate followed by Dallas (13.7), Phoenix (12.6) and then Oklahoma City.  

 “There’s a lot of streets in Oklahoma City that are unfortunately very dangerous. NW Expressway is one where we see way too many fatalities, 59th St. and Penn, around those two streets there is a lot of fatalities,” Henry said.  

 With their data, the city is ready to come up with a plan to keep transit riders, cyclists, and pedestrians safer with the help of the U.S. Department of Transportation.  

 “The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was the big bipartisan infrastructure bill that was passed. It had a big robust program that focuses on safety and that’s kind of the direction we were going in internally as well,” Henry said.  

 Henry said the City will get $800,000 from the federal government and $200,000 in matching funds from the City. 

 “This will be a very collaborative effort among the city organizations. The police department is going to be helping us from an enforcement side. Embark is going to be involved and they have drivers driving these city streets and they see a lot of things as well,” Henry said.  

 People can expect additional sidewalks, signage and upgraded lighting in certain areas.  

 “We might see in police collision reports that there is a lack of lighting where we need to put extra streetlights in and that might help us prevent some of those accidents, things like that,” said Henry.  

 The city expects the planning process and the implementation to take 18 months. They will also host open meetings for residents to put in their input.