Sterling Heights City Council has approved the adoption of the city’s first-ever Comprehensive Transportation Safety Action Plan, a unique initiative supporting the city’s ongoing effort to create a safe environment for its residents.
“Our goal is to make Sterling Heights a model city for roadway safety, ensuring that everyone, whether they are driving, biking, or walking can move about safely and confidently,” Mayor Michael Taylor said in a news release.
Officials said Sterling Heights will join other communities committed to Vision Zero, a global movement that aims to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries while increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all.
The city of Sterling Heights is working to achieve this goal by 2050 through the Safe System Approach, strategic planning, engineering advancements and community engagement.
“The Traffic Calming Program is a significant step forward in achieving Vision Zero and making our streets safer for all,” Taylor said.
The Comprehensive Transportation Safety Action Plan will help to support the city’s Traffic Calming Program, which is designed to address vehicle speeding and traffic safety concerns on city streets. The program enables the citywide Traffic Calming Task Force, an internal group of city administrators and consultants, to collaborate with residents to identify concerns, conduct studies, and implement solutions that reduce vehicle speeds, discourage distracted and reckless driving behaviors, and improve safety for all modes of transportation.
To further expand on the program residents are being encouraged to actively participate in shaping safer streets through the Traffic Calming Request Form, which allows individuals to report concerns about speeding, excess traffic, bicycle or pedestrian safety, and other roadway hazards.
Requests submitted by residents will be analyzed and incorporated into the Traffic Calming Program’s Progress Report, a newly-developed Safety Calming Dashboard accessible on the city’s website at sterlingheights.gov/trafficcalming. This dashboard provides real-time updates on locations under review, the status of ongoing projects, and future implementation plans based on community input and traffic studies.
This latest initiative follows previous pilot projects and safety measures that have already been implemented to enhance roadway safety. These have included speed cushions to reduce vehicle speeds while maintaining emergency response times, traffic circles to control traffic flow and encourage safer speeds at intersections, medians to narrow roadways and provide pedestrian refuge areas, curb extensions to slow turning vehicles and create safer pedestrian crossings, rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) at key crosswalks to improve visibility for pedestrians, and painted crosswalks with highly visible designs to alert drivers to pedestrian zones.
“The Traffic Calming Program represents a collaborative effort between city leadership, law enforcement, and our residents,” interim Police Chief Ken Pappas said. “By working together and leveraging data-driven solutions, we are taking meaningful steps to make our roadways safer and more accessible for everyone.”
The most significant traffic calming studies being done under this program focus on Ryan Road, from 14 Mile Road to Dobry Drive, which is one of the highest crash corridors in Sterling Heights. The study, based on extensive community feedback, will assess safety improvement concepts aimed at making Ryan Road a safer corridor for all users. Proposed enhancements will focus on reducing crashes, accommodating non-motorized traffic, and optimizing traffic flow.
“The reimagination of Ryan Road is one of our top priorities,” said Brent Bashaw, city engineer. “By taking a proactive approach and seeking federal funding that can help make important safety measures a reality, we are ensuring that Sterling Heights remains at the forefront of traffic safety innovation.”
In moving to approve the Comprehensive Traffic Safety Action Plan, City Council has positioned Sterling Heights to pursue state and federal grants that can help the city continue to prioritize roadway safety for all residents, businesses and visitors.
