The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded the City of Dunwoody $200,000 in federal funding through the Safe Streets and Roads for All program.
“This award will enable Dunwoody to conduct data-driven road safety audits across the city’s high-injury corridors and pilot high-impact safety improvements,” the Jan. 15 release said.
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“This grant will help Dunwoody continue progress towards its goal of zero roadway fatalities,”Dunwoody Public Works Director Michael Smith said. “The funding will be used to evaluate conditions on the roadways experiencing the most severe crashes and identify specific action items to improve safety on those corridors.”
Previous initiatives
Last June, the council received an annual update from Jonathan DiGioia on the city’s Safe Streets Program. This program focuses on initiatives aimed at reducing fatalities and ensuring the safety of pedestrians and drivers on roadways.
The report, using data from 2017-2021, said crash types are most prevalent in Dunwoody include collisions with people walking, bicycling, using scooters, wheelchairs, or motorcycles, head-on collisions, left-angle collisions, and rear-end collisions.
Collisions with vulnerable road users and left turns together account for 53 percent of people who are killed or suffer significant injuries.
In the last few years, the group has conducted school safety walks at all of the city’s elementary schools, identifying quick fixes to make school drop-offs and pick-ups safer.
The Safe Streets program is also evaluating possible speed limit changes on several well-traveled corridors. Also, the group is exploring bike lane opportunities, including the installation of rubber markers on lane lines.
Grant money allocation
The grant will include:
• roadway audits on priority corridors within Dunwoody’s high‑injury network, as identified in the Dunwoody Road Safety Action Plan;
• traffic counts and near‑miss video analytics to assess risks;
• Community outreach to gather local input;
• audit reports with crash analysis and cost‑benefit‑ranked recommendations.
A final report on design, funding, and implementation of future safety projects will be generated. The total project budget is $250,000. This includes a $50,000 local match, which will be funded using ARPA II dollars designated for safety implementation.
