The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) awarded $250,000 in technical assistance to five local projects that have the potential to improve safety on the region’s roadways, especially for its underserved communities. The board also approved a letter to the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia calling for a reciprocal agreement for enforcing citations issued by automated traffic citation devices.

Five roadway safety projects, supported under the TPB’s Regional Roadway Safety Program, will receive expert consultant services to help with planning and design of the road safety projects. The projects were primarily selected for their potential to save lives and reduce injuries on the region’s roadways. Other important factors in the selection process included a focus on serving Equity Emphasis Areas (EEAs), or areas with larger concentrations of minority and low-income populations, potential for addressing road user behavior such as speeding or distracted driving, and collaboration among jurisdictions and agencies, among other criteria. 

The five projects include:  

• Planting Seeds for Regional Roadway Safety, One Traffic Garden at a Time (Arlington and Prince George’s Counties) - $35,000

Consultant services to create school-based traffic garden layouts; traffic gardens are small-scale street networks that provide a safe space for children to practice active transportation.

• Improving the Capabilities and Availability of a "Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety Analytics Application" (City of Alexandria) - $45,000

In partnership with NOVA Families for Safe Streets, improve an existing near-miss reporting tool and create an associated smartphone app. 

• S. Washington Street Planning Opportunity Area Pedestrian Network (City of Falls Church) - $50,000

A study of the existing pedestrian network for the City’s South Washington Street Corridor Planning Opportunity Area to identify needed pedestrian or intersection improvements or areas that could benefit from traffic calming measures.

• Graham Park Road Safety Improvements Road Diet and Roundabout (Prince William County) - $60,000

Project provides preliminary engineering for a four-to-two lane road diet along Graham Park Road and a roundabout at its intersection with Old Triangle Road.

• Harrison Lane Corridor Pedestrian Improvements (Fairfax County) - $60,000

Project to identify and design treatments at four intersections along the Harrison Lane Corridor to improve pedestrian safety and slow vehicle speeds.

Projects were selected by a panel of representatives from the Maryland Highway Safety Office, District Department of Transportation, Virginia Department of Transportation, and TPB staff. The projects will be scheduled for completion by October 31, 2022.

Reciprocal Agreement on Enforcing Automated Traffic Citations

In addition, at Wednesday’s meeting the TPB approved a letter to the Governors of Maryland and Virginia and the Mayor of the District of Columbia urging creation of a multijurisdictional safety task force to work on a reciprocity agreement between the states to enforce traffic citations issued by automated traffic enforcement (ATE) devices—like red light cameras and speed enforcement cameras. It also called for a review of states’ existing traffic laws and criteria for automated enforcement for consistency in working toward regional safety goals.

According to the letter, “Appropriately designed, data-driven automated enforcement systems have had success in many parts of the nation in improving safety outcomes for speeding, red light running, and other infractions that states and the District may choose to enforce through automated enforcement systems. But the high levels of cross-boundary driving in the National Capital Region, combined with the lack of interjurisdictional reciprocity for automated traffic enforcement penalties, has resulted in fewer drivers being held accountable for their dangerous driving behaviors, thereby diminishing this strategy’s effectiveness.”

The TPB's actions are the result of its priority to understand and reduce the number of injuries and fatalities occurring on the region’s roadways. The TPB adopted its regional roadway safety policy in July 2020, endorsing a set of shared actions and strategies that advance roadway safety and equity.

MORE: 
About the Regional Safety Program 
Letter in Support of Establishing Interjurisdictional Reciprocity of Automated Enforcement Citations