Municipalities consider safety resolution to satisfy bike/ped grant
The Metro Wire introduced a story on the grant award in December 2023.
By Brandi Makuski
Various municipalities this month will consider approving a resolution that aspires to eliminate roadway deaths and serious injuries.
Stevens Point, Plover, Whiting, and Park Ridge were jointly awarded a $200,000 Multi-Jurisdictional Planning and Demonstration Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Approving the safety resolution is a condition of the grant.
Funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, Portage County is one of 11 communities in Wisconsin that won awards in the 2023 application cycle.
According to Adam Kuhn, the associate planner in Stevens Point, a joint resolution must be entered into by the governing bodies to show their “commitment to reducing and eliminating roadway deaths and
serious injuries.”
Kuhn said the resolution is not legally binding through the grant reporting process, so “if serious injuries do not decrease throughout the grant reporting timeline, we would not be required to reimburse awarded grant dollars.”
The resolution will first be considered by the Stevens Point Bicycle and Pedestrian Street Safety Commission, followed by the city’s Board of Public Works and Common Council.
According to Plover Village Administrator Steve Kenst, the grant is helping pay for updates to the Portage Co. Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan. The plan, a network of multimodal routes planned for connecting communities across the county, hasn’t been updated since it was approved by county leaders in 2014, Kunst said. It’s so old that the files are still published online via a free WordPress website.
Elected officials from the affected municipalities had glowing words for the grant award, with Park Ridge Village President Steve Menzel saying that the grant will “help make our roads and neighborhoods even safer and more vibrant for generations to come,” and Village President Dean Curtis from Whiting calling the grant award “rewarding,” in a press release from the community development department in Stevens Point.
Kunst said the planning updates are the first of three phases for implementing the countywide plan. Updates are expected to begin this spring, he said.
The Stevens Point Bicycle and Pedestrian Street Safety Commission meets at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, in the Community Room of the Stevens Point Police Department, 933 Michigan Ave. The public is welcome to attend.
The resolution follows:
PORTAGE COUNTY: MULTIJURISDICTIONAL COMMITMENT TO ELIMINATE ROADWAY FATALITIES: SAFE STREETS AND ROAD FOR ALL (SS4A) GRANT AWARD WHEREAS, on December 13th, 2023, Portage County and its partners (City of Stevens Point and Villages of Plover, Whiting, and Park Ridge) were awarded a $200,000 multijurisdictional (Planning and Demonstration) grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation, Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and;
WHEREAS, the $200,000 grant funding provided by the U.S. DOT will cover the majority of the costs associated with the $250,000 project proposed to holistically address roadway safely throughout the County and within its municipalities, and;
WHEREAS, Portage County and its municipal jurisdictions understand the importance of transportation safety, community connectivity, and public participation and collaboration, and;
WHEREAS, through the SS4A grant funding, Portage County will solicit for and contract a private consulting firm to meet the three main objectives of the grant application, and;
WHEREAS, such specific objectives include the creation of a (1) Portage County Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Action Plan, (2) update the 2014 Portage County Countywide Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan as a supplemental safety plan and (3) implement a variety of Demonstration Activities throughout the County; and
WHEREAS, through achieving the goals and objectives outlined in the grant application, Portage County is taking an active role in improving roadway safety for all roadway users, and;
WHEREAS, Portage County and its residents will collaborate and establish a Task Force and sub–committee to give direction to the consulting firm as it relates to the creation of the Safe Streets and Roads for All Action Plan, updated Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, and the implementation of demonstration activities in holistic and equitable manner, utilizing a multi–prong approach of public engagement in order to maximize community representation/feedback to ensure the three objectives meet the needs of residents, have local support, and are implementable.
NOW, THEREFORE, BY THE SIGNATURE AND ATTESTATION BELOW, that the Portage County Board of Supervisors, the Stevens Point Common Council, the Village Board of the Village of Plover, the Village Board of the Village of Whiting, and the Village Board of the Village of Park Ridge, publicly commit to eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries by 2045 and adopt the final Action Plan & PCCBPP after a 24–month period of performance.
Goals: incrementally reduce fatalities and serious injuries over the next two decades with the goal of eliminating roadway deaths and serious injuries elimination by 2045.
