District seeking Safe Streets feedback

Funding is available to make travel safer.

East Central Indiana Regional Planning District is seeking feedback on what areas need the most attention.

The planning district is in the final stages of working through a planning grant to seek implementation funding for projects through the Safe Streets and Roads For All federal grant program. The program, created through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, focuses on preventing roadway deaths and serious injuries. There is almost $2 billion in funding available for projects nationwide.

Goals for the grant program include reducing traffic-related injuries and fatalities, creating sustainable infrastructure, promoting economic growth, enhancing mobility and connectivity. It focuses on implementation of Vision Zero, a national road safety strategy that integrates engineering, education and enforcement, and the safe system approach, a philosophy that acknowledges human error is inevitable. Utilizing those approaches, Indiana Department of Transportation is seeking to address and mitigate areas of risk.

Funding can be used for projects involving streets, sidewalks, bike trails, signs, lights, pedestrian walkways and other related items. (In 2024, Indianapolis received nearly $20 million and Shelbyville got about $3.5 million in implementation grants.)

East Central Indiana Regional Planning District is leading the grant effort for Jay, Blackford, Delaware and Grant counties in partnership with Delaware Muncie Metropolitan Plan Commission and engineering consultant American Structurepoint.

“If we can get that regional cooperation, it will help all of us,” said Matthew Nichols, the project manager for the program.

The current planning stage involves gathering data and doing other preparation work.

Nichols spent the summer and early fall visiting fairs, festivals and farmers markets to share information and seek feedback. Through the end of the year, he plans to visit local government bodies to share information about the program. The planning district is also looking for feedback from the public.

A 21-question survey is available at bit.ly/ecirpdssrfa. Respondents can identify intersections that are unsafe and suggest improvements for those areas.

An interactive map is also available at bit.ly/ecirpdssrfamap. It allows members of the public to “drop a pin” at intersections they feel are unsafe. (The interactive map currently shows one active pin in Jay County, at the intersection of Indiana 67 and county road 600 South on the southwest side of Redkey.)

“We need feedback,” said Nichols, adding that he has gathered about 100 surveys thus far. “We need data. Because that’s how we’re going to get our answers and get our projects.”

The data gathered from the surveys will be used along with crash data collected over the past decade to determine the areas that could most benefit from safety improvements and what projects will be selected to apply for funding.

The planning grant runs through the end of the year, after which East Central Indiana Regional Planning District will work on an action plan in early 2026. It will be used to apply for grant funding to implement the selected projects, with a decision expected by fall 2026.