About the Project
What is a safety action plan?
Safety Action Plans act as roadmaps to reduce and eliminate serious-injury and fatal crashes impacting all roadway users in a community, including people in vehicles, walking, bicycling, rolling, and using transit. Action plans use data analysis and community input to identify what traffic safety problems are, how they occur, and what countermeasures a community can use to reduce safety risks.
Who is developing the Greater Ashburn Safety Action Plan?
The safety action plan is being developed by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) and a consulting team, with the Greater Ashburn Development Association acting at the project’s community partner. Ashburn community members and stakeholders will be involved in the planning process to provide local expertise and ongoing input.
The Greater Ashburn Development Association (GADA) is working with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) to create a safety action plan for the Greater Ashburn community area. The goal of the plan is to eliminate deaths and serious injuries caused by traffic crashes in Greater Ashburn. The plan’s recommendations for achieving this goal will be informed by data analysis, community input, and best practices.
The Greater Ashburn Safety Action Plan will use a Safe Systems approach—a framework that uses preventative, multi-layered strategies to prevent crashes from happening in the first place while reducing harm when they do occur. As shown in the figure, a safe systems approach prioritizes the elimination of fatal and severe traffic crashes among all road users, focusing on those that are most vulnerable, including people walking and bicycling. |
What happens after the plan is finished?
After completing the plan, the Greater Ashburn community can work with the City of Chicago Department of Transportation and other eligible partners to leverage funding from the federal Safe Streets for All (SS4A) program to implement projects and strategies recommended in the plan.
Why does Ashburn need a safety action plan?
Between 2019 and 2023, 6,293 crashes occurred in Ashburn. 175 of these crashes resulted in 202 serious injuries and 19 fatalities. These tragedies can be prevented through coordinated efforts to make roads and streets safer for all road users. A safety action plan is a crucial tool to identify why severe and fatal crashes are occurring, where they are occurring, and what kinds of responses are needed to reduce them.
How can I stay involved?
We want to hear from you! You can share your input or ideas during our in-person events or through the online survey. We will have three events scheduled for November 2024, winter 2025, and early summer 2025. Please reach out to the project team with questions or input through the contact information listed above.
Who is CMAP?
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) is the regional planning agency for northeastern Illinois. CMAP serves the Chicago region's seven counties and 284 municipalities. CMAP and its partners are implementing the ON TO 2050, a long-range plan to help the counties and communities of northeastern Illinois implement strategies that address transportation, housing, economic development, open space, the environment, and other quality-of-life issues. To learn more about CMAP, visit www.cmap.illinois.gov.
The Greater Ashburn Safety Action Plan is part of CMAP’s Technical Assistance program and funded through CMAP’s safety program, Safe Travel for All Roadmap (STAR). Concurrently, CMAP is working with six counties — Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will — to develop safety action plans as part of CMAP’s STAR program. The plans will identify context-specific strategies to improve roadway safety for all users, particularly vulnerable users. Learn more about the Cook County Safety Action Plan, in which the City of Chicago is part of, at this link.