Vision Zero Success Story – Partnership and Public Engagement

Background

In 2012, the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) partnered with the Broward Regional Health Planning Council, Smart Growth Partnerships, the Health Foundation of South Florida, and municipal public works and traffic engineering departments to develop the Broward Complete Streets Guidelines. In 2018, the Broward MPO adopted a goal of zero traffic fatalities and developed a Complete Streets Master Plan. This Plan, which reflected the zero goal and stemmed from the previous guidelines, helps to guide future investment in Complete Streets improvements by developing a prioritized list of projects based on technical, data-driven analysis, applied criteria, partner input, and access to transit. The MPO identified projects based on Complete Streets principles that create safer streets.

The Master Plan identified corridors based on higher demand for walking, biking, and a higher concentration of vulnerable populations based on nationally-recognized, equity indicators selected to represent Broward’s context. The MPO conducted walking audits on high-ranking corridors to increase public involvement in the planning process.

The walking audits engaged stakeholders, residents, technical staff, elected officials, and representatives of non-traditional transportation partners (i.e., YMCA, AARP). Walking audits provided a real-time practical opportunity and experience of current conditions, assessed challenges and opportunities, and proposed recommendations that help determine the improvements that will be implemented. Walking audits also identified safety and maintenance issues that needed to be addressed immediately. The process included working with jurisdictional owners to address and correct the issues identified.