"The City proactively strives through our Local Road Safety Plan to chart a strategy to make improvements to Milton’s transportation network through engineering, education, and enforcement that respect Milton’s rural heritage, enhance its quality of life, and make our roadways as safe as possible."

How can we make Milton's roads safer? 

That was the big, overarching question that the City strove to answer through the creation and execution of a Local Road Safety Plan (LRSP). This Plan details trends and issues that should be addressed, as well as proposed ways to make Milton streets safer.

Milton's LRSP -- which the City Council approved on August 1, 2022 -- can be found HERE.

EDUCATION, ENGAGEMENT AND RESOURCES

City staff made engaging and informing Milton citizens, visitors and business leaders about the Local Road Safety Plan the highest priority. To that end, below are some relevant presentations, draft reports, videos and other information from throughout the process. 

• FINAL APPROVED DOCUMENT: Local Road Safety Plan - August 1, 2022
• PRESENTATION: Local Road Safety Plan Update - July 11, 2022
• DRAFT REPORT: Tasks 1-4 (July 11)
• TAKE THIS SURVEY: Setting priorities for the Plan (closes May 30, 2022)
• VIDEO: Milton's Local Road Safety Plan
• DRAFT REPORT: Through Task 3: Identification of Strategies (April 2022)
• PRESENTATION: Local Road Safety Plan Update - April 18, 2022
• DRAFT REPORT: Through Tasks 1 and 2 - Safety Data Analysis and Identification of Emphasis Areas (January 2022)
• PRESENTATION: Local Road Safety Plan Update - January 19, 2022

EMPHASIS AREAS

Based of public feedback, City staff input and an analysis of relevant data (like crash reports and citations), the following were identified in early 2022 as "emphasis areas" for this Plan:

• Vehicle speeds
• Distracted drivers
• Roadway and shoulder conditions
• Pedestrians, bicyclists and equestrians (in other words, non-motorized modes)
• Intersection safety
• Wildlife, particularly deer

The final version of the Local Road Safety Plan featured recommendations to address each one of these emphasis areas. These revolved around a combination of engineering (i.e., tangible changes to Milton’s transportation network), education (i.e., outreach to explain to people how to keep themselves and others safe), and enforcement (i.e., what Milton Police can do to ensure everyone abides by laws for the public good).

OBJECTIVES

Broadly, Milton's Local Road Safety Plan aims to achieve the following:

• Detail specific steps that the City can take to make Milton roadways more efficient and safe
• Develop strategies to ease fears among residents who feel some roads are dangerous
• Make recommendations based on historical and contemporary data, as well as engineering analyses
• Outline priorities in terms of what Milton transportation issued should be addressed first
• Create design goals for future improvement projects that incorporate traffic calming principles 

The consultant working with the City on this plan was tasked with:

• Prioritizing and promoting community engagement
• Analyzing accident, land use and roadway data within context
• Collecting relevant data in "emphasis areas" for safety improvements
• Proposing cost-effective solutions to issues, then helping to implement them
• Producing a final Local Road Safety Plan report that will be presented to City Council

ISSUES AND DATA TO CONSIDER

Milton's Local Road Safety Plan takes into account a wealth of factors such as:

• What's the current speed limit on a road?
• What was the designed speed limit, if known?
• What traffic control devices (signals, flashers, stop signs, markings, etc.) are in place, and which ones could be added?
• What are the parameters -- such as roadway and shoulder width as well as horizontal and and vertical curve info -- for certain roads?
• How dense are driveways in a certain stretch?
• What level of bike activity is there?
• Is equestrian use/trailer movements common in a given area?
• What do traffic counts -- like annual average daily traffic and turning movements, if applicable -- tell us?
• Are there often a lot of pedestrians around?
• Are schools nearby?

TIMELINE

Milton citizens and officially have long stressed the importance of ensuring the safety of the city's roadways. These values led to the inception of an LRSP.

2019: An initiative to collect traffic information and conduct a citywide speed study led City staff to propose the pursuit of a Local Road Safety Plan that would touch on these and related issues.

2020: Leader within Milton's Police and Public Works Departments began exploring what a Local Road Safety Plan might entail. In November 2020, they made a presentation to the City Council. The Council signaled its support for City staff to continue pursuing this plan. You can view that presentation HERE.

2021: In early 2021, the City asked citizens to participate in a detailed survey to inform the direction of the Local Road Safety. The City later that year began soliciting consultants to partner with City staff on the creation of a Local Road Safety Plan.

2022: City staff and the City's partner at KCI brief the City Council regularly over the course of the year as the Local Road Safety Plan takes shape. Extensive public engagement is ongoing, including social media posts, informative videos and in-person as well as virtual forums.

August 1, 2022: City staff presented a final draft of Milton's Local Road Safety Plan to City Council, which approved it unanimously.

If you have questions about Milton's Local Road Safety Plan, contact Public Works Director Sara Leaders at sara.leaders@cityofmiltonga.us or Police Chief Rich Austin at rich.austin@cityofmiltonga.us.