Thurston Regional Planning Council pursues coordinated safety action plan to reduce traffic injuries

The Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) has selected a consultant team to begin work on its Regional Safety Action Plan (RSAP), an initiative designed to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries throughout Thurston County.

TRPC planner Aidan Dixon said contracts with the consultant are being finalized. The project is funded through a $332,520 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program. The TRPC is providing an $83,130 local match.

The RSAP is going to serve as a regional “safety playbook,” combining data analysis, community input, and proven strategies into a single, unified system.

Its goal is to move the region from scattered, individual efforts to a coordinated and prioritized approach. It would align local and regional initiatives around shared safety priorities.

The plan is also going to position jurisdictions to be ready for future federal safety funding opportunities, creating a foundation for ongoing, proactive improvements to transportation safety.

“The plan will develop a shared regional approach to improving transportation safety in our county,” said Dixon to the planning council at a meeting on Feb. 6.

Currently, Thurston County and Lacey have federally compliant Safety Action Plans. Olympia and Yelm have completed local road safety efforts but do not yet meet all SS4A requirements. Some jurisdictions have not adopted formal safety plans.

“To compete for SS4A implementation grants, jurisdictions must have an adopted SS4A-compliant Safety Action Plan. This regional effort will help us ensure that the entire region is positioned to pursue those future funding opportunities,” Dixon said.

The plan is designed to bring all participating jurisdictions into compliance through a single, coordinated plan rather than requiring each city to conduct separate planning processes.

According to a staff report, equity will be a central focus of the plan, prioritizing communities and populations that experience higher safety risks and barriers to safe travel.

That will be achieved through data-driven analysis, inclusive engagement, and coordination with partner agencies to ensure strategies reflect community needs.

The plan is also going to include stakeholder and public engagement, including coordination with local jurisdictions, targeted outreach, and opportunities for public input on draft materials.

Dixon emphasized the RSAP is intended to move the region from reacting to crashes to proactively reducing risk across the transportation system. He also said federal SS4A compliance emphasizes systemwide coverage, regional coordination, and equity analysis — criteria not fully addressed by some existing local plans.

“We continue to see people killed and seriously injured on our transportation system every year,” Dixon said.

The TRPC has adopted Target Zero, aligning safety targets in the Regional Transportation Plan and the Congestion Management Process.

Target Zero is Washington’s statewide goal to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries.

Dixon noted while current trends fall short of those goals, the region now has a better understanding of how to prevent the crashes than in the past. The RSAP will return to the council for updates and policy direction.