Rochester awarded $23.7M for safe streets
Federal grant to fund traffic safety features
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has announced significant federal funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure & Jobs Law for Rochester. With the grant proposal written by Mayor Malik Evans, Rochester City Council, Reconnect Rochester, and various other groups, the city was awarded the largest Safe Streets and Roads for All grant in the state — worth $23.7 million.
“People need to safely use our streets, to get to work, to go to doctor appointments, to take the kids to school and more. Rochester’s streets, unfortunately, have seen more pedestrian and cyclist injury and death due to crashes than any other midsized city in New York,” Schumer said. “And unfortunately, Rochester tops the list when it comes to fatal crashes. In fact, there is an average of 1.35 injuries or deaths of pedestrians or cyclists each day on Rochester’s roads.”
Just last month, one of Schumer’s interns was hit by a car while biking to work. Fortunately. she is OK, he said.
According to Schumer, Rochester had a record-high number of pedestrian and cyclist deaths last year. Schumer said that the lives lost due to crashes are a sad reminder of how much we need road safety.
Some of the improvements funded by this grant are barrier bike lanes, pedestrian islands, raised crosswalks, improved signals, a bike spine network connecting the north-south and east-west spine of the city, and the city’s first connected bike corridor from East Main Street to Chili Avenue.
“This is a vital part of our work to make sure that some of the most dangerous roadways in our community are going to be safer and more accessible,” U.S. Rep. Joseph Morelle said. “And in doing that makes our neighborhoods safer because people who cycle, people who are pedestrians, who use the roadways getting to health care providers, to community centers, to job opportunities, to public spaces,
continue the goal of building a better future for our families by breaking down those barriers, which hold families back and which bring a critical resources and support to historically marginalized or lower income neighborhoods.”
Rochester is the second city in the state to have a Vision Zero program, a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries while promoting safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for all.
According to the most recent “Dangerous By Design” report, pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. rose by 75% between 2012 and 2022. Over this decade, 61,459 pedestrians were struck and killed by drivers, compared to 45,935 in the previous 10-year period ending in 2012.
The year 2022 was the deadliest, with 7,522 pedestrian fatalities, marking a 40-year record.
Locally, Reconnect Rochester’s Monroe County Crash Map shows that from 2013 to 2022, there were over 5,000 crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists. On average, 12 people lose their lives on local roads each year due to these incidents.
“More than half of residents in Rochester don’t have a car, so we need to make sure that they have safe passage, and this [improvements by received grant] does this,” Mayor Malik Evans said. “We are going to use this money wisely. We will implement transformational improvements — these enhancements will not only make our streets significantly safer but also foster more connected and accessible transportation networks and lead us to a more prosperous future.”
Justice Marbury is the 19th Ward reporter. She loves her energetic puppy, Hiro. Contact her on Instagram @justice_marbury and by email at jmarbury@gannett.com .