This
plan is a collaborative effort between the City of Newark and the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) with input from stakeholders and the community. The plan's intent is two-fold: to serve as a guide for city staff to prioritize locations of greatest concern and also to inform the public where the city intends to focus its efforts.
The plan, which was completed in February 2016 and adopted by the Newark City Council in May 2016, offers data and analysis, a summary of outreach efforts, a proposal for implementing improvements, and a safety toolbox – a comprehensive set of measurements that can be used to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety citywide.
Vision Statement
The City of Newark is committed to reducing pedestrian fatalities to zero of the next 10 years by creating policy, developing programs and improving infrastructure to support and safely accommodate walking and bicycling on our streets.
Background
In 2011, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) designated the City of Newark a Pedestrian Safety Focus City because its pedestrian fatality rates exceeded the national average.
Cities are identified as pedestrian focus cities if they average more than 20 average pedestrian fatalities per year or have a pedestrian fatality rate greater than 2.33 per 100,000 population. In addition to training and technical assistance related to pedestrian safety, the FHWA recommends that each pedestrian focus city develop and implement a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan to identify where to address pedestrian safety issues with the goal of reducing the frequency and severity of pedestrian crashes.
FHWA recommends that each focus city develop and implement a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan to identify where to address pedestrian safety issues in order to reduce the frequency and severity of pedestrian crashes.
The Newark Pedestrian Safety Action Plan looks at five years of crash data. Between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2013, there were 2,205 pedestrian crashes in Newark, including 31 fatalities. During the same time period, there were 46,481 total crashes, with pedestrian crashes representing 4.7 percent of all crashes. Though pedestrian crashes amount to a small percentage of total crashes, they are often more severe and account for 34 percent of all fatalities in the City Newark (compared to 29 percent statewide), 28 percent of incapacitating injuries and 24 percent of moderate injuries in the city.
Funding for this plan was provided by the FHWA Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) through the NJTPA.