By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Somerville may be just four square miles in size, but 119 linear miles of roadways criss-cross our city, and last year, 636 crashes (224 of them resulting in injury) were reported on those roads. This is unsettling and unacceptable because crashes leading to serious injuries and fatalities are preventable. As the most densely populated city in New England, we have thousands on our roads at any given time in cars, on bikes, on foot, and on their way to public transit. This activity creates vibrancy, but it also creates danger. As we strive to be the most walkable, bikeable, transit-friendly city in the country, we must also reaffirm our dedication to safer roadways for all users.

Earlier this month we did just that when I announced the launch of the Vision Zero Somerville initiative. Vision Zero is a broad and far-reaching strategy that aims to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries while increasing public safety, public health, and equitable mobility options for all. Yes, it’s an ambitious goal, and success will not come overnight. The structural—and cultural – changes needed will take time, resources, and patience. But we have set our target and, in Somerville, that means we’ll do everything we can to reach it. We’re also not alone.

We now join 27 other communities – small cities, large cities, and even a county – from Alaska to Florida in bolstering our commitment to safer streets by proactively planning for the future of mobility. Boston and Cambridge are among our fellow Vision Zero cities, and we will coordinate with them on addressing regional challenges and achieving shared goals.  But make no mistake; we’re not looking at a blanket approach to solve our mobility and transportation problems because we know that some of the challenges each city faces are unique.

One of those unique challenges for our Vision Zero work is around aligning our transportation systems to our other community-driven priorities. When we were creating our 20-year SomerVision plan, you, the community identified goals for environmental sustainability, public health and safety, social equity, revitalized economic activity, and more. Transportation challenges impact each of these areas. So as we pursue Vision Zero, we’ll be keeping SomerVision goals front and center. City staff across departments will collaborate to ensure that as we work to create the multi-modal transportation system that SomerVision calls for (cars, bikes, pedestrians, and transit) and that promotes safety, that the system itself also moves us closer to our other community’s priorities, rather than farther away from them.

While the systems aren’t there yet, we’re already seeing a shift in the community’s mobility patterns and behaviors. Long gone are the days of Somerville being a cut-through for drivers on the way to Boston. We already know that an estimated nearly 8 percent of Somervillians commute on a bicycle while approximately 12 percent commute on foot, and data from the annual bike and pedestrian count hints that those numbers will continue to rise. Meanwhile the number of vehicles on some city roadways has remained steady over the past 8 years, as opposed to increasing like other forms of transportation.

With more vulnerable roadway users out on our streets, it’s critical that we take seriously our Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries, but we need your help to do it. Not only will we need all traffic participants to commit to doing their part to enhance safety. The Vision Zero initiative will also create an action plan that outlines a multi-faceted approach for safer roadways through enforcement, education, redesigning streets, and more. This is Somerville after all, so the community process will be integral in determining our short-, medium-, and long-term goals as well as the strategies we deploy to achieve them. Stay tuned because the calls for community input will begin soon, and the action plan will be released in 2018.

Meanwhile, we’ll continue other ongoing transportation and mobility work. Last year we lowered the speed limit from 30 to 25 mph on most city streets, and we’re continuing the work around creating 20 mph safety zones. We’re also working on building the City’s first speed database so that we can continue to use different types of data to inform our policy decisions. The City’s first parking-protected bike lane was recently unveiled on Washington Street, as was the new midblock crosswalk and flashing beacon at Union Square. Additional projects like these and ongoing infrastructure work like that on Beacon Street, which when completed will include raised and separated bicycle facilities as well as pedestrian beacons at high-demand crosswalks, will continue throughout the development of the Vision Zero Action Plan.

I was proud to stand alongside members of our Board of Aldermen, community advocates, and City staff to make Somerville’s commitment to Vision Zero and make clear our prioritization of traffic safety. I know this will be long, hard work. There will surely be challenges and setbacks along the way. But I’ve seen this community in action, and I know that together we can come up with creative solutions to tackle our challenges and plan for safer Somerville streets.