Residents to get final look at plan for safer streets

Forrest City residents will have one more opportunity to offer input on a safety action plan designed to eliminate traffic fatalities within the city. The public hearing will be held at the Forrest City Civic Center on Tuesday, from 5 to 7 p.m. Jeff Pierce, senior project manager with Garver Engineering, said the meeting will allow the public to review the plan before it is submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation for funding consideration. “Money to implement the plan is available through the federal government. They paid for us to develop the plan through a planning grant, and additional funds are available through implementation and construction grants,” said Pierce. “Taking this plan to the public is the final thing. If there are comments we will have to address those.” said Pierce. “The city will need to accept and approve the plan. They were in lockstep while we were developing it. Once that happens, the city can apply for the implementation grant if it’s available.” The city received the initial grant for the planning phase. The total grant was $454,976, of which $363,980.80 was a federal grant with a local match of $90,995.20. The planning phase will be completed once the public comment period ends on Feb. 7. The Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) plan identifies steps the city intends to take to eliminate crashes by focusing on five areas including safer roads, safer speeds, safer people, safer vehicles and optimal post-crash care. Pierce said the purpose of the project is to identify dangerous roadways and intersections within the city. “We are trying to educate people in addition to making changes to roadways,” said Pierce. “There are dangerous intersections. We want people to realize where those dangerous places are so they can slow down. If there are any additional places, we want to know about it so we can include those in the plan.” Pierce explained the document outlines a 15-year plan for the city. “It is a live plan so we can make changes whenever, or the city can. If they have things they want to add, that can be done,” said Pierce. “We pretty much have a list of projects for now, but because it is a 15-year process, we want to have all serious and fatal crashes eliminated by 2040.” The study conducted by Garver shows that between 2018 and 2022 there were 1,450 crashes within the city limits. The breakdown shows 217 crashes occurred in 2018, 225 in 2019, 339 in 2020, 374 in 2023 and 295 in 2024. Those numbers include fatal, serious injury, bicycle/pedestrian and speed-related crashes. The study also identifies 22 roads and 20 intersections in the city where most crashes occur and are included in the high-injury network (HIN). The plan outlines projects for various areas across the city including adding sidewalks, managing speed, enhancing crosswalk visibility, speed management, rumble strips and wider shoulders, among others. The high-injury network lists Washington/Highway 1B, Broadway/Highway 70 and Highway 1 as the top areas of concern. Other roadways listed in the HIN include: Deaderick Road, Holiday Drive, Division Street, Dawson Road, Highway 284, Arkansas Avenue, Dillard Avenue, Hodges Street, Turner Road, Lindauer Road, Davis Avenue, South Izard Street, Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Park Drive. There are six proposed individual projects estimated to cost more than $8.3 million. Three of those would focus on Washington/Highway 1B from MLK Drive to Interstate 40. Other projects would be on Deaderick Road from Washington to Dawson, on Dawson Road from Highway 70 to Deaderick, and Highway 70 from Mallory to Division. The plan also shows 14 projects listed as “quick build,” which would include some improvements to each street identified in the high-injury network. The total cost for those projects is estimated at $1.2 million and would focus on wider shoulders, rumble strips, signage and access management. “If we get these roads fixed safer, we can add other roads to the project,” said Pierce. He said there will be maps for the public to review at Tuesday’s meeting. “We will have displays set up for people to see. They can come and go as they please and make comments on the plan,” said Pierce. “Now is the time to speak up.”

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