In 2023, the city of Fresno, CA received a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the development of safer streets for pedestrians and bicyclists. The initiative is called the Vision Zero Plan, and its goal is to eliminate traffic fatalities for bicyclists and pedestrians in Fresno.
The Vision Zero safety program was first implemented in Sweden in the 1990s and has been very effective in reducing traffic fatalities across Europe. It is currently being utilized in hundreds of cities across the United States, although it is still new to Fresno. The Vision Zero Plan blueprint is to make changes to a city’s infrastructure and pass stricter traffic laws to make streets safer for bicycles and pedestrians. Some common changes include redesigning intersections and installing more bike lanes.
Local government and community leaders, bicycle coalition members, and the general public have all contributed to making Vision Zero a reality throughout the country. The $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation has already been earmarked to improve roads in Fresno and make them more friendly to pedestrians and bicycles. The City of Fresno itself has also contributed $100,000 as a local match for the grant.
Fresno’s public works department is working to develop a Vision Zero task force this year. Their first meeting was in September 2024, and public engagement meetings are scheduled to run into 2025.
Previous public safety initiatives such as Fresno’s Active Transportation Plan (ATP) have been effective in making city streets somewhat safer for pedestrians and bicyclists, but annual traffic data reports show an increasing level of danger on Fresno’s streets for drivers and non-drivers alike. There were at least 1,586 vehicle collisions in Fresno in 2023 that resulted in a total of 51 fatalities. There were also at least 91 recorded cycling accidents and 187 accidents involving pedestrians that year. This continues an upward trend from 2022. It will be a while before statistics for 2024 are known, but it’s likely that the upward trend of traffic accidents in Fresno will continue.
It’s clear that Fresno still has a long way to go before its streets are completely safe for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists, but the Vision Zero plan is a step in the right direction. Although there won’t be many major changes to Fresno streets for a while, we can hopefully expect to see a more bicycle-and-pedestrian-friendly city within the next decade.
