TARCOG wants public’s thoughts on Regional Safety Action Plan

MADISON – The Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments or TARCOG wants the public’s thoughts on its new Regional Safety Action Plan.

Officials have worked on the Regional Safety Action Plan for transportation for 1.5 years to prepare it for public review and comment.

TARCOG’S consultant, Alta Planning + Design, led the plan’s development process. This collaborative approach involved regional stakeholders with county and city engineers; planners and public safety personnel; and ALDOT representatives. In addition, extensive public outreach and surveying obtained helpful information.

Lee Terry, TARCOG’s Director of Economic Development and Planning, asks that anyone who lives, works and drives in northeast Alabama to review the plan and provide input. To give comments on the plan or to ask questions, individuals can email planning@tarcog.us.

Deadline for input is 5 p.m. on March 21.

The area project focuses on DeKalb, Jackson, Marshall and portions of Limestone and Madison counties. Started in August 2023, funding for the project originated with Safe Streets and Roads for All or SS4A grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration.

TARCOG, as the region’s Rural Planning Organization, identified an opportunity with SS4A. This approach capitalized on leveraging federal funds to identify safety issues in regional roadways, along with developing a toolkit for methods to effectively address identified issues.

The plan’s main goal is to identify vehicle accident hotspots with a high injury network that will disclose a set of effective countermeasures to address the types of accidents identified at each hotspot. Another major goal is to advance the adoption of Vision Zero policies across the region. The intent is to implement strategies that reduce the number of fatal accidents to zero.

The TARCOG and Alta planning teams are soliciting public feedback on the final draft of the plan before consideration for adoption. Officials encourage any resident examining the document who finds possible corrections or has general questions to reach out to TARCOG staff before the deadline on March 21.

The consultant will receive all comments and will review these for inclusion in the final document that officials present for adoption.

TARCOG employees hope that the data and countermeasures presented in this document strengthen local decisionmakers’ pursuit of funding initiatives that make roadways safer for all users.

For more information, call TARCOG’s Economic Development and Planning Staff at 256-830-0818, or visit bit.ly/tarcog_ input.