Two-minute impact
The grant program—which was established by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—funds regional, local and Tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway fatalities and serious injuries. The program has $5 billion of funds to allocate between 2022-2026—and nearly $2 billion are still available for future funding rounds, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's website.
Universal City received $160,000 in grant funds from the city and has budgeted a $40,000 grant match for a transportation safety action plan.
What’s happening
The engineering firm will develop and action plan identifying high-risk traffic accident locations throughout Universal City and consider factors contributing to crashes. The plan will also prioritize strategies to address frequent accident locations—serving as a guide for future implementation, according to agenda documents.
City Manager Kim Turner told Community Impact that the safety action plan also dives into accessibility issues for pedestrians.
“When we say accessibility, we’re not just talking about people in wheelchairs, we’re also talking about people with canes, walkers, people who have visual impairment, things of that nature,” Turner said.
Looking ahead
The city will begin working with Kimley-Horn, build a website and start gathering community input to build a plan for where it needs to focus on making accessibility improvements, Turner told Community Impact.
Editor Amira Van Leeuwen contributed to this report.
