Franklin County, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket team up to improve road safety

Relying on their shared rural character instead of geographic proximity, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and the communities of Franklin County are sharing a federal grant to improve road safety.

This past winter, the Nantucket Planning and Economic Development Commission, working with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, won a $460,000 grant through the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All program. The three regions will use the funding to hire and share a consultant to develop three separate comprehensive safety action plans.

Leaders from the three regions said they collaborated because of their common rural challenges, and for the ability to maximize the grant’s benefits among their smaller staffs. In particular, they said, the grant would help elevate road safety issues for rural communities, given their concerns that safety efforts, planning initiatives and funding opportunities sometimes have a more urban or suburban focus.

“It made sense because we all have safety issues, and the character of our roads can be a little bit different than in the more urbanized areas, and in the problems that we’re facing,” said Beth Giannini, the Franklin County council’s transportation manager. “Even though we each were different … we could help each other.”

The grant came from $800 million in Safe Streets and Roads for All funding announced in February, funded by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The federal program is awarding both planning and implementation grants to help prevent deaths and serious injuries on roadways, through efforts ranging from redesigned roads to improved sidewalks.

The participants said they hope their plans will help them better articulate goals for road safety and prioritize projects, put them in a better position to win grants, and provide greater analysis and insight into their specific situations.

Bill Veno, senior planner for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, said the safety plan will help the communities assess road safety “in maybe a more uniform or more understandable manner.”

Martha’s Vineyard officials said their rural roadways come with particular safety challenges, and they seek plans to make their roads and streets safer for all users, including drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. The communities want to protect their rural character, which includes many narrow roads that lack multiple travel lanes, turning lanes, or significant shoulders — roads that cannot be easily widened. Officials acknowledge, though, that they have plenty of drivers speeding down the narrow roads.

The tourist season only adds to the safety challenges on the islands, bringing visitors and seasonal workers who are unfamiliar with the roads or who may not have vehicles to get around, said Patrick Reed, former transportation program manager in Nantucket, who now works on transportation for the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission.

“We want to promote safety, but we don’t necessarily want giant roads and rights of way,” Reed said.

Reed said the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission is sharing a Safe Streets grant with the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments. The two more densely developed regions will use their $375,233 grant, combined with $93,808 from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, to create two comprehensive safety action plans.

Though communities and regions possess substantial knowledge about what makes roads safer, Reed said, that information has traditionally been dispersed throughout numerous documents.

“All of this is out there,” Reed said. “But at the national level, and trickling down to the local level, is this idea that we need to put these different, disparate ideas about good planning in one place for safety purposes.”