WAUWATOSA, Wis. — Milwaukee County is working to have zero deaths on all county roads in five years and a new grant is supposed to help achieve that goal.
“I am so excited about it,” said Donna Brown-Martin, director of Milwaukee County Department of Transportation.
Brown-Martin feels like she won the lottery for all the municipalities in the county after learning they would receive a million-dollar federal grant.
“It really lends itself to helping the county use part of that money for a county-wide action plan that really gets at Safe Streets for All, eliminating injuries and deaths to zero by 2028. That is an ambitious goal, but we are not going to shy away from that,” said Brown-Martin.
On top of that, the City of Milwaukee also got part of this national grant. It was awarded $4.4 million to work alongside the county on a Safer Streets For All plan. In total, more than $800 million was given out across the country as part of the infrastructure law known as Build Back Better.
As part of this grant, Milwaukee County will look to see what is contributing to deaths on the road, including if there is a racial disparity issue behind it.
“A lot of that data we are hoping to find, who is being most impacted in this area and whether or not there is a racial inequity component to that. That will be flushed out in the analysis we are doing,” said Brown-Martin.
This grant also builds on itself and opens the door for Milwaukee County to get more money from the federal government to fix areas that are causing crashes, injuries, or deaths. Brown-Martin says if a road needs protected bike lanes, speed bumps, or a complete reconfiguration, just as an example, that is something each municipality could ask the federal government to pay for. On top of that, she says it will really be up to the community to decide how federal money gets spent to make their own streets safer.
“Over the next four years we have the ability to apply for additional funding for implementation of those projects and solutions that we devise as part of this effort,” said Brown-Martin.
If you want your voice heard on what is making the streets dangerous in your community, Milwaukee County will be hosting listening sessions throughout the county. We will bring you the dates as soon as they become available. They are going to start in March.
