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Changes to major Austin intersections lead to fewer crashes, new report shows

It's part of an Austin Transportation Department program with the goal of eliminating serious injuries and fatalities on city roads.

AUSTIN, Texas — Improvements at major intersections in have resulted in fewer serious crashes, according to the Austin Transportation Department.

The improvements are part of the Vision Zero program, which has the goal of eliminating serious injuries and fatalities on Austin roads.

"One of the main focuses on Vision Zero is going back and redesigning our streets to be in alignment with things we know to be safe, and that can reduce crashes," Vision Zero Program Manager Joel Meyer said.

Through funding from the City budget and the 2016, 2018 and 2020 Mobility Bonds, Austin Transportation has worked on dozens of crash intersections. Since 2016, the department has completed work at 19 major intersections.

Early data in a new Vision Zero Analytics report show that at 13 intersections, there was a 31% reduction in crashes resulting in serious injury or death.

"Oftentimes when we look at these statistics, we sort of forget that these are real people involved in crashes. They're our family or friends or our neighbors that are really impacted by these severe crashes. And so when we see numbers and we see the reductions that we're seeing, we know that that's really making an impact on people's lives in our community," Meyer said.  

Meyer said other benefits of the improvements are reduced traffic congestion for drivers caused by crashes and fewer public safety resources needed to respond.

"Reducing the potential for conflicts will, over time, reduce crashes and will reduce injuries, and so we're happy to see that reflected in the data," Meyer said.

Four more projects are scheduled to start construction before the end of 2022.

You can learn more about completed and planned work on the Transportation Safety Improvement Program web page.

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