The City of Midland and Midland County created a new plan called Vision Zero for safer roads

CBS7
By Armando Gomez
Published: Dec. 29, 2023 at 6:42 PM CST

MIDLAND, Texas (KOSA) - Midlanders can now give feedback on roads in their neighborhood and tell city and county officials if they see something on their commute that needs to be addressed.

The city of Midland and Midland County created a new plan called Vision Zero for safer roads.

The vision zero plan will help identify safety projects to help reduce and eliminate serious injuries and fatal crashes in the community.

Midland has had over fifteen thousand crashes in four years with almost five thousand injured and sixty-four deaths.

Two-hundred sixty-five crashes happened at loop two-fifty and Andrew’s highway.

That’s all according to information gathered by the city of Midland, TXDOT and resident responses to the vision zero task force.

“Four percent of our roadways account for more than fifty percent of our crashes and fatalities and so what that means is that majority of our streets are safe, but we have some really important corridors and intersections that are not safe, so we need to make a plan” said City of Midland Mayor Lori Blong.

Based on the mayor’s data, forty six percent of car crashes is swerving into other lanes

County and city officials want to make sure vision zero builds complete streets, engages the community, and provides safe solutions.

“This study allows us to identify the roadways and intersections causing fatalities and crashes. We can put plans into place to correct those and have a better and safer roadway system.” said Mayor Blong.

Vision zero action will include safe surface transportation along areas of high injury networks.

It also includes making roads safe for both oilfield and residential traffic and enhancing corridors for everyone.

“It is also a pass-through community between major hubs of Dallas and El Paso, east coast and west coast. utilizing I-20 and all the support roads that are associated with that, so it is very important for travelers and people who live here in Midland County.” said Director of Public works at Midland County Andrew Avis.

The goal of the Vision Zero plan is to have zero fatalities by twenty-twenty five.

The plan will use federal and state grant opportunities for midland to renovate the roadways for the community.

“So, the safer street for all is a federal program giving away a billion dollars a year towards these action plans in different communities so the county of midland and the City of Midland are partnering together to develop a comprehensive plan for our roadways system so we can apply for those grants,” said Mayor Blong.

There has been five hundred fifty-seven responses so far and the survey will be open till Sunday.

You can find a link to the survey here: News Flash • Survey for Safe Roads (midlandtexas.gov)