Lee County got its first countywide Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Action Plan Friday. It was adopted by the county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization Board.
Lee County’s Safety Action Plan aims to curb the number of accidents involving bicyclists and pedestrians by about 10 percent over the next several years.
Accidents have been trending upward in Lee County and officials have taken notice.
Darla Letourneau of BikeWalkLee said the plan has been in the works for a long time with input from the entire community.
“What I think is remarkable about this plan is that we are setting quantitative targets for reducing every year our bike and pedestrian fatality rates and we are going manage against those targets until we have results,” Letourneau said.
The plan focuses on making intersections and areas that currently have a lot of accidents safer for bike and pedestrian traffic.
Letourneau said the plan comes at a good time. The U.S. Department of Transportation recently awarded Lee County $10.5 million to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety.
“It couldn’t be a better time because we are really showing as a community that we are committed to improving safety and we are going to get busy right now,” she said
The plan will focus on making areas with the highest rates of accidents involving bicyclists and pedestrians safer.
