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Preview: Omaha's Complete Vision Zero Action Plan headed to City Council Tuesday

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  • Busy Northwest Radial Highway
  • Omaha City Council President Pete Festersen's thoughts on Vision Zero Action Plan
  • Details about the plan

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Northwest Radial Highway is just one of the streets slated as a priority #1 project in Omaha's Vision Zero Action Plan.

"Speeding and flying down, racing and all that stuff," said Steve Wesley, who lives along Northwest Radial Highway. Wesley is asking drivers to slow down.

It's one area Omaha City Council President Pete Festersen is concerned about too.

"In my area, West Maple Street, West Blondo Street for sure, North 30th Street, and Northwest Radial are certainly top items of concern and have been identified as priority areas in the plan," said Festersen.

The 117 projects in the plan are categorized in priority groups from one to five based on their benefit-to-cost ratio.

3 News Now’s Molly Hudson met with Pete Festersen along Blondo Street near 69th Street, an area he says is a good example of why this is important.

"When we talk about pedestrian safety, certainly around schools and high traffic volume areas, and kids that are walking back and forth from school, we want to make sure that's a safe experience for them," said Festersen.

There are four main categories in the document — including safe speeds, safe streets, safe users and measuring progress.

Four areas that the plan states will quote "reshape Omaha’s transportation landscape."

Each section includes strategy and policy recommendations, each displaying a start year, cost and the department leading the project.

“Some of those things are like Road Diets and Complete Streets, increased traffic enforcement, reducing speeds, safe routes to school, things that are really important to pedestrian safety and reducing traffic fatalities,” said Festersen.

While the plan is complete, Festersen is keeping an eye on a few components.

"I think it's a really good plan, it does have action steps and priority areas, I want to make sure that we really identified how it's going to be implemented and identified how it's going to be funded, so we can move forward as soon as possible,” said Festersen.

The Vision Zero Action Plan will be presented to City Council Tuesday afternoon. There will be a public hearing and a vote.