Making streets safer for drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists is the goal of a study of intersections across Tompkins County. Phillip O'Driscoll shares how this 'crash data' helps municipalities as they look for funding.
ITHACA, N.Y. -- When considering ways to improve safety on the streets of Tompkins County, it's important to have all the information. That's where an annual review of crash data comes in.
"It provides a very good way to look across intersections across the city or look at mid block areas to break them down by pedestrian or bicycle or motor vehicle crashes," said Ithaca City Transportation Engineer Tim Logue.
The data is compiled by the Tompkins County Transportation Council. Information from 2013 was just released this month. And when combined with previous data, the findings help people like Tim Logue brainstorm ways to make intersections safer.
"They can go back and find 10 years worth of data for us. It's not quite as specific but it allows us to see if those patterns are holding up over a longer period of time," said Logue.
Despite the historical perspective municipalities do seek out data from alternative outlets like police departments. And there are visible signs that communities like Ithaca act on the information.
"They're just completing a series of bulb outs which are extensions of the sidewalk that narrow the crossing at Seneca and Green and make it that much easier for pedestrians to get across," said Fernando DeAragon, the staff director of the Tompkins Co Trans Council. "Easier if you try to cross Seneca Street from the East side here at Corn Street as the bulb out is in place. The cross walk on the west side of Seneca Street? Well, it may take awhile before that is built."
"The funding was not rich enough to do the bump outs at each corner on all four corners at all four intersections, so we just did the upstream ones that traffic would be approaching first," said Logue.
And that funding can often be the main problem.
Logue says the process for securing federal money is rigorous, meaning the local general fund is often the only option for capital projects.
And that's why officials say studies like this are so important, allowing them to target their spending where it's most needed.