Emerald Coast Regional Council was awarded a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) as part of the National Roadway Safety Strategy to reduce traffic fatalities.

From 2019 to 2023, nearly 1,000 deaths occurred within the council's 7-county region spanning from Escambia County to Bay County, Florida. ECRC has joined efforts with the Florida Department of Transportation to reduce dangerous traffic patterns and to achieve zero roadway fatalities.

"I am honored to be bringing this monumental investment into Escambia County and to help alleviate roadway fatalities," said FLAL TPO Chairman Commissioner Steven Barry. "There have been too many senseless deaths due to roadway crashes, and we are spearheading the effort to help combat this and make our roadways safer for our residents. With this transformational grant and working alongside the Florida Department of Transportation, our ultimate goal is to reduce crashes and save lives in Escambia and Santa Rosa County."

Emerald Coast Regional Council, in partnership with Escambia County, will use this award to deploy innovative technological improvements and evaluate the safety impact of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) improvements on two of Pensacola's highest crash rate segments, Fairfield Drive and Pensacola Boulevard. Signal Four Analytics, a traffic monitoring technology, has pointed to critical issues on these corridors, such as low lighting, bicycle and pedestrian incidents, and left-turn crashes.

Along Fairfield Drive, from Mobile Highway to Texar Drive, nearly 2,000 crashes were reported from January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2023, including five fatal and 39 serious injury cases. Crashes under dark conditions represented approximately 22% of overall crashes but more than 40% of fatal and serious injury crashes.

Similarly, Pensacola Boulevard, from W Street to Brent Lane, reported more than 550 crashes in that same timeframe, including one fatal and eight serious injury crashes. However, this segment presented different obstacles, specifically for pedestrians.

Emerald Coast Regional Council is one of ten regional planning councils in Florida. ECRC supports northwest Florida by planning for and coordinating intergovernmental solutions to growth-related problems, providing technical assistance to local governments, and meeting the needs of the municipalities in our seven-county region. The ECRC staffs the Florida-Alabama Transportation Planning Organization, a local, intergovernmental transportation policy board for Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida and Orange Beach and the community of Lillian, Alabama.

"As chair of ECRC, I am thrilled to announce this grant and these dollars coming to Northwest Florida to help save lives," said Kacey Cuchens, ECRC Board Chair, "Far too many lives have been lost, and it's with great honor that we're doing something to address this serious problem in our region."

Construction is slated to begin in the summer of 2025 and be operational by the following summer.

The Safe Streets and Roads for All program provides grants directly to communities for implementation, planning, and demonstration projects to prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation's roadways. Since launching in 2022, SS4A has funded projects in more than 1,400 communities, supporting roadway safety for nearly 75% of the U.S. population.

For more information, contact the Emerald Coast Regional Council at 850-332-7976.