Hoboken Praised By Transportation Secretary Buttigieg For Road Safety

HOBOKEN, NJ — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg last week cited Hoboken as a national model for eliminating traffic-related deaths, as he released a national plan to create safer streets.

"There are communities that have gotten to that already. And I'm not talking about Oslo, but a place like Hoboken in the U.S. has seen multiple years with zero deaths," said Secretary Buttigieg, referring to Hoboken's successful Vision Zero efforts.

The mile-square city has gone four years with no traffic-related deaths and has had a decrease in injuries.

In 2019, Mayor Bhalla initiated the City's Vision Zero campaign to eliminate all traffic-related injuries and deaths by 2030 via executive order, which initiated the Vision Zero Task Force. After over a year of research and public engagement, the City of Hoboken officially adopted the Vision Zero Action Plan in 2021.

Last March, Bhalla announced last week improvements in three of Hoboken's "Vision Zero" safety categories.

From 2019 to 2020, the mile-square city saw a 54 percent decrease in pedestrians struck by a vehicle, a 13 percent decrease in bicyclists struck by vehicles, and a 37 percent decrease in vehicle-on-vehicle crashes, the city said.

"I applaud President Biden and Secretary Buttigieg for laying out a comprehensive plan to create safer streets throughout the country," said Mayor Ravi Bhalla this week . "As the secretary stated, Hoboken will continue to serve as a national model, by prioritizing the safety of pedestrians and implementing infrastructure improvements that protect our most vulnerable residents."

He added, "I look forward to working with our community to build on our successes as we continue to work toward our ambitious goal of eliminating all traffic-related deaths and injuries by 2030."

The mayor noted that mile-square Hoboken has been cited as one of the most walkable cities in the United States.

Since 2019, the city has installed 17 miles of bike lanes, 298 high visibility crosswalks, and 30 curb extensions, among other Vision Zero infrastructure improvements, the city said.

This year, the city will launch an open public process for the redesign of Sinatra Drive, which will include Vision Zero improvements, such as safer pedestrian crossings, a physically separated bikeway, and ADA-compliant curb ramps, in addition to green infrastructure, drainage improvements and roadway resurfacing.

The city is also conducting a study on reducing the city-wide speed limit from 25 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour to decrease the severity of one of the leading causes of traffic-related
injuries.

For more information on the city's Vision Zero initiative, go to https://www.vzhoboken.com/.

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