CACHE COUNTY – The staff of the Cache Metropolitan Planning Organization (CMPO) is encouraging officials of several Cache Valley municipalities to submit federal grant applications to improve traffic safety.
That message was delivered during a virtual meeting on Feb. 5 where the CPMO staffers unveiled their Comprehensive Safety Action Plan (CSAP) for Cache County.
Those federal grant requests could take the form of relatively inexpensive Planning-Demonstrations grants or Implementation grants in the $3 million to $5 million range, according to Jeff Gilbert, the executive director of the CMPO.
The funding is available under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act that was passed by Congress in the early days of the Biden administration, setting aside $5 billion for infrastructure projects nationwide.
The CSAP was developed by CMPO staffers following a safety summit held here in May of 2024, in collaboration with stakeholders and local government partners, including the Utah Department of Transportation, the Utah Highway Safety Division, Emergency Services providers, Driver Education instructors and the Bear River Health Department.
The plan identifies and prioritizes safety strategies and project types, utilizing a comprehensive approach to roadway safety, emergency response and enforcement improvements in the CSAP study area.
During the virtual meeting, Gilbert explained that the safety plan focuses on actions proven to reduce roadway fatalities and severe injuries, through a contextually targeted and actionable strategy.
This initiative underscores CMPO’s commitment to a systematic and ongoing approach to reducing roadway fatalities and serious injuries for all roadway users through project prioritization, policy adoption and a continuous improvement model.
The need for safety improvements is clearly illustrated by a five-year study of local crash statistics.
From 2018 to 2022, Cache County recorded nearly 12,000 crashes, of which 258 caused fatal or serious injuries.
Of those, about half (5,722) took place in intersections, with 49 percent of fatalities being related to intersections.
About a third of local crashes involved a teenage driver, including 73 fatal or serious injury incidents.
During the same five-year period, 225 local accidents involved vulnerable users (pedestrians or bicyclists).
Finally, 239 crashes involved a motorcycle, including 37 fatal or serious injury accidents.
Recent statistics from Cache Valley show no improvement, according to Gilbert.
Since 2020, he said, Cache Valley has seen a 3 percent increase in traffic mishaps while the state has shown only a 2 percent increase.
Moreover, that mishap rate has outstripped the rate of population growth here in Cache Valley, according to CMPO staffer Tim Baird.
The CSAP has set an ambitious goal of reducing the local number of crashes by 2.5 percent annually.
To achieve that goal, the CMPO staff has recommended that local officials pursue two prioritized safety improvements on major thoroughfares in Smithfield, Hyde Park, North Logan, Logan, River Heights, Providence, Millville, Nibley, Hyrum and Wellsville.
The full text of the Comprehensive Safety Action Plan can be found by going online to https://tinyurl.com/CMPOSAPStoryMap