Lafayette board adopts Vision Zero-style resolution to cut roadway deaths

The Lafayette City Board of Public Works and Safety on a voice vote approved a resolution committing the city to the goals of the Tippecanoe County Safe Streets for All action plan, including a goal to reduce fatalities and serious injuries by 50% by 2034 and eliminate them by 2044.

City Engineer Jeremy Grenard told the board the county plan uses a scoring system to prioritize safety projects and that one of the highest-scoring corridors was South Street from Sagamore Parkway to I‑65, where the plan counted about 1,900 crashes over five years. He said the city is targeting the federal Safe Streets for All grant and that Federal Highway advised a local resolution would strengthen funding applications.

Board members moved and seconded the resolution as brought; the board approved it by voice vote. Grenard and board members described the targets as ambitious and noted engineering can only address part of the safety problem, with behavior change remaining a key challenge.

The action places Lafayette on record supporting the county plan’s targets and is intended to make local projects more competitive for federal safety funds. Grenard said the city worked with legal counsel and a consultant on the resolution language.

The resolution was identified in the meeting as Resolution O9-2025 and was approved without separate recorded roll-call votes in the transcript.