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Rural Champaign County Area Safety Plan

The Rural Champaign County Area Safety Plan was developed by staff at the Champaign-Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study (CUUATS), a program of CCRPC. The plan aims to develop a data-driven, strategic approach to address traffic safety concerns in the rural area of Champaign County. The rural area of Champaign County is the area outside the Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA) boundary and inside the Champaign County boundary. The plan presents the analysis of crash trends, identifies emphasis areas based on a data-driven approach, and outlines effective strategies and approaches for each of the emphasis areas. The strategies are a compilation of the 4 Es (Education, Enforcement, Emergency Medical Services, and Engineering). The plan also lists critical (high priority) intersections and segments in the Champaign County Rural Area. This plan provides guidelines for safety stakeholders from the 4 Es to identify and implement safety improvements and programs in the effort to address safety concerns in the rural area of Champaign County.

In November 2021, after the rural safety plan was approved, staff began developing an equity analysis to accompany the plan. The rural equity analysis focuses largely on roadway departures along Champaign County Highway roads and looks more in depth at the emphasis areas outlined in the plan.
The equity analysis includes the following elements:

Descriptive statistics discussion.
Comparison of census block group Title VI demographic features to the number of crashes and the crash rates.
A preliminary speed analysis.
Selection of High Priority Neighborhoods or Areas (census block groups).
The shoulder width of county roadways compared to the total number of crashes and the number of fatal and serious injury crashes.
Conclusions to be drawn from the analysis.
A Vision Zero policy to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries that are a result of crashes on streets within Champaign County by 2035.

In September 2022, the CUUATS Technical and Policy Committees voted to amend the Rural Champaign County Area Safety Plan to include the equity analysis and Vision Zero policy.