New safety corridors identified in Tempe

With a goal of reducing serious and fatal traffic injuries to zero, the city of Tempe is identifying four new safety corridors in the city that will see strict enforcement of traffic laws as part of its Vision Zero Action Plan.

This year, enforcement efforts are active in four different corridors that will change every three months; a modification from previous years in which four active corridors remained in place for the entire year, a city release explained,

For July through September 2024, the corridors are:

• McClintock Drive from Apache Boulevard to Rio Salado Parkway;
• 48th Street from Broadway Road to Southern Avenue;
• Baseline Road from McClintock Drive to State Route 101 and
• Warner Road from Interstate 10 to Priest Drive.

The safety corridors are selected based on an analysis of streets within the city with the highest amount of injury collisions including serious physical injuries or fatalities.

"Safety corridors are major supports on our roads,” Lieutenant Michael Hayes of the Tempe Police Department stated in the release. “They guide drivers towards safer travel by highlighting danger zones and encouraging responsible driving. “

As a strategy for reducing crashes, the safety corridors have a three-fold approach of enforcement, engineering and education — the three "E"s of road safety.  Traffic engineers review each active safety corridor for needed updates such as outdated signage, faded pavement markings or necessary adjustments to traffic signal timings, according to the release.

The public will also see yellow banners lettered in black reading “Safety Corridor – Strict Enforcement” along the corridors to help inform drivers and other vulnerable road users that they are in an area with a high number of injury collisions and that traffic laws are strictly enforced.

Vision Zero is a data-driven traffic safety policy that takes an ethical approach towards achieving safety for all road users, the release explained. Tempe joined this worldwide initiative to reduce the number of fatal and serious injury crashes to zero.

For information about the Vision Zero Action Plan and for a list of safety corridors, go to tempe.gov/VisionZero.