The City of Dallas bond proposal that will be voted on later this year devotes less than $9 million of its total allocation to the City’s “Vision Zero” plan to help lower the number of traffic incidents that happen in the city limits.
Residents of Dallas will be asked to approve $1.25 billion in bond spending, including roughly $500 million that is earmarked for streets and transportation. However, the City proposes using less than 2% of the entire transportation bond — around $9 million — on the Vision Zero project.
For comparison, Austin has spent about $95 million since 2016 on its Vision Zero efforts despite having a population less than three-quarters the size of Dallas.
“Nine million dollars would be good, a good start, but that’s clearly insufficient for the needs of the city of Dallas,” Jay Crossley, director of Vision Zero Texas, told NBC 5 DFW.
Earlier this month, The Dallas Express reported that the City of Dallas is set to spend $27 million on roadway and pedestrian safety initiatives in alignment with the Vision Zero project. Most of this funding is sourced from a $21.8 million taxpayer-funded grant the City obtained from the U.S. Department of Transportation, with the remainder coming from Dallas tax dollars.
Of the $9 million in the latest bond proposal, over half ($5 million) would be used to add new streetlights at six locations around Dallas. While these streetlights can help improve pedestrian safety, traffic experts claim it will not help reduce the number one cause of deadly crashes in Dallas — speeding.
The remaining $4 million would be used to re-align traffic lanes and upgrade traffic signals at one intersection.
“I mean, the question is, are we taking Vision Zero seriously as a city, or is it just a talking point for us to use in campaigns,” Dallas City Council Member Chad West (District 1) said, per NBC 5.
