In 2023, the City of St. Louis Park obtained a grant through the federal Safe Street and Roads for All (SS4A) program to develop an action plan to improve road safety.
With the grant, in 2024, the city launched the development of its Safe Streets Action Plan to prevent, reduce and eliminate deadly and serious injury accidents for everyone using the roads. Safe access for all users is a critical component of our transportation network and ensuring all residents thrive. The plan will include objectives, policies, and recommendations that will inform future transportation investments and improvements.
The outcome of this plan will include the following:
What does an equitable transportation system look like?
St. Louis Park is committed to being a leader in equity and inclusion to create a more just and inclusive community for all. A critical part of developing the Safe Streets Action Plan is improving mobility and access to the transportation network, particularly for vulnerable roadway users and in underserved communities, providing equitable investment to places that need funding the most. The final plan will recommend actions and policies to improve safety for all people using the road, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians, bicyclists, people using transit, and people with disabilities.
Plan development phases
Safe Streets Action Plan development encompasses four phases:
- Public outreach and data collection
- Identification of needs and priorities
- Implementation plan development
- Final safety action plan complete
Phase 1: Public outreach and data collection
In 2024 and 2025, the project evaluated a combination of crash data and other risk factors, equity considerations, and public input. This was used to identify specific areas with the highest safety risks throughout the city.
Community engagement was essential to developing an Action Plan that addresses community safety concerns. In the fall 2024 and throughout 2025, community members provided their ideas and comments through in-person pop-up workshops, an online interactive map and an online survey:
- St. Louis Park Art Fair at the Recreation Outdoor Center (Aug. 7, 2024)
- Movies in the Park (Aug. 7, 2024)
- Fire Department Open House (Aug. 18, 2024)
- Aquila Park (Oct. 21, 2024)
- Hennepin County-St. Louis Park Library (Oct. 29, 2024)
- Online comment map (Fall 2025)
- Online survey (Fall 2025)
- Pop-up workshop at Ecotacular, as part of the Parktacular Festival (June 14, 2025)
Phase 2: Identification of needs and priorities
The city organized two advisory committees that helped guide the plan development and recommendations. These groups represented diverse technical skills, backgrounds, and perspectives.
- Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
The TAC is made up of city, county, MnDOT and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) staff. City staff included representatives from public works, planning, public safety (police and fire), communications, sustainability and engineering departments.
- Stakeholder Advisory Committee
The stakeholder advisory committee was made up of representatives from the school district, advocacy groups and residents.
Eengineering department collaborated with a Technical Advisory Committee and Stakeholder Committee to guide the plan development process and prioritize action items:
- Reviewing data (including public feedback)
- Identifying needs
- Developing action items based on the Safe System Approach
The city used four criteria to rank areas with the most pressing safety issues. Each criteria carried different weight in the evaluation process (based on feedback received from the public and advisory committees). Criteria included:
- High-injury locations: Mapping of high-injury network (HIN) and high-injury intersections
- High-risk locations: Such as schools, 4+ lane roadways, and vulnerable road user crashes
- Equity considerations: Such as income, race, age, transit, and employment access
- Public input: Density of comments identifying locations that felt unsafe
A total of 28 locations were identified as top tier projects to be considered for safety improvements. Locations were then placed in tiers based on a combination of scores from the evaluation process and upcoming funded construction projects. Project locations may have either funded construction in the next 3-10 years, in which case temporary improvements may be considered, or no currently funded construction project.
- Tier 0: There are four Tier 0 segments. These segments are either under construction or will be under construction within a year of the Action Plan.
- Tier 1: Six Tier 1 locations were identified. All six of these locations involve county and/or state-owned roadways and will require cross-agency coordination.
- Tier 2: Of the 18 tier 2 locations, there are a mix of city, county and state-owned roadways and intersections.
Phase 3: Implementation plan development
A deeper review was completed for the 28 project areas to identify key safety concerns, proposed safety countermeasures and future action items. The details of the analysis would be presented in the final Action Plan. The plan would also provide strategies to address non-infrastructure related issues such as driver behavior and emergency response. These would likely include a combination of education, policy changes and collaboration efforts to address issues from a Safe System Approach. This would help direct resources and guide safety improvements where there is the greatest need, leading to a more data driven safety approach.
Through the use of public outreach, crash data analysis and technical evaluation, the city has developed the Draft Safe Streets Action Plan.
This plan is a blueprint that identifies locations with the most severe crashes and provides strategies and infrastructure recommendations to improve roadway safety at those locations.
Safe Streets Action Plan will inform capital improvement planning and will be used to seek out and guide funding to improve the overall roadway safety by addressing these specific locations.
The city invited all community members to review the full Draft Safe Streets Action Plan and share feedback.
- Community input will be key to refining recommendations before adoption.
- The public comment period will be open from Feb. 20 to March 23, 2026.
City council meeting on March 23, 2026
Staff gave a presentation overview of the draft Safe Streets Action Plan and summary of community feedback to the city council at the March 23, 2026 city council meeting. No action was taken at the meeting. City council would be asked to act on this plan at its meeting on April 6, 2026.
The city invited community members to attend the city council meeting on March 23, 2026 to learn more about the draft Safe Streets Action Plan and provide their comments directly to city council. If community members could not make it but still wanted to comment, they could hare feedback through Safe Streets Action Plan feedback survey by March 23, 2026. Their comments were shared with city council.
Community feedback
Community feedback, along with comments from the city council, was used to refine the plan prior to adoption.
- March 23, 2026 council meeting – residents’ comments. Two residents spoke during the March 23, 2026 council meeting. The following is a summary and staff responses to the comments:
- A resident expressed support for the goal of eliminating fatal and serious‑injury crashes by 2050, emphasizing the importance of reducing vehicle speeds. He highlighted Action Item 2C, recommending that the city pilot intelligent speed assistance technology for its fleet. He noted that this technology is already used in Europe and estimated that its $1,500 per‑vehicle cost could be recovered within one to two years through fuel savings.
- No response is necessary.
- A resident brought up her disappointment that Louisiana Avenue is not narrower, citing the use of Federal Highway Standards (FHWA) and encouraged the creation of a city transportation commission.
- The Safe Streets Action Plan focuses on identifying and prioritizing policies, programs and infrastructure improvements to improve transportation safety. The suggestion to establish a Transportation Commission is outside the scope of this plan and, after careful consideration, was not added to the document. The plan is intended to guide safety investments and implementation strategies rather than recommend changes to the city’s governance or advisory structure, which would require a separate policy discussion and council action.
Regarding the width of Louisiana Avenue: before reconstruction, the road was 36 feet wide. As part of the current reconstruction project, the street is being narrowed by 8 feet, resulting in a new width of 28 feet. This design was developed to improve safety and walkability while maintaining essential access and functionality.
To clarify, the design of Louisiana Avenue was not made based on FHWA guidance. Road design is not one-size-fits-all; it requires careful consideration of the surrounding context, safety and the street’s intended use. While national and state guidelines provide recommended ranges, they are not fixed requirements. Instead, we apply engineering judgment—which incorporates professional expertise, real-world experience and data—to determine the most appropriate design for the specific conditions of each project.
For Louisiana Avenue, several key factors influenced our recommendation:
- Traffic volume: Louisiana Avenue carries approximately 16,700 vehicles per day.
- Emergency access: It is the sole access route for Fire Station #2.
- Vehicle dimensions: Fire trucks are approximately 10 feet wide. Buses, including mirrors, can measure over 10.5 feet.
- Curb activity: While the street will be signed for “No Parking” on both sides, we know from experience that vehicles will occasionally stop for deliveries, ride share and solid waste collection, temporarily narrowing the usable width to about 20–21 feet.
- Emergency maneuvers: When vehicles pull over to yield to emergency responders, the effective width can be reduced further, potentially to as little as 12–13 feet. If one of those vehicles is a bus, that clearance can drop to 10 feet or less.
- Winter conditions: During heavy snowfall years, snow accumulation can reduce the usable roadway even further, making adequate design width critical for reliable year-round operations.
The width of 28 feet on Louisiana Avenue reflects a thoughtful balance between creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment and ensuring continued access for emergency and service vehicles. By using engineering judgment, we aim to meet the needs of all users while aligning with safety and operational needs specific to Louisiana Avenue.
It should be noted that we are working with the Fire Department to address concerns that the street is too narrow at their driveways for their trucks to get in and out. Modifications will be made as a part of this year’s construction to address these concerns.
- Open comment period comments. Staff received 13 comments during the month-long open comment period, many of which included multiple points and addressed a wide range of topics. The input highlighted both specific safety concerns at key locations and broader citywide concerns related to traffic behavior, infrastructure and the evaluation of safety initiatives. A summary of the main themes included:
- High-risk locations: The intersection of Highway 7 and Texas Avenue is widely viewed as unsafe for people walking and biking and in need of further improvements.
- Neighborhood safety: Residents want stronger safety measures on local streets.
- Speeding and enforcement: Many noted frequent speeding and unsafe passing, with calls for increased enforcement.
- Education needs: There is a desire for more public education on how to use roundabouts correctly and yielding to pedestrians at crosswalks.
- Infrastructure appreciation: Community members expressed appreciation for recent crosswalk upgrades—such as rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs)—and for ongoing efforts to improve pedestrian and bicycle networks.
- Location-specific infrastructure changes: Mixed feedback on the removal of traffic signals, overpass design and access controls that have been done as a part of projects.
- Plan methodology questions: Some noted concerns that the High-Injury Network is based on roadway mileage rather than traffic volume.
- Evaluating past initiatives: Desire for information on the effectiveness of previous safety initiatives, such as the citywide speed limit reduction.
- Investment prioritization: There is interest in including a return-on-investment framework to help guide future safety investments.
Of the 13 comments, five contained suggestions and/ or questions that were focused on the content of the report. These comments were reviewed and changes were made to the report to address them.
The changes include:
- Action Item 4A calls for additional education on roundabouts, with outreach specifically targeted to seniors.
- Clarifying the city’s Vision Zero Goal to clearly articulate the commitment to eliminating severe traffic injuries and fatalities.
- To assist with methodology questions, clarifications have been added to Figure 4 and the map in Appendix B.
- Moving the Highway 7/ Texas intersection coordination with MnDOT to a medium-term item up from a long-term item.
- Including Metro Transit in the bi-annual coordination meetings to ensure rail safety at light rail stations is considered for all users.
The remaining seven comments were location-specific or focused on one solution. The Safe Streets Action Plan is intended to establish a high-level, systemwide framework to guide future safety investments, policies and priorities across the city. Since the plan provides a range of proven safety strategies, including targeted infrastructure improvements rather than calling out a one-size-fits-all approach, changes were not made to the report. Location-specific comments are being forwarded to the appropriate staff for review, and we will respond directly to community members following that evaluation.
Phase 4: Final Safety Action Plan complete
The final phase includes updates to the action plan based on public feedback, as well as a public dashboard to allow for real-time public review of action item progress once the plan is adopted.
