“44 deaths and 460 injured on our roads in [the] last 5 years.” That’s the cost of automobility in Worcester, according to the city’s Vision Zero online flier. “Locals are 5x more likely to be hit in Worcester than elsewhere in Massachusetts,” it reads. The flier urges community members to “become a part of the solution” by completing the survey. 

The launch of the Vision Zero Safety Action Plan was announced in a Feb. 20 City of Worcester press release by the city’s Department of Transportation and Mobility (DTM) and City Manager Eric Batista.

The plan is funded by a grant from the US Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All Program. Vision Zero is an international movement to reimagine how street safety is approached and eliminate traffic fatalities, according to a DTM webpage. It is focused on creating proactive design systems that improve safety for all street users.

Worcester’s Vision Zero survey is being used to assess priority areas for the project. It asks respondents about their street experiences and the dangers they have faced. In addition, there is an online map on which respondents can pin dangerous locations and add comments about their concerns as it relates to driving, biking, walking, or taking the bus. 

As of March 21, there have been at least 250 pins added to the map, split roughly equally between driving, biking, and walking.

In Main South, Cambridge Street’s intersections with Freeland Street, Richards Street, and Canterbury Street (added by a driver, a biker, and a pedestrian), are all described as being dangerous due to the speed of drivers there. 

The intersection of May Street and Lovell Street – a corner of Clark’s Hadwen Arboretum – is noted to not have a crosswalk. 

Several pins are placed where May Street and Park Avenue meet, near CVS, for its dangerous design. One commenter described being rear-ended while waiting to turn left. Another referenced that the intersection has “hazardous left turns for vehicles in all directions.” 

Some areas highlighted on the map are projects that the Worcester DTM has already planned, including a holistic redesign of Chandler Street. According to the DTM’s webpage on the project, the section of Chandler Street between Main Street and Park Avenue will undergo “design changes to reduce crashes and improve safety and accommodations for all users.” Construction is planned to begin in 2026. The intersection of Chandler Street and May Street is also being redesigned, with work slated to begin in 2025.

On March 18, a City of Worcester press release announced that the city was awarded $2 million of federal funding for improvements to Mill Street, another area that was heavily marked on the map. The project is intended to be guided by public input and community engagement before plans are implemented. As of yet, no timeframe has been decided.

All Worcester community members are encouraged to take the Vision Zero survey and add to the map, both of which can be found at http://tinyurl.com/WVZSurvey. The survey closes on March 31.