Pittsburgh has concrete numbers to show its efforts to slow traffic and improve road safety are working.
The city released statistics last week that show total crashes, fatalities and serious injuries declined for the fourth year in a row. Overall crashes fell 17% to 1,534 in 2024 and have dropped by more than 700 since 2021 compared to an increase of 0.35% statewide from 2021-24.
Crashes with fatal or serious injuries also dropped by 15% in 2024. For the four-year period, they decreased from 87 in 2021 to 60 last year.
To Panini Chowdhury, senior transportation planning manager in the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, the numbers are an affirmation that the city’s traffic-calming efforts are working. Under Mayor Ed Gainey, the city has engaged in a series of low-cost quick-build changes to install speed humps, paint bigger crosswalks, and clearly mark no-parking areas near intersections to improve sight lines for motorists and pedestrians.
The numbers show the programs are saving lives and reducing injuries.
“This is about the happiest thing you could ask for as a transportation professional,” Chowdhury said.
In addition to the fast turnaround of the quick-build projects, Chowdhury said several other factors have allowed the city to improve traffic safety. They include considering more factors when designing a street project, having more projects designed by DOMI rather than bidding out the work, and participating in the Vision Zero program that reviews every serious crash to see what steps can be taken to prevent similar accidents.
In the past, Chowdhury said, projects that might be categorized as improving traffic flow might not have had as much emphasis on safety during the design process.
“Now, we look at a lot of different factors for each project,” he said.
Doing more work in-house also can cut the cost for projects in half and produce the work in a couple of years rather than taking more than five years for positive outcomes to occur.
With more work done by city staff and a budget increase, DOMI expects to complete 50 safety projects this year.
Vision Zero is designed to quickly address problem areas. For example, within three weeks after a pedestrian was killed on the University of Pittsburgh’s upper campus, the city changed the timing on traffic signals at Darragh and Terrace streets and eliminated right turns on red.
In a news release, Gainey said the four-year stretch of traffic safety improvements is a direct result of the city’s efforts.
“That’s no accident — It’s because we’ve made safety a priority, especially for our most vulnerable neighbors,” he said. “But we’re not done. High severity crashes are still hitting the same streets and the same communities.
“That’s why we’re doubling down — to make sure every Pittsburgher, in every neighborhood, can walk, bike or drive without fear. This is about equity, justice and saving lives.”
Among the projects the city has planned for this year to continue the effort: improving 2 miles of missing or inadequate sidewalks, installing more than 35,000 LED street lights to make streets brighter at night, traffic-calming at eight sites, and more than 20 intersection improvements.
Chowdhury said the city still faces some challenges. One of the biggest is reducing the number of serious crashes involving larger vehicles, such as SUVs and pickup trucks, which cause more damage and serious injuries because of their size.
“It’s just an education problem,” he said. “We have to teach people to be more careful.”
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.