WORCESTER, Mass. - Pedestrian crashes have become a crisis in Worcester, and people with concerns about the troubling trend will soon get some details about ongoing plans for safer streets in the city.

Worcester’s Department of Transportation and Mobility has accelerated existing plans to develop its "Vision Zero Safety Action Plan" and Commissioner Stephen Rolle hopes a combination of immediate changes and more ambitious long-term projects could eventually bring traffic fatalities down.

“It’s really throwing all the tools you have at the problem,” Rolle said. “So that means planning and design, our policies in terms of how we prioritize projects, how we select projects, enforcement, education, sharing information with the public. It’s really trying to address this with the whole toolbox.”

Injuries and deaths from traffic violence have been on the rise across the country, and in Worcester, 2024 alone has seen more than 90 crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists.

Karin Valentine Goins is the co-founder of WalkBike Worcester, which has advocated for safer streets since long before this recent increase in crashes.

“Worcester has wide open streets without a lot of guidance,” Goins said. “There’s been a lot of work done by a lot of other places demonstrating that you can really affect driver behavior and safety by narrowing roads, reducing the number of lanes, making pedestrians who want to cross more visible as they’re waiting, adding bicycle facilities. All of those help.”

Worcester’s plan to improve pedestrian safety is expected to be finished in the fall, and early proposals have included reducing the citywide speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour and creating specific 20 miles per hour safety zones in areas where pedestrian crashes are more common.

Liona Ngaira typically uses WRTA buses to get around Worcester and also walks frequently. She said she’s seen plenty of people almost get hit by passing vehicles, and is eager to see the city take action.

Many of the immigrants and refugees she works with also walk frequently, which has also been a point of concern.

“I teach them how to get used to the community and be a part of it, understanding how to use the bus and get around the city,” Ngaira said. “They get into trouble with where to cross, what to do, so because of that there’s a wider community that doesn’t understand things, and we should do something about that to increase their safety.”

Rolle said people can expect to hear more in September when a series of "quick response" assessments of possible safety improvements in areas like Belmont Street and Shrewsbury Street will be released - both of which were recently the site of fatal crashes involving young pedestrians.

“The attributes of the roadway, whether it’s the speeds traffic is traveling, the configuration or geometry of the roadway we know creates a higher risk, so we’re identifying that network so we can really focus on improvements to those portions of the corridor,” Rolle said. “Thinking about ways that we can very quickly implement improvements to address safety for all users, but particularly pedestrians and bicyclists.”