COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus City Council is working to reduce the number of car crashes that cause death or serious injury.

What You Need To Know

  • The public service and transportation committee is sponsoring a new transportation ordinance that aims to help Columbus roads become safer and more accessible

  • The chair of the committee, Lourdes Barroso de Padilla, said the city is using the same strategy as worldwide effort 'Vision Zero' 

  • 'Vision Zero' is an initiative that aims to reduce fatalities and serious injuries because of car crashes by repairing and resurfacing roads

The public service and transportation committee is sponsoring a new ordinance that will help with road safety and accessibility. It’s part of the worldwide effort ‘Vision Zero’ to reduce fatalities and serious injuries because of car crashes. 

Columbus is looking to apply concepts from Vision Zero to some of the city's most dangerous roads and intersections.

The project would repair almost two miles of SR-710, add 27 ADA ramps and add more than 20 miles of protected bike lanes. The public service and transportation committee chair council member Lourdes Barroso de Padilla said this proposed ordinance is about more than accessibility. 

“Vision Zero is a strategy that the city of Columbus is using both to repair those streets that are unsafe and also start ticking away at the high injury network that we have here in the city. We know the intersections in the city that are some of the most dangerous and so the vision zero concepts are what we apply when we make those changes across the board,” said Barroso de Padilla.

Council member Barroso de Padilla said council wants to introduce a new bus rapid transit system called ‘Link Us.’ She said this new transit system will almost feel like you’re riding a train and will help with efficiency and safety while traveling throughout Columbus.

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