The City of Elma is developing a Safety Action Plan for the City's transportation network. This plan is funded by the federal Safe Streets for All (SS4A) grant program of the US Department of Transportation.
The goal of the Safety Action Plan is to identify and develop safety improvement projects to:
- Reduce the number of fatal and serious injury crashes in our transportation network.
- Improve safety for all users including drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists.
Throughout this planning project, the public will have multiple opportunities to participate in the development of the draft and final Safety Action Plan.
The project team will be advised by a group of local community subject matter experts (SME's) including the City's Public Works and Planning departments, emergency services (City of Elma Police Department/East Grays Harbor Fire & Rescue), Elma School District, and other service providers within the City (Summit Pacific Medical Center, etc.).
Later this year, the City will install temporary Safety Demonstration Projects throughout Elma. These temporary projects may be related to improved lighting, traffic calming and other strategies. The temporary projects will be assessed for effectiveness.
The project team will use the findings to help inform the selection of permanent safety improvement project strategies for the Safety Action Plan.
- Spring 2026 - Safety Analysis, Initial Public Engagement to Identify Safety Concerns
- Summer 2026 - Identify and Design Safety Demonstration Projects
- Fall 2026 - Deploy and Assess Safety Demonstration Projects Including Public Response
- Winter 2027 - Draft Safety Action Plan and Public Comment on Draft Plan
- Summer 2027 - Final Safety Action Plan
Input from the community is crucial to ensure the plan addresses the needs of all community members. Opportunities to help guide the Safety Action Plan include:
- Safety Concern Survey: We want to learn about specific and general transportation safety concerns from the local community. The survey is now closed.
- SS4A Open House May 11, 2026 from 6-8pm: Stop by and learn about Safety Concern Survey findings, existing conditions and crash trends in the City of Elma, and next steps. Project team staff will be present to answer questions. Links to the presentation slides and poster exhibits below.
- Other Opportunities: More information will be added here as future public engagement activities are scheduled.
Upon adoption of the SS4A Safety Action Plan by the City Council in 2027, the City will provide annual updates to demonstrate progress towards implementing safety projects and ongoing monitoring of crashes and safety concerns.
A draft SS4A Safety Action Plan is anticipated to be posted here by January 2027. This draft will be available for public comment before a final version is submitted to the City Council by July 2027.