URBANA — The Champaign County Regional Planning Commission is asking residents to submit photos of streets, roads and sidewalks that they consider to have an unsafe design.
The organization is running an online survey through June 27 where community members can upload photos of dangerous corridors.
Matt Raab with the regional planning commission said that could mean a lack of street lighting, poorly maintained sidewalks, or unmarked pedestrian crossings.
“We want this to be a pretty safe thing for everyone to do,” he said. “Don’t put yourself in harm’s way. Don’t take photos of other people … just do it like you would any other day that you’re going about your activities.”
Raab said the idea for the survey came out of an urban area safety plan. He explained that the photo submissions give residents the chance to provide feedback to help identify potential safety concerns within Champaign and Urbana’s transportation infrastructure.
“One of the trends that was noticed was that people who don’t speak English as their first language and tend to live in lower-income areas seem to experience more crashes and injuries than other parts of town,” he added. “We identified that a good way to dig more into that and figure out why is to do more public engagement and more research.”
The survey is also available in Spanish, Chinese and French.
The information could be used to help apply for grants that could pay for improvements to street designs. Raab said safe transportation options play an important role for the community and the county’s economic development.
“It allows local businesses [here] to function well and get the resources they need. It also lets those of us who walk and bike to work to get there safely and in one piece. It also allows our children to also get school, and that also lets them have more physical activity.”