TGB Approves Tribal Transportation Safety Plan

In an effort to make roads and pedestrian traffic safer within the Lac Courte Oreilles community, the TGB commissioned Coleman Engineering to provide the following report, which they approved in early December, 2020.

To see the full report, click the following link...

LCO TSP Dec 2020 (1).pdf

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The development of the Lac Courte Oreilles Transportation Safety Plan (TSP) instills an important message about the dedication and commitment of reducing fatalities and serious injuries within the Tribe with increased transportation safety. Transportation safety needs to be a multi-faceted, coordinated effort that includes engineering, education, enforcement, and emergency medical services in order to become more effective.

The planning process utilized for this effort was focused on data analysis and site inspections, and generally identifies the following six key road safety emphasis areas.

• Pedestrian Safety

• Intersection and Roadway Visibility

• Interactions of transportation modes

• Signage

• Guardrail Issues

• Fire Lanes

This report gives the background, objective, and potential strategies for each of the safety emphasis areas. Also included is a summary of the potential strategies and possible solutions that aim to address each issue.

Introduction

The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin (Tribe) commissioned Coleman Engineering Company (CEC) to write a Transportation Safety Plan.

This plan is a reflection of the Tribe’s commitment to road safety, and maps out a unified strategy to address the important issue of road safety on Tribal lands within Sawyer County, in Northern Wisconsin. The TSP outlines existing safety issues and identifies areas with opportunity for improvement. Some challenges associated with implementing this plan may include providing sustainable funding and developing partnerships with organizations that can assist with the education and enforcement aspects of the plan. Recommendations provided in the Tribal TSP focus on proven safety issues, advocate for a structured and realistic set of responses to implement changes over time, integrate education, enforcement, engineering, and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in its proposed solution strategies, and identify a set of road safety partners that can sustain a long-term traffic safety effort.

Crash information from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), Wisconsin Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory (TOPS) and from information provided by representatives of the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe was used to develop the crash information contained in the TSP.

This document should be considered a “living document” that will be updated over time. Persons who were not directly involved in the development of the Tribal TSP will need to understand how it was developed and the issues it needs to address.