Comprehensive project aims to reduce traffic-related fatalities and injuries across the region
03/10/2026 CHARLOTTE, NC TSX, NYSE:STN
The Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO) has selected Stantec to lead the data analysis contract of its Comprehensive Safety Action Plan — “Safety is Everyone’s Business”. The project involves the development of a regional plan to unify traffic safety strategies for the CRTPO planning area, which includes Mecklenburg, Iredell, and Union counties in North Carolina. The overall project is funded by the CRTPO’s award from the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program of approximately $3M in funds, a competitive grant program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) aimed at preventing fatalities and serious injuries on America’s roadways.
SS4A funding has become a USDOT priority as the overall number of roadway fatalities has been trending upward in recent years, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. In addition to vehicle operators, road safety solutions funded by the SS4A program consider pedestrians and cyclists, who are often at greatest risk.
“This is a vital safety project aimed at saving lives and enacting meaningful change,” said Matthew Maher, principal, traffic engineering and transportation planning at Stantec. “We welcome the opportunity to work with both the CRTPO, member jurisdictions, and the CRTPO planning area as we strive to make their roadways safer for years to come.”
The largest SS4A-funded transportation planning initiative in North Carolina
The CRTPO, in partnership with Stantec, is developing the first safety action plan initiative of its kind in the Charlotte urban area, funded by the largest SS4A planning grant award in the state. This process will adopt the USDOT’s Safe System Approach to identify and recommend improvements to serious crash and high-risk locations on the region’s roadway network. Upon its completion, the study will produce regional safety tools, safety funding priorities, and policy recommendations, which are critical to prioritizing limited state and local resources in roadway projects to reduce serious injury and fatality crash rates.
As the project lead, Stantec will integrate innovative technologies, including AI-powered crash data analysis through language learning models and near-miss detection through video detection of objects and movement rates, alongside traditional road safety audits and robust public engagement. This multilayered methodology provides a more complete picture of safety risks and solutions, moving beyond standard high-injury network analysis.
“We look forward to partnering with Stantec to develop a high-caliber, first-of-its-kind plan for our rapidly growing region to reduce and eliminate deaths and serious injuries on and along our region’s roadways,” said Will Snyder, CRPTO project manager. “We are eager to bring safer streets to the counties, jurisdictions and communities across the CRTPO planning area.”
The project involves the development of 17 individual safety action plans for member communities without one, and implementation support for 7 existing Vision Zero communities across the CRTPO three-county planning area. The project’s scale enables smaller jurisdictions to benefit from data and insights that would otherwise be inaccessible, fostering a shared traffic safety coalition and culture regardless of where and how people travel.
The future of road safety technology
Core to the project is the Integrated CRTPO Street Safety Dashboard, which will serve as CRTPO’s central
command center for safety intelligence. The dashboard will allow the public, local transportation staff, and the CRTPO to visualize crash data, infrastructure conditions, behavioral risks, and project progress in one cohesive interface. Users will be able to explore the network dynamically, filter by jurisdiction or travel mode, and drill down from regional trends to individual intersections. The dashboard will also track the implementation and impact of safety improvements over time, linking interventions to measurable outcomes, or improved compliance. Additionally, through the implementation of AI and machine learning, the dashboard will process thousands of crash records and video analytics to timestamp near-miss incidents at intersections.
Stantec has a long history of supporting road safety initiatives across the US. The firm is currently working with the Capital Region Transportation Council in partnership with the New York State Department of Transportation in New York to develop a Vision Zero Action Plan, which is aimed at reducing fatal and serious injury crashes along the state’s busiest roads and highways. The firm is also leading road safety action plans in Meadowlands, New Jersey, and in Lee County, Florida—both projects aimed at improving mobility and safety in highly congested regions.
Learn more about Safety Action Planning & Implementation at Stantec.
About Stantec
Stantec empowers clients, people, and communities to rise to the world’s greatest challenges at a time when the world faces more unprecedented concerns than ever before.
We are a global leader in sustainable engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting. Our professionals deliver the expertise, technology, and innovation communities need to manage aging infrastructure, demographic and population changes, the energy transition, and more.
Today’s communities transcend geographic borders. At Stantec, community means everyone with an interest in the work that we do—from our project teams and industry colleagues to our clients and the people our work impacts. The diverse perspectives of our partners and interested parties drive us to think beyond what’s previously been done on critical issues like climate change, digital transformation, and future-proofing our cities and infrastructure.
We are designers, engineers, scientists, project managers, and strategic advisors. We innovate at the intersection of community, creativity, and client relationships to advance communities everywhere, so that together we can redefine what’s possible.
Stantec trades on the TSX and the NYSE under the symbol STN.
Media Contacts
Colin Nekolaichuk
Stantec Media Relations
Ph: (416) 542-6049
colin.nekolaichuk@stantec.com
Michael Stevens
Stantec Media Relations
Ph: (509) 957-5262
michael.stevens@stantec.com
