ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -The East West Gateway Council of Governments says it is taking action, and working to reduce the number of fatalities and serious accidents on roadways in the region.
On Wednesday, they officially adopted the "Gateway to Safer Roadways" action plan which aims to cut those type of accidents in half by 2050.
"We have been considering road way safety as one of our primary evaluations criteria's for years," said Jim Wild, Executive Director East West Gateway Council on Total Information A.M. Wednesday.
The plan analyzed all fatalities and serious injury crashes within the greater St. Louis Region from 2018 to 2022, with Wild saying there have been over 350,000 crashes in the area in that period, with an average of 200 crashes a day and a little bit over 300 fatalities a year.
"If you look at the statistics, we have failure to yield as 20%,of the reason, improper lane usage is about 16%," said Wild. "Alcohol and drugs and distracted driving make up about 20%."
As part of the report, it also listed some of the worst roads in the area, with many of them needing work based on the report.
"In St. Louis City, it's West Florissant, in St. Louis County, it's Missouri 367 and Halls Ferry Road, in Jefferson County, it's U.S. 67," said Wild. "And on the Illinois side, we have Illinois Route 3 in St. Clair County as well as Collinsville Road in Madison County."
This report will be used by jurisdictions to apply for federal grant money to get those things done, with the Gateway plan making it easier for local governments to apply for federal money to help pay for structural changes.
"Recently, when the federal government started making money available through the IIJA (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act), they made $1 billion pot available for roadway safety across the country," said Wild. "The reason East West Gateway took a lead on this is to tap into that $1 billion pot, the principality or county has to have a road safety plan. So we are taking this on from a regional perspective."