Roadway safety planning

We have a goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries on all county roadways by the year 2045. To achieve this, we adopted a benchmark goal of reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries from traffic crashes by 50% by the year 2035.

Action plan

The county adopted its first Toward Zero Deaths action plan in 2025. The goal is to prioritize safety for all people who walk, bike, roll, use transit and drive throughout the county’s roadway system.

This plan includes:

• Our commitment to a long-term goal of zero roadway fatalities and serious injury crashes
• A data-driven High Injury Network across the county roadway system
• An understanding and acknowledgment of the communities most impacted by fatal and serious injury traffic crashes with a specific focus on vulnerable road users
• Engagement with the public, stakeholders, partners, and leaders
• A description of data-driven strategies proven to reduce crash frequency and severity
• Recommendations for programs involving enforcement, education, and partnership with other agencies
• A roadmap for implementing the strategies in this plan

Toward Zero Deaths action plan (PDF, 3MB)

Collaboration

Engineering alone will not get us to achieve zero deaths on our roadways. This goal will take a collaborative approach that we call the Es of roadway safety:

• Education: Promote safe walking, rolling, biking, and driving.
• Enforcement: Help encourage all road users to obey traffic laws and share the roadway safely.
• Engineering: Roadway design elements that create a safer experience for all users.
• Emergency response: Coordination with first responders to ensure prompt and successful post-crash care.
• Engagement: Collaboration with policy makers, advocates, and the community on traffic safety.

Crash data

Every year, we will provide the number of fatal and serious crashes on the Hennepin County roadway system, using data from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Safety spotlight

Roundabouts

A roundabout is a type of circular intersection that reduces vehicle speeds, limits conflict points and lowers the risk of severe and fatal crashes when compared with other types of intersections.

Here are a few simple guidelines to remember when using a roundabout:

• Slow down as you approach.
• Yield to people walking, biking, and rolling.
• As you approach, yield to vehicles already in the roundabout.
• Stay in your lane within the roundabout and use you turn signal before exiting.
• Give trucks all available space and do not pass them in a roundabout.
• If an emergency vehicle needs to get through, exit the roundabout, then pull over to let them pass.