The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has added data and tools that can help communities, including those working to become more age-friendly, to address vehicle speed management.

MassDOT hosts a crash data portal where users can view preliminary motor vehicle fatality information using filters that include year, region, town, type, sex, age, month, day, and/or time. With this information, communities can turn to tools like the Road Treatment Technical Toolkit.

This toolkit includes basic information about roadway treatments strategies that you can put into action in your municipality and have been effectively implemented in Massachusetts. Once certain speed management measures are put into place, evaluation of speeds can be conducted to see if speeds have effectively changed and if people of all ages and abilities feel comfortable using the roadway.

Funding for such projects is available through programs like the Shared Streets and Spaces grant with applications due on March 1st. Projects that consider older adults are given special consideration.