About Us
Imagine an Austin where…
All people, regardless of race, gender, age, ability or income, have the freedom to travel and recreate through safe, easily accessible walkways, bikeways, pathways and transit routes. Everyone is included in co-creating our transportation systems. There are zero transportation-related deaths and serious injuries. There is a widespread and celebrated culture of walking, bicycling, rolling, and gathering. People are healthier and happier because of equitable, accessible transportation choices. And our environment is made better by those choices.
Safe Streets Austin is a grassroots movement pushing to restore our streets, bikeways, and urban trails to safe, vibrant, beautiful, and equitable places for all.
What Problems are we facing?
Car-centric cities are unfriendly for all road users and amplify historic inequities for marginalized communities. For too long, too many communities have been excluded from the conversation.
Most Austinites do not live or work near vibrant public gathering spaces. Streets are too dangerous and unenjoyable for safe walking, biking, rolling, and gathering. Existing infrastructure is disconnected and inaccessible, particularly for new users.
Polls consistently show that Austinites want alternatives to driving, but public engagement processes are sometimes minimal and inequitable. Opposition to new active transportation can be exacerbated if local projects are limited in scope, not meeting current design standards, or providing low return on investment.
With transportation a leading cause of climate emissions, the current car-centric system is environmentally destructive.
How are we tackling these challenges?
The world has changed. Communities have seen that streets don’t have to be danger zones for fast-moving traffic; instead, walking, bicycling, and gathering in the streets can be safe and fun for all ages and abilities in every neighborhood. Safe Streets Austin, a nonprofit organization, is committed to an inclusive and diverse movement for that change.
Our approach is simple but powerful: unite the community through grassroots engagement, build a common vision for streets and urban trails, and hold decision makers accountable for manifesting this vision.
We organize city-wide and neighborhood events for activities, volunteering, canvassing, and collaborating. We facilitate and publicize demonstration projects, such as Living Streets installations. We publicly celebrate successful programs and initiatives.
Long-time advocacy organizations and champions for safe streets, Bike Austin, Walk Austin and Vision Zero ATX have come together under the Safe Streets Austin umbrella to amplify their shared vision for recreating the transportation structure in Austin.
