Photo: Vision Zero Hoboken
Ravi Bhalla used to find it hard to cross Hoboken’s main street with his two young kids, and in 2015, an 89-year-old woman was killed crossing it. So making roads safer was an early priority when he was elected mayor in 2017. In 2019, he signed an order that kicked off the city’s commitment to Vision Zero — a campaign to end traffic deaths in localities around the world. Hoboken set its goal to eliminate fatalities and injuries by 2030. In 2021, Bhalla welcomed Citi Bike, which has recorded more than 850,000 trips. In 2022, he lowered the citywide speed limit to 20 miles per hour (32 kilometers per hour). Crosswalks have been painted and repaved to increase their visibility, and more than 40 curb extensions nudge cars farther from intersections. Hoboken hasn’t reported a single traffic death since January 2017, and injuries have dropped 41%. “Vision Zero was a very resident-driven process,” the mayor says. “And with time, we've successfully gotten buy-in from a large portion of the community.”
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