The U.S. Department of Transportation (UDOT) recently announced $82.6 million in Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants to 235 regional, local and Tribal communities for planning and demonstration projects to improve safety and help prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways.
These funds will help communities develop safety action plans, inform improvements along corridors with safety issues, use “quick-build” strategies to test out safety features such as separated bicycle lanes or curb extensions at intersections and more.
Helping communities plan and design safer streets is a key element of USDOT’s National Roadway Safety Strategy to combat the crisis of deaths on our nation’s roads. While NHTSA estimates show a fifth straight quarter of declines in roadway deaths, the fact is tens of thousands of people die each year on America’s roads.
“Whether it’s a dangerous intersection or highway, or a need for better bus and bike lanes, no one can better pinpoint a community’s safety needs than the people who actually live and work there,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a statement. “In the past five years, the communities we are awarding these grants to experienced nearly 14,000 roadway deaths. To help change that unacceptable reality, we are proud to deliver this needed funding to help them address their unique safety needs and save lives.”
“I know from my time as Commissioner of New York City Department of Transportation that roadway safety projects save lives,” said U.S. Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg in a statement. “The Department is so excited to partner with communities all across the country to quickly and nimbly get these plans ready for action.”
Today is the first of two announcements for this round of the Safe Streets and Roads for All competitive grant program and includes planning and demonstration grants. The second announcement will be later this year and will include funding to implement safety improvements.
In total, the SS4A grants are expected to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in funding investments in safety, provided directly to local communities.
A few of the communities and projects being funded by the awards announced today include:
- The Navajo Nation Division of Transportation received $1.44 million in federal funds to develop a new comprehensive safety action plan.
- Deerfield Beach, Fla. received $192,000 in federal funds to test out a temporary build project along Southwest 3rd Avenue in support of its Vision Zero Action Plan to inform how to increase safety, accessibility and mobility along the corridor
- Kauai County in Hawaii received $200,000 in federal funding to develop a new comprehensive safety action plan
- The Bangor Area Comprehensive Transportation System in Maine received $400,000 in federal funding to develop an action plan, and pilot temporary demonstration activities such as separated bicycle lanes, flashing beacons at a few key intersections, and modifications to lane delineations to inform action plan projects and strategies
The list of awards can be viewed here.
Additional SS4A awards are expected to be announced in December. In the first year of the program, DOT awarded $800 million in grants to 511 communities, making SS4A one of the Department’s largest competitive programs in terms of discreet awardees.
Applications for the next round of SS4A are anticipated to open in February of 2024.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Source: The U.S. Department of Transportation
