Last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced $172 million in grants to 257 communities through the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). This is the third and final round of 2024 awards that will be announced this year through the community-guided grant program.
The funding will go directly to 257 local, regional and tribal communities for planning and demonstration projects that will help prevent deaths and serious injuries on America’s rural and urban roads, including some of the most dangerous roads in the country— making communities more walkable and connected.
“Improving streetscapes and dangerous stretches of highway can save lives, and the people who rely on our roads and streets everyday often already know where improvements are needed but until now lacked the funding to address them,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “With this latest round of grants, funding will flow directly to communities across the country to help put life-saving projects in motion, building on our ongoing work to bring traffic fatalities down to the only number that’s acceptable: zero.”
Secretary Buttigieg declared a national roadway safety crisis in January of 2022 after roadway fatalities had peaked at over 43,000 deaths in 2021. At that time, USDOT launched its National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS), to reduce serious injuries and deaths on America’s roads. Since then, road fatalities have been declining for more than two years, with nine quarters of consistent decline, according to the department.
The strategy includes the development of road safety action plans and the implementation of interventions that are proven to dramatically reduce crashes, like those funded through the SS4A program.
Since launching in 2022, SS4A has funded projects to plan and implement roadway improvements that are proven to dramatically reduce crashes. More than 1,600 communities, of which almost half are in rural areas, have applied for and been awarded SS4A grants. Across the nation, SS4A supports roadway safety for around 75% of the U.S. population.
Projects selected for funding today include:
- The Romulus Fire Department in Michigan will receive $4.8 million to pilot signal preemption systems throughout Wayne County to clear intersections for emergency vehicles as they are responding to 911 calls.
- The Sonoma County Transportation Authority in California will receive $4.5 million to conduct demonstration activities focused on lowering speeds, and install bicycle lanes and temporary curb extensions, with an emphasis on high-need safe routes to schools, parks, youth centers, bike share hubs, and transit.
- The Apalachee Regional Planning Council (ARPC) in Florida will receive $497,839 to create a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan (CSAP) for the 9-county region to reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries. This project will result in the first CSAP for the Apalachee Region of Northwest Florida.
- The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma will receive $464,640 to create a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan to prevent deaths and serious injuries on public roadways and to invest in the safety needs of the Choctaw Nation, a historically underserved community.
- Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, will receive $400,000 to develop a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan for all 75 miles of county-owned roadways, ranging from major arterials to rural two-lane roads.
Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, Whitehouse.gov
