On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced $817 million for more than 380 Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants to improve safety and help prevent deaths and injuries on the nation’s roadways.
The grants will help communities address safety by making roads safer, lower speeds on roadways and improving post-crash care. The first of its kind program is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and part of more than $14 billion in the law dedicated to roadway safety.
“Through the Safe Streets and Roads for All program, we have now announced safety funding going directly to communities representing seventy percent of the people living in this country,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “We are acting to confront the crisis of safety on our nation’s roads, helping communities work to reduce traffic deaths to the only acceptable number: zero.”
The grant announcement includes 48 implementation grants focused on safety projects and strategies and 337 planning and demonstration grants. Along with two other announcements in 2023, the SS4A grants have provided $1.7 billion in direct funding to more than 1,000 communities across the country and are expected to improve roadway safety for an estimated 70 percent of the country’s population.
“USDOT is excited to support communities all across the country as they design and deliver safer roadways,” U.S. Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg said. “USDOT is committed to making our nation’s roadways safer and more livable for all who drive, walk, bike, and roll.”
Included in the grants are $24.8 million to the city of Detroit for improved safety and bus stop accessibility at 56 high-crash intersections served by the Detroit Department of Transportation bus service; $8.4 million for Webster County, Iowa to improve 32.5 miles of rural county roads identified as high-risk locations for crashes and fatalities; and $3.5 million for the city of Billings, Montana for safety countermeasures, like improved lighting and signing, and high-visibility sidewalks at 11 intersections and 6 corridors in support of a Safe Routes to School initiative.