The Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) Active Transportation Division recently awarded 15 community projects more than $20 million in Safe Routes to School and Pedestrian/Bicyclist Program grants to improve walking, bicycling, and rolling conditions.
This brings the total funding for 2021-2023 to more than $67.5 million.
Seven projects received Pedestrian/Bicyclist program grants: Spokane Valley, $556,400; Kent, $875,420; Airway Heights, $950,000; Olympia, $1.3 million; Bellingham, $1.4 million; WSDOT’s Northwest Region, $1.7 million; and SeaTac, $3 million.
Eight projects received Safe Routes to School grants: Maple Valley, $302,400; Clark County, $389,000; Kent, $397,800; Spokane County, $623,000; Kelso, $935,000; Thurston County, $1.4 million; Spokane Valley, $1.7 million; and Bremerton, $4.2 million.
WSDOT reviews and ranks all applicants based on the safety need, effectiveness, equity, value and deliverability. Staff prioritized jurisdictions that have not applied in past cycles and provided technical assistance before asking for new applications.
A total of 53.7 percent of the projects funded in 2021-23, rank high for equity. These are projects located in areas with higher proportions of low-income households, people with disabilities, and communities of Black, Indigenous, people of color, and/or of Hispanic heritage.
These areas have higher rates of serious and fatal crashes for people walking or rolling, and often are disproportionately affected by prior transportation decisions and/or underfunded.