USDOT Makes $1B Available for Local Street Projects

April 21, 2023

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently issued a notice of funding opportunity for cities, towns, counties, tribal governments, and Metropolitan Planning Organizations or MPOs to apply directly for more than $1.17 billion in grants to help fund local roadway safety improvement projects.

[Above photo by the USDOT]

Those funds are from the “Safe Streets and Roads for All” or SS4A grant program created by the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or IIJA enacted in November 2021. Applications for this round of SS4A grants are due by July 10.

Photo by the New Mexico DOT

USDOT noted in a statement that the SS4A program aims to help communities both plan and carry out projects that help reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on our highways, streets, and roads. Those solutions can include everything from improving sidewalks and adding high-visibility crosswalks, to reconfiguring intersections, the agency added.

Funding can also be targeted toward known “high-crash areas,” which USDOT said are “easier to identify” thanks to a new interactive tool it unveiled in February.

USDOT said it considers “launching and administering” the SS4A grant program as a “major element” of its National Roadway Safety Strategy, issued in January 2022 to address the growing number of traffic deaths across the country.

Photo by Hawaii DOT

Also in February, USDOT provided 473 communities with “Action Planning” grants from the first round of SS4A funding, with 37 communities receiving “Implementation” grants from the $800 million in total grants funded during that round as well.

USDOT is encouraging applicants for this cycle of SS4A grants to submit proposals that include the use of demonstration activities, sometime also known as “quick build” projects, as part of their Action Plans, as well as undertaking more traditional action planning and implementation activities.

The added that it anticipates awarding at least $250 million in demonstration activities during this round of SS4A funding.

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