Roadway deaths and injuries in America have reached their highest rate in a decade, with a particularly sharp increase since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. This rise has been called a “crisis on America’s roadways” by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. Recognizing the need for action, Congress created the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program as part of the recent bipartisan infrastructure law to provide agencies with funding to create and implement comprehensive safety action plans.
On May 16, the US Department of Transportation announced $1B in Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants. MPOs, local and regional governments, tribal governments, and other political subdivisions of a state may apply for the development of a new comprehensive safety action plan, supplemental activities (such as data collection, feasibility analysis, and equity assessments) to further develop an existing action plan, or to carry out projects identified in an action plan.
A comprehensive safety action plan is defined as a plan which develops a holistic strategy to reduce roadway injuries and fatalities and includes certain mandatory components. These components are: goal-setting and official commitment from public officials, a structured planning group or task force, an analysis of existing safety conditions, engagement and collaboration with the public, equity analysis and inclusive processes, assessment of policy and process changes, identification of a list of strategies and projects, and a transparent mechanism for measuring progress.
SS4A grants are divided into action plan grants, which fund the development of new action plans or supplemental planning activities to further develop an existing plan, and implementation grants , which fund the implementation of projects identified in an action plan. Action plan grant awards have a minimum of $200k and a maximum of $5M, while implementation grants have a minimum of $3M and a maximum of $50M. Awards will cover up to 80% of project costs for both types of grants.
The Department will evaluate applications on the basis of safety impact, equity, and the use of effective and evidence-based strategies and practices. Implementation grants will also be evaluated on the degree to which they promote environmental sustainability. For more details, please consult the NOFO.
At Via, we believe that safe roadways are critical to equitable mobility for all. That’s why we partnered with Transportation Alternatives on NYC 25x25 Streets , an ambitious project to redesign New York City’s streets to convert 25% of space for cars to space for people, by 2025. Via’s industry-leading Remix software was used to build collaborative, community-driven street redesigns and safety proposals.
Software (such as Remix) used in developing and implementing an action plan is an eligible expense for the SS4A grant. If you’re interested in exploring our planning tools as part of your SS4A application, please reach out to partnerships@ridewithvia.com. We’d love to help as you consider applying and can provide insight on the application process. Applications are due September 15, 2022.
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