Feds Announce $817 Million in Grants for Safe Streets and Roads

• The grants are funded from the $1.7-trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ($550 billion of which is new federal spending) and the second announced this year.

• Local, regional, and tribunal governments must contribute about 20% of funds for each SS4A project. Expanded bike lanes in Philadelphia (pictured above) are included.

• The DOT awarded 620 SS4A grants in two announcements this year, out of 824 applications. The department expects to open the next round for SS4A in February 2024.

Forty-eight local, regional, and tribal communities will receive $817 million in Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants for more pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly cities and suburbs, the US Transportation Department announced Dec. 13.

This is the DOT’s third tranch of grants funded from the $1.7-trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ($550 billion of which is new federal spending) and the second announced this year.

“In the last two years, we have built the economy from the bottom-up and the middle-out,” senior White House advisor and infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu told reporters on a Zoom press conference, echoing one of President Biden’s favorite economic policy catchphrases. The safe roads projects are “near and dear” to Biden’s heart, former New Orleans Mayor Landrieu said.

Local, regional, and tribunal governments must contribute about 20% of funds for each SS4A project. This latest round covers 48 implementation grants, which pay for actual construction work, and 337 grants for planning and demonstration activities.

Those smaller planning and demonstration grants help communities design and develop more pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly streets, including temporary cycling lane barriers and other “safe” features to test those plans.

Examples of the implementation grants:

• Dearborn, Michigan, will get $24.9 million for a “road diet” that will reduce two lanes of five on a two-mile stretch of Warren Avenue. In addition to narrowing a portion of Warren Avenue that leads to Detroit, Detroit Metro Airport, and Windsor, Ontario, the project will add a new demarcated bike lane and plant buffer, the latter to mitigate flood waters and beautify the gray urban area. There will also be new LED lighting.

• Detroit gets $24.8 million to improve safety and bus stop accessibility at 56 high-crash intersections served by the city’s bus service.

• Phoenix is awarded $25 million for intersection and pedestrian infrastructure changes and safety treatments along Indian School Road between 39th and 91st Avenues, where there were 39 fatal and 85 serious-injury crashes between 2017 and 2021.

• Philadelphia will get $16.4 million for “corridor-specific safety countermeasures” in underserved areas, including pedestrian refugee islands and center medians, pedestrian visibility enhancements like raised crosswalks, upgraded walk signals, curb extensions, separated bike lanes, speed cushions, and other speed-management measures.

• Dallas gets $21.8 million for bike lanes, a “lane diet” from five down to four lanes, raised crosswalks, leading pedestrian intervals, and bus shelter improvements along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Cedar Crest Boulevard.

The DOT awarded 620 SS4A grants in two announcements this year, out of 824 applications, said Paul Teicher, transportation policy analyst for the federal agency. The department expects to open the next round for SS4A in February 2024.

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