More than 500 communities across the country are getting a share of $800 million in federal grant awards for road improvements and traffic accident-reduction efforts, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced.
DOT Sec. Pete Buttigieg announced the grant awards Feb. 1 in a post to Twitter and with an official DOT statement, stating on Twitter that the funding for infrastructure upgrades and safety advancements is "moving our nation closer to the only acceptable rate of roadway deaths: zero." The record amount of funding is through the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program, part of President Joe Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the DOT reports. The program provides $5 billion over five years for regional, local, and Tribal traffic safety initiatives, according to the announcement.
The grants "support the Department’s vision of zero roadway deaths and its National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS): a comprehensive approach launched in January 2022 to make our nation’s roadways safer for everyone, including drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and emergency and construction workers, by stressing responsible driving, safer roadway designs, appropriate speed-limit setting, and improved post-crash care, among other strategies," the DOT reports.
The SS4A grants fund two types of projects: action plans, which help communities without a current road-safety plan to develop action strategies; and implementation projects, to help communities to put their plans into action. The first round of grants include 473 grants for action plans and 37 grants for implementation projects, according to the DOT.
"Every year, crashes cost tens of thousands of American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars to our economy; we face a national emergency on our roadways, and it demands urgent action," Buttigieg said in the announcement. "We are proud that these grants will directly support hundreds of communities as they prepare steps that are proven to make roadways safer and save lives."
