By Charles Pekow — Goodies from Washington under the infrastructure law keep coming. In February, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced $800 million for 510 grants through the new Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Program (SS4A). Projects include 473 action plan grants to develop roadway safety plans in communities, and 37 implementation grants for communities to enact safety programs they’ve already developed.
Among the implementation grants, Missoula, MT got $9,311,254 for improvements along South Avenue and Clements Road, two corridors with high crash rates. The project includes constructing separated bike lanes and improving access to Big Sky High School, Fort Missoula Regional Park and shopping destinations.
Bernalillo County NM received $6.3 million for the Coors Boulevard Pedestrian Safety Project, which will include installing protected bike lanes for two miles.
The action plan grants are designed to help communities that have not yet developed roadway safety action plans or want to improve existing ones for all road users, including cyclists.
FHWA said it plans to award another $1.1 billion in April.
The Agency noted that bicyclist fatalities rose 5 percent in 2021 over 2020. A study released this month from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determined that in 2019, injuries to cyclists and pedestrians caused five percent of the economic harm and nine percent of the social cost of traffic accidents (https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813403) and that a “significant number” were caused by cyclist drinking.
In Utah, the six planning grants went to:
- Cache Metropolitan Planning Organization: $320,000 covering 10 cities in Cache County
- Cedar City Corporation: $52.000 for a Cedar City Action Plan
- City of Green River: $79,000 for Safe and Beautiful Broadway
- Five County Association of Governments: $1 million for an action plan
- Mountainland Association of Governments: $ 1 million for the Safety Action Plan Covering Utah, Wasatch, and Summit counties
- Wasatch Front Regional Council: $775,200 for its SS4A Action Plan
Arizona got eight action grants totaling $4,776,090; Colorado got 20 totaling $6,088,970; Idaho got four worth $937,900; Montana five for $1,940,545; Nevada two for $3,539,000; and New Mexico four for $1,219,200. Wyoming only got one: Teton County received $480,000 for the Teton County and Town of Jackson Comprehensive Safety Action Planning Project.
For a complete list of grants, see https://www.transportation.gov/grants/ss4a/2022-awards-action-plan-grants.
