By Stacey Meekins, AICP, National Practice Leader, Complete Streets

Created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the Safe Streets for All (SS4A) Grant Program will disburse $5 billion over five years for projects aimed at preventing roadway deaths and serious injuries. The program offers two types of grants: 1) Planning and Demonstration Grants and 2) Implementation Grants. Here’s why you should consider applying for a Planning and Demonstration Grant.

1. Significant funding for planning (not just implementation) is rare

The Chicago Downtown Vision Zero Action Plan sparked immediate improvements at critical intersections.

Typically, federal transportation grants place a strong emphasis on building projects, while funding the planning work falls to local jurisdictions. The SS4A program, however, revolves around supporting a community-wide Safety Action Plan. The available funding covers everything from developing the plan to implementation and anything in between. The SS4A program includes significant support for early stages of analysis, engagement, and testing strategies to improve safety, with 40% of the program’s annual funding (~$400M) set aside for this purpose.

Activities eligible for the Planning and Demonstration Grants include :

Developing a Safety Action Plan;
Enhancing or updating a Safety Action Plan through supplemental planning;
Conducting a demonstration project (see #4) to inform the plan.

A successful Safety Action Plan synthesizes safety-related data with community members’ lived experiences to arrive at a set of community-supported priorities for improving safety. Dedicated support for a thorough planning process provides a strong foundation from which lasting infrastructure projects that maximize community benefits will be based. This commitment from the federal government helps all communities, particularly those with limited budgets, to devote to planning functions, take the time to make good, evidence-based decisions.

2. The Planning and Demonstration grants are significantly less competitive than typical funding programs

All applicants who applied for Action Plan grants (revised this year to Planning and Demonstration Grants) and met the application criteria in the first round of this five-year program were awarded funds. While changes will make the program more competitive this year, there is still a good chance of being successful. Helping the odds, the total pot of available funds this year will be larger due to unspent money last year.

3. Applying for funding for a Planning and Demonstration Grant is simple

The application process for a Planning and Demonstration Grant is straightforward and USDOT has made extensive guidance available to lessen the burden for communities to access this funding.

The application requires several key components. The items in bold make up the primary selection criteria:

Safety impact based on the fatality count over five years and the fatality rate per 100,000 persons. This information can be found from local sources or from the National Highway Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System database.
Equity impact measured as the percentage of the population in underserved communities. The Equitable Transportation Community (ETC) Explorer tool was developed to help communities access this data.
Project description and additional context on the safety impact in narrative format of no more than 2 pages.
Jurisdiction map, which can be as simple as a screenshot from a web-based mapping service such as Google or Bing. The map must indicate roadway jurisdiction.
Project cost. USDOT expects award amounts to range from $100k to $10M per award, depending on the size and scope of the effort, with a 20 percent match required. Consider your community’s size and population, the required scope elements, any additional scope items that would be beneficial, and whether a demonstration project will be part of your request when determining the project cost. NOTE: in-kind contributions, which include staff time to administer the grant activities, are eligible for that match.

Incorporating supplemental planning activities or demonstration projects into your grant request will require more preparation and coordination than simply applying for the action plan, but it uses the same application and follows the same format.

In addition to the application itself, your agency will need standard forms and registration on the USDOT’s application portal. Familiarize yourself with the submission process early and plan to submit with time to spare in case you encounter hiccups. Detailed guidance on how to apply and assistance in the form of webinars, FAQs, tools, and checklists can be found at USDOT’s SS4A website.

Eligible applicants include political subdivisions of a State (cities, towns, counties, etc.), a Tribal government, an MPO, or a multijurisdictional group of those entities. Only one application will be accepted per jurisdiction. Consider collaborating with internal departments and agencies or with neighboring or overlapping jurisdictions to make your application stronger and eliminate the potential for duplicative applications. More information can be found here.

4. Program changes expand the eligible activities to include temporary installations

Before- and after- safety data at an intersection where left-turn traffic calming was done with temporary materials.

The Planning and Demonstration Grant in this round replace last year’s Action Plan Grants. This change expands the eligible activities to include demonstration projects to support an ongoing action plan, enhance an existing action plan, or to advance initial implementation steps. The cost of designing and implementing temporary treatments, such as paint-and-post bumpouts, or studying a new policy or technology can be incorporated into the grant request.

In fact, USDOT is encouraging this type of application and aims to devote $250 million in funding specifically for demonstration projects.

Incorporating demonstration projects into your action planning work opens new opportunities to pilot treatments that are unfamiliar to your community or test out the effectiveness of a strategy before moving forward with widespread implementation. At the same time, these activities can build momentum and support education and engagement around traffic safety.

Some important things to keep in mind when scoping out a demonstration project for your SS4A application:

Demonstration projects must be temporary and have a defined end point
A before and after study is required and must be used to inform a Safety Action Plan
There will be a priority on those that can be implemented within 18 months

More information about what a demonstration project could look like is available here.

5. A Safety Action Plan will position your community well for future implementation funding

The SS4A program is foundational to USDOT’s National Roadway Safety Strategy, announced in 2022. Safety Action Plans are thus aligned with the USDOT’s approach and priorities beyond just the SS4A Implementation Grants. Following your Safety Action Plan, look for additional opportunities, both at the state and federal levels, to support its implementation. The DOT Discretionary Grants Dashboard can help you identify which grant program is right for your project or initiative.

Does your community already have a certified Safety Action Plan? You may be ready for an implementation grant. Have a Safety Action Plan, but you’re not quite ready for an implementation grant? Then you can use either the Planning and Demonstration Grant or the Implementation Grant to do supplemental planning or a demonstration project.

Important Dates

June 16, 2023: Technical questions due to ss4a@dot.gov

July 10, 2023, 5:00 PM EDT: Applications due

Have questions or need support? Contact us! We’re happy to help.

5 Reasons to Apply for a Safe Streets for All Grant (+ Tips for Success)