The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) established the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) discretionary grant program with $5 billion in appropriated funds over five years. The SS4A program funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries. The SS4A program supports the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy and our goal of zero roadway deaths using a Safe System Approach.
On December 13, 2023, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced 385 new SS4A grants totaling $813 million to regional, local, and Tribal communities. With this latest announcement, SS4A has provided $1.7 billion in Federal funding to over 1,000 communities in all 50 States and Puerto Rico. Awarded projects will help the nation’s cities, counties, metropolitan planning organizations, and Tribal governments address roadway safety challenges in their communities by identifying and implementing solutions to make our streets, roads, and highways safer for all roadway users.
Rural road users remain disproportionately affected by crash-related fatalities. GHSA’s America’s Rural Roads: Beautiful and Deadly report found that in 2020, the risk of dying in a crash was 62 percent higher on a rural road compared to an urban road for the same trip length.
Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting System 2016-2020, U.S. Census Bureau America Community Survey 2018
Source: Fatality Analysis Reporting Systems
USDOT recognized the importance of providing specialized assistance to vulnerable rural road users and has included a targeted action in the National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS): “Build capacity to improve safety in rural areas by working with stakeholders at the State, local, and Tribal levels through focused technical assistance, training, and research.” The SS4A program supports this key action. To date, SS4A has awarded $346 million in grants to 557 rural communities, constituting almost half of the overall awards in the program.
These rural communities are receiving Federal funding for the development and implementation of their safety action plans and projects while benefitting from the specialized technical assistance and trainings that the SS4A team is developing. Through the allocation of awards to rural communities, USDOT showcases its commitment to the priority actions outlined in the NRSS, while making advancements toward the goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries on our nation’s roadways.