Officials with the U.S. Department of Transportation announced this past week that $152,108,602 in grants will be coming to California as part of $1 billion in grants through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program. The funding will go directly to 354 local, regional, and tribal communities across the country, including 51 in California, to improve roadway safety and prevent deaths and serious injuries on America’s rural and urban roads, including some of the most dangerous in the country.
The announcement – a key component of DOT’s comprehensive National Roadway Safety Strategy launched in 2022 – is paired with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s release of its early estimates of traffic fatalities for the first half of 2024, estimating that traffic fatalities declined for the ninth straight quarter. An estimated 18,720 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, a decrease of about 3.2 percent as compared to 19,330 fatalities projected to have occurred in the first half of 2023. Fatalities declined in both the first and second quarters of 2024.
Even with road fatalities decreasing over the past nine quarters straight, they remain far too high. Over 40,000 people have died on U.S. roads in each of the last three years, and a disproportionate number of people are killed in rural areas or while walking or bicycling. Additionally, traffic fatalities remain a leading cause of death for school-aged children and young adults.
“The SS4A program gives local and tribal governments the resources to plan and implement the safety improvements that will make the most difference in their communities,” said U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg. “They know what is best, and this program leverages that local expertise to save lives.”
In this region, through the most recent grant awards, the City of Stockton was awarded $8,414,562 for the SS4A Implementation Grant for the Main and Market Complete Streets Project to complete the Main and Market Complete Streets Project. This corridor, located entirely in underserved areas, serves as a vital link between communities east of Highway 99 and Downtown Stockton, underscoring the importance of these improvements in promoting equality through enhanced connectivity and mobility.
California also received $22,898,454 for 40 safety planning and demonstration projects.
The Safe Streets and Roads for All program provides grants directly to communities for implementation, planning, and demonstration projects aimed at preventing deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways. Since launching in 2022, SS4A has funded projects in more than 1,400 communities, supporting roadway safety for nearly 75 percent of the U.S. population.
Additionally, SS4A is making historic investments in rural and underserved communities, and many of this year’s awards will address critical safety hot spots on some of the country’s most dangerous roads. The projects and activities aim to improve safety for all roadway users, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians and students heading back to school, bicyclists, transit users, and people with disabilities.
Rural communities comprise around half of all SS4A grant award recipients to date.
A total of 682 SS4A communities (43 percent of award recipients) have populations under 50,000 and 793 SS4A award recipients (50 percent of all recipients to date) were new direct Federal funding recipients to USDOT.
Over half of SS4A funds will benefit underserved communities, providing equitable investment to places that need funding the most.
The third and final round of this year’s SS4A grant awards is expected to be announced in November.
