The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) established the new Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) discretionary program, with $5 billion in appropriated funds over 5 years, 2022-2026. The SS4A program funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries. The following groups of applicants are eligible for the SS4A grant program: Counties, cities, towns, transit agencies, and other special districts that are political subdivisions of a State. Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). Federally recognized Tribal governments. The program supports the development of a comprehensive safety action plan (Action Plan) that identifies the most significant roadway safety concerns in a community and the implementation of projects and strategies to address roadway safety issues. Action Plans are the foundation of the SS4A grant program. SS4A requires an eligible Action Plan be in place before applying to implement projects and strategies. The SS4A program provides funding for two types of grants: Planning and Demonstration Grants provide Federal funds to develop, complete, or supplement a comprehensive safety action plan. The goal of an Action Plan is to develop a holistic, well-defined strategy to prevent roadway fatalities and serious injuries in a locality, Tribe, or region. Planning and Demonstration Grants also fund supplemental planning and/or demonstration activities that inform the development of a new or existing Action Plan. The Department encourages including demonstration activities in an application. Implementation Grants provide Federal funds to implement projects and strategies identified in an Action Plan to address a roadway safety problem. Projects and strategies can be infrastructure, behavioral, and/or operational activities. Implementation Grants may also include demonstration activities, supplemental planning, and project-level planning, design, and development. Applicants must have an eligible Action Plan to apply for Implementation Grants. The Department encourages including demonstration activities in an application.

Information related to the SS4A Grant Program can be found on U.S. Department of Transportation website. https://www.transportation.gov/grants/SS4 A Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is released each year of the grant program. The Notice of Funding Opportunity solicits applications for Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants. The 2023 NOFO can be reviewed online (https://www.transportation.gov/grants/ss4a/fy23-nofo).

Please refer to the SS4A Self-Certification Eligibility Worksheet located: https://www.transportation.gov/grants/ss4a/self-certification-worksheet. The LVMPO RSAP will be the compliant Action Plan. It will be up to each city/ applicant to reference this LVMPO Plan.

The SS4A Grant Program has the following priorities: Promote safety to prevent death and serious injuries on public roadways; Employ low-cost, high-impact strategies that can improve safety over a wide geographic area; Ensure equitable investment in the safety needs of underserved communities, which includes both underserved urban and rural communities; Incorporate evidence-based projects and strategies and adopt innovative technologies and strategies; Demonstrate engagement with a variety of public and private stakeholders; and Align with the Department’s mission and Strategic Goals such as safety; climate change and sustainability; equity and Justice40; and workforce development, job quality, and wealth creation.

Yes, depending on recommendations of the adopted Action Plan. Please see the response to Question 4. Please also refer to the FHWA website: https://www.transportation.gov/grants/ss4a/eligible-implementation-grant-projects

All roadways are eligible for implementation funds if an eligible applicant meets the following requirement specific for an Implementation Grant: Must be an eligible applicant with an eligible Action Plan in place based on the Self-Certification Eligibility Worksheet AND have at least one of the following: Ownership and/or maintenance responsibilities over a roadway network. Safety responsibilities that affect roadways. An agreement from the agency that has ownership and/or maintenance responsibilities for the roadway within the applicant’s jurisdiction. State highways, for example, require support and cooperation from WsDOT/ITD.

One of the elements of an Action Plan is leadership commitment to an eventual goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries. The following description is provided in the NOFO of this component of an Action Plan: An official public commitment (e.g., resolution, policy, ordinance) by a high-ranking official and/or governing body (e.g., Mayor, City Council, Tribal Council, metropolitan planning organization [MPO], Policy Board) to an eventual goal of zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries. The commitment must include a goal and timeline for eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries achieved through one, or both, of the following: the target date for achieving zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries, OR an ambitious percentage reduction of roadway fatalities and serious injuries by a specific date with an eventual goal of eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries. LCVMPO intends to establish a leadership commitment as a part of the project.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law established the SS4A program and approved $6 billion in funding, with $5 billion in advanced appropriations. For fiscal year 2023, $1 billion has been made available for grants under the SS4A program, plus approximately an additional $177 million for funding Planning and Demonstration grants, or supplemental planning and demonstration activities in Implementation Grant requests, that was unallocated from FY 2022. There is no statutory minimum or maximum. However, the NOFO provides expected minimum and maximum ranges for each applicant type and DOT may award less than the total amount requested by the applicant. When considering the appropriate funding request, DOT recommends an applicant consider the level of effort to administer a Federal grant and the associated administrative requirements when developing the budget. For Planning and Demonstration Grants, award amounts will be based on estimated costs, with an expected minimum of $100,000 and an expected maximum of $10,000,000. The Department expects larger award amounts for metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), applicants that are multijurisdictional in scope, or those conducting activities in a large geographic area. For Implementation Grants, DOT expects the minimum award will be $2,500,000 and the maximum award will be $25,000,000. A local match of no less than 20 percent of the total project cost is required for all SS4A grant funds. Local match may include both cash as well as in-kind contributions. Please refer to the FHWA Safe Streets and Roads for All website for current information: https://www.transportation.gov/grants/SS4A.

LCVMPO will complete an Action Plan that will satisfy requirements for agencies and municipalities within LCVMPO to apply for an Implementation Grant. Implementation Grant applications will be the responsibility of the local agency or municipality, although LCVMPO may provide general guidelines or suggestions.

SS4A funds are directed to improving streets owned, operated, and maintained by local jurisdictions. An eligible applicant must have an agreement with the agency that has ownership and/or maintenance responsibilities for the roadway within the applicant’s jurisdiction to implement the project or strategy as part of an Implementation Grant.

Policy and process updates, with a safety focus or benefit, are an eligible activity of a comprehensive safety action plan. The LCVMPO RSAP will include a policy review and may identify recommendations for new policies/design guidelines. However, those will not be prepared within the LCVMPO RSAP. A local jurisdiction could apply for a supplemental grant to prepare the standards/policy, if the need is identified in the comprehensive safety action plan.

The SS4A 2022 Grant Awards can be found online (https://www.transportation.gov/grants/ss4a/2022-awards). Examples of joint applications can be found online.

The RSAP is inclusive of the LCVMPO planning area, which includes Lewiston, Nez Perce County, Clarkston, Asotin and Asotin County. The RSAP will focus on non-WsDOT/ITD maintained roadways.

GFA meetings are where representatives from individual communities can review safety analysis findings and provide input to recommendations related to their specific area. GFA meeting invitations will be sent to representatives of each LCVMPO jurisdiction. It will be up to the jurisdiction to confirm their representative (jurisdictions can send more than one representative). We are particularly interested in attendance and participation from those with the following responsibilities: Transportation Planning Traffic Engineering Traffic Enforcement Emergency Services Traffic safety education and outreach

We are at the beginning stages of the analysis, and have not yet identified safety needs and potential strategies. In general, we anticipate that countermeasures will be selected from nationally-recognized resources including the FHWA Proven Safety Countermeasures (https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures) or Countermeasures that Work (https://www.nhtsa.gov/book/countermeasures/countermeasures-work)

The LCVMPO RSAP safety analysis focuses on the following, as summarized in the Self-Certification Checklist: Analysis of existing conditions and historical trends to baseline the level of crashes involving fatalities and serious injuries across a jurisdiction, locality, Tribe, or region; Analysis of the location where there are crashes, the severity, as well as contributing factors and crash types; Analysis of systemic and specific safety needs is also performed, as needed (e.g., high risk road features, specific safety needs of relevant road users; and, A geospatial identification (geographic or locational data using maps) of higher risk locations.

Yes, the WsDOT/ITD crash database shows the location of known bicycle and pedestrian crashes occurring on roadways and includes the roadway ownership as part of the database.

Crash analysis will be presented at the Geographic Focus Area( GFAs) level. GFA analysis will be sufficiently detailed to identify potential project locations for a particular jurisdiction or city.

The RSAP may recommend safety improvements including those identified by FHWA as Proven Safety Countermeasures. Speed Management is one of the FHWA Proven Safety Countermeasures. Recommendations will also build on the Safe System Approach adopted as part of USDOT’s National Roadway Safety Strategy. The RSAP includes review of data such as “hard braking” on local streets that may inform identification of areas where speed may be of concern. Speed is also one of the risk factors being reviewed. The RSAP includes a task to review policies, which may be inclusive of speed-related policies.

The methodologies in the safety analysis consider functional classification of the roadway (Arterials, Collectors, Local Streets). The methodology identifies roadway segments and intersections that have a higher-than-expected crash rate considering traffic volume.