$
SEDAN – Governor Laura Kelly announced last week that Chautauqua and Elk counties have been awarded $360,000 in federal funding in the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program. The funds will be used to help improve safety and prevent deaths and serious injuries on local roadways. Chautauqua County was the lead on the joint application with Elk County.
The two counties are among seven Kansas communities receiving a combined total of $1.47 million in funding through the SS4A program.
“Our counties intend to use this planning and demonstration grant to conduct outreach, data collection, analysis and other related tasks to develop a list of potential safety improvement projects,” said Mark McCall, Chautauqua County public works superintendent. “The plan itself will identify items for leadership commitment and goal setting that includes a timeline for eliminating roadway fatalities and fatal injuries.”
State funding provided by a Kansas SS4A Match Pilot Program will contribute 20% of the local match as required of grant recipients.
“No one can better pinpoint a community’s safety needs than the people who live and work there,” said Governor Kelly. “I commend these local governments for leveraging federal and state funding to create safety plans for their city streets and county roads.”
Administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Safe Streets and Roads for All is a five-year, $5 billion competitive grant program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. SS4A projects stress responsible driving, safer roadway designs, appropriate speed limit setting and improved post-crash care. Nationwide for this fall 2023 funding announcement, the $82 million in SS4A grants is being directed to 235 regional, local and Tribal communities.
The SS4A program is structured so the federal government covers 80% of the planning and demonstration grant costs, and the local government covers 20%. The Kansas Department of Transportation agreed to cover some or all of the local matches to encourage participation. To have the full 20% covered by KDOT, agencies had to represent a rural area of the state.
Other Kansas communities receiving SS4A grants include the cities of Eureka, Hutchinson, Newton and Russell. The USDOT expects to announce additional FY23 awards in December. Additional details on other cities receiving the SS4A grants can be found on page 1 of this week’s edition.
