WASHINGTON — In a media release, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced that 51 California projects were awarded over $152 million through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program to improve roadway safety.
The SS4A program, established by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.
“From children crossing busy intersections to commuters driving to and from work, Californians depend on roadway safety improvements to prevent fatal vehicle collisions,” Padilla said. “Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, California has secured another $152 million in federal funding to make our streets and roadways safer for the millions of pedestrians, bicyclists, and commuters who rely on them every day. The action plans developed and implemented with this critical funding will save lives and curb serious injuries across all corners of our state.”
Recipients of SS4A grants across California include:
- Los Angeles County — $29.81 million: The LA County Pedestrians Project builds off of Los Angeles’ Vision Zero Action Plan (VZAP) to implement pedestrian safety improvements at 77 intersections, all of which experience higher-than-average rates of pedestrian fatalities and severe injuries. The project will implement high-visibility crosswalks, curb extensions, and pedestrian signal improvements, including leading pedestrian intervals and rectangular rapid-flashing beacons.
- City of Long Beach — $25 million: The Pacific Avenue Protected Bike Lanes Project will make safety improvements on Pacific Avenue, a 2-mile corridor connecting residents, businesses, and visitors to the LA Metro and local destinations such as Downtown Long Beach, the Long Beach Convention Center, and Long Beach City College. The project will address safety issues to protect all users by adding 2 miles of protected sidewalk-level Class IV cycle track, implementing continuous center medians, removing left-turn lanes to reduce traffic conflicts, and adding raised pedestrian crossings at minor street crossings.
- City of Alameda — $16 million: The Lincoln Avenue/Marshall Way/Pacific Avenue Corridor Improvement Project will implement proven safety countermeasures along a 3-mile corridor on the City’s high-injury network. The corridor project implements road diets, continuous bicycle facilities, a roundabout, pedestrian beacons, pedestrian and bicycle signals, modernized traffic signals, crosswalk improvements, school frontage improvements, stormwater gardens, disabled parking and loading zones, improved lighting, and bus stop enhancements. This project addresses the four primary collision factors that were responsible for almost 75 percent of crashes along the corridor from 2017 to 2021.
- City of Vacaville — $11.02 million: The Safe Streets for Vacaville Project will implement roadway safety and multimodal improvements to facilitate access to key community destinations. The project will address two high-injury corridors within an area in the north part of the city that includes underserved Census tracts. The implementation portion of the project will provide safer connections across I-505, a highway through the north part of the city. Roundabouts and retroreflective backplates will address the high percentage of crashes in the project area that occur at intersections (52 percent) and in dark conditions (40 percent).
- The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles — $10.96 million: The Wilmington Avenue Vision Zero Revitalization Project will improve safety on Wilmington Avenue, a major North-South arterial road, in South Los Angeles. This project will introduce high-visibility crosswalks, ADA curb ramps, protected bike lanes, enhanced street lighting, and traffic calming measures along Wilmington Avenue to improve safety. The Rainbow Bridge will also be renovated to include ADA access, improved lighting, and safety features benefiting pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists.
- City of Stockton — $8.41 million: The Main and Market Complete Streets Project in Stockton will provide safety improvements for pedestrians and cyclists, who currently have inadequate or nonexistent facilities, while calming traffic along this busy corridor. Improvements include implementing a road diet that converts Main and Market streets from four vehicular lanes to two lanes and installs buffered bicycle lanes, as well as filling gaps in the City’s bicycle network. The corridor, located entirely in underserved areas, serves as a vital link between communities east of Highway 99 and Downtown Stockton.
- City of Riverside — $7.45 million: The City of Riverside Neighborhood Safety Investment Project will implement safety improvements at 4 of the 6 intersections on its high-injury network. Crash data analysis highlights that the city experiences more total traffic fatalities, and more per capita traffic fatalities, than any other city in the county, including pedestrian fatalities. The project will fill pedestrian gaps with 0.6 miles of new sidewalk; add 16.2 miles of new Class I, II, and III bike lanes; implement intersection improvements such as high-visibility crosswalks and audible pedestrian push buttons at 85 locations; and install speed humps, a traffic circle, and speed feedback signs as traffic calming treatments in four neighborhoods.
- Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District (SMART) — $7 million: The SMART Pathway to Opportunity: Santa Rosa to the Sonoma County Airport Project will close a 4.73-mile gap in the SMART multi-use pathway that allows people to travel to, within, and between the communities and SMART rail stations along its passenger rail and pathway corridor. The additional pathway provides a safe, multimodal alternative to the parallel U.S. Interstate 101. The project will complete an 18-mile continuous, protected, multi-use path between the Town of Windsor and the community of Penngrove in Sonoma County.
- City of Palmdale — $5.38 million: The 20th Street East Corridor Improvement Project will make improvements to a 1.92-mile segment of a major 5-lane throughfare. The existing condition has several safety issues that include high posted speed, lack of pedestrian and bicycle facilities in portions of the corridor despite the presence of three schools, poor lighting, and closely spaced/offset intersections. To address these concerns, the City will add a new sidewalk, a new bike lane, an enhanced crosswalk with bulb outs and a pedestrian signal, additional lighting, and a reconstruction of a dangerous intersection.
- City of San Bernardino — $5.28 million: The Plan to Action: Revitalizing Roadway Safety in San Bernardino Project will design and construct safety countermeasures at five high-risk locations that have high collision rates and a high incidence of fatalities or severe injuries, or that have proximity to schools and residential areas. The project implements Proven Safety Countermeasures such as road diets, high-visibility crosswalks, curb extensions, improved sidewalk connectivity, pedestrian refuge islands, traffic signals, buffered bike lanes, pedestrian hybrid beacons, improved pavement friction, modifications of curb ramps to be ADA compliant, and speed limit reductions.
A complete list of the SS4A grants awarded to California is available here.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law established the SS4A discretionary program with $5 billion in appropriated funds from 2022-2026. Eligible project types for this round of funding for the SS4A program included projects that will:
- Develop a comprehensive safety action plan (Action Plan)
- Conduct supplemental safety planning to enhance an Action Plan
- Carry out demonstration activities to inform the development of, or an update to, an Action Plan
- Perform planning, design, and development activities for projects and strategies identified in an Action Plan
- Implement projects and strategies identified in an Action Plan that address roadway safety problems
Last December, Senator Padilla announced that California was awarded over $139 million for 56 projects through the SS4A program. Padilla and the late Senator Dianne Feinstein previously announced $133 million in SS4A grants for California.
Bruce Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has lived in three states including Arkansas, Missouri and Georgia. During his nearly 20-year career, Bruce has served as managing editor and sports editor for numerous publications. He and his wife, Dana, who is also a journalist, are based in Carrollton, Georgia.
