The overview
The purpose of the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program—a U.S. Department of Transportation initiative—is to improve road safety and reduce roadway serious injuries and fatalities by developing and refining municipalities' transportation safety action plans, according to city documents.
Safety action plans consider all roadway users, including:
- Pedestrians
- Bicyclists
- Public transportation users
- Motorists
- Commercial vehicle operators, or freight operators
- Micromobility users, such as people riding electric scooters
Diving in
The Safe Streets and Roads for All program offers two types of grants: planning and demonstration grants, and implementation grants.
The city of Pflugerville does not have a comprehensive safety action plan, but approval of the recent application submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation would help support the development of such a plan.
In the last five years, the city has seen a total of 17 traffic-related fatalities and 71 serious injuries, according to city documents.There is an estimated $1.2 billion in grant funding available for fiscal year 2024-25, with $461 million to be set aside for the planning and demonstration grants specifically. There will be a required 20% match in funding from the city to whatever federal funding is awarded.
There are eight requirements for funding:
- A commitment, or resolution, from a city’s governing body including a timeline to reach the goal of zero traffic deaths or serious injuries
- A planning structure, including the establishment of a committee or task force to oversee the action plan development
- A safety analysis that identifies high-risk areas or intersections throughout the city
- Public engagement
- An equity analysis to identify the underserved communities and their needs
- Identify policy changes to improve and prioritize transportation safety
- An outline of the priority projects that will include interventions focused on infrastructure, behavioral and operational safety
- A method to monitor progress over time and a transparent reporting of progress annually
City Council has previously sought to prioritize safety throughout Pflugerville, approving a resolution in September 2021 with a goal of having the city become the safest city in the state, according to city documents.
The city’s 2020 Pflugerville Pforward Transportation Master Plan would be updated to include a safety action plan.
Goals in the city’s Aspire 2040 comprehensive plan also focus on having increased safety for bike and pedestrian travel throughout the city, especially as the city desires the creation of 10-minute neighborhoods with walking access to schools, shopping, services and community centers.
