Federal grants totaling $40.2 million will be given to Alabama to improve road safety.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Thursday that Alabama will get more than $40 million in federal subsidies to improve the safety of both rural and urban highways.
Eleven local and regional towns in Alabama will get the funds, which are a portion of the $1 billion in grants made available under the bipartisan infrastructure law’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program, in order to enhance traffic safety and reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries.
Buttigieg stated, “The Biden-Harris Administration is helping communities of all sizes make their roadways safer for everyone who uses them through new funding programs like Safe Streets and Roads for All.” “The fact that we have collectively decreased traffic fatalities for more than two years in a row should encourage us, but there is still much work to be done to adequately solve the situation on our roads. The cash for highway safety awards announced today will go directly to 354 communities, supporting the vital work we’re doing to bring the number of traffic fatalities down to the only acceptable level: zero.
The entire $40,227,236 is designated for north Alabama; approximately $16 million will go to Jackson County, while $21.64 million will go to Huntsville.
The Holmes Avenue Medical Access Corridor: Safer Streets to Medical Access for Vulnerable Populations in Huntsville will benefit from the grant.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the project funds a Complete Streets transformation on the 3.25-mile section of Holmes Avenue that spans from the University of Alabama Huntsville campus and Cummings Research Park to Spragins Street downtown.
The funds will support the Jackson County Equitable Rural Roadway Improvements project in Jackson County.
The grant will assist in putting countermeasures in place at nine rural road sections dispersed across the county. The main goal of the initiative is to reduce crashes, major injuries, and deviations from rural roads. In Jackson County, rural roads present particular safety concerns because of their lack of shoulders, sparse striping, sharp curves, shifting elevations, and absence of guardrails.
U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg stated, “The SS4A program gives local and tribal governments the resources to plan and implement the safety improvements that will make the biggest difference in their communities.” “They are the experts, and this program uses their knowledge of the area to save lives.”
Nine safety planning and demonstration projects across the state of Alabama will also receive approximately $2.6 million from the state.
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