Title
Apply for U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Opportunity for Federal Fiscal Year 2023-24 - Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding (Ordinance S-51095)
Description
Request to retroactively authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to apply for, accept and, enter into an agreement for disbursement of federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) through the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2023-24 Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant opportunity. The City will use the awarded funding to perform supplemental planning consistent with the strategies in the Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan. Further request to authorize the City Treasurer to accept, and the City Controller to disburse, all funds related to this item. Funding for this grant opportunity is available through the Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The total grant funds awarded are $1,092,500, and the City's local match requirement is $273,125.
Report
Summary
The SS4A is a funding program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was signed into law on Nov. 15, 2021. The USDOT issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) on Feb. 21, 2024, for the SS4A program for the third year of the program offering over a billion dollars FFY 2024. The intent of the program is to offer a competitive discretionary grant opportunity to support planning, infrastructure, behavioral and operational initiatives to prevent death and serious injuries involving all roadway users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, public transportation users, personal conveyance and micromobility users, motorists and commercial vehicle operators.
On Sept. 7, 2022, City Council approved the Street Transportation Department's Vision Zero Road Safety Action Plan (RSAP). The RSAP is one of the key SS4A grant requirements to apply for funding designated under the grant program. The department has been successful in obtaining a combined total of $25.4 million from previous year awards to further enhance and build upon the existing planning and implementation projects recommended through the RSAP.
Staff was able to submit a winning planning grant, Steps Towards Safe Streets: A Phoenix Corridor Approach Analysis, consistent with all of the grant criteria as defined in the SS4A NOFO:
- Promoting safety to prevent death and serious injuries on public roadways;
- Employing low cost, high-impact strategies that can improve safety over a wide geographic area;
- Ensuring equitable investment in the safety needs of under-served communities, which includes under-served urban communities;
- Incorporating evidence-based projects and strategies and adopting innovative technologies;
- Demonstrating engagement with a variety of public and private stakeholders; and
- Aligning with USDOT's mission and strategic goals such as safety, climate change and sustainability, equity and Justice 40, workforce development, job quality and wealth creation.
The City was notified of the award in May. The planning funds will be used to analyze three major arterial corridors located on the High Injury Network. These comprehensive corridor analyses will include conducting an enhanced Road Safety Assessment, developing planning level corridor concepts, and conducting feasibility analysis to provide an assessment of comprehensive safety corridor needs to identify actionable safety countermeasures. The planning funds will focus on 19th Avenue, Northern Avenue and Broadway Road.
Financial Impact
The estimated total cost for the project is approximately $1,365,625. The maximum federal participation rate is 80 percent, with a minimum local match of 20 percent of the total project cost. The federal award is $1,092,500 (80 percent) and the City’s costs would be $273,125 (20 percent) for the local match.
Funding for the local match is available in the Street Transportation Department’s Capital Improvement Program budget. Grant funding received is available through the Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law from USDOT through the FFY 2023-24 SS4A grant opportunity.
Location
Corridor 1: 19th Avenue: Dunlap to Thunderbird avenues.
Corridor 2: Northern Avenue: 7th Street to 19th Avenue.
Corridor 3: Broadway Road: 35th Avenue to 40th Street.
Council Districts: 3, 6, 7 and 8
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Managers Mario Paniagua and Inger Erickson, and the Street Transportation Department.