The United States Department of Transportation announced on December 13 its full list of awardees for the Fiscal Year 2023 round of the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) competitive grant program. Among the 620 communities across the United States to receive funding are 23 from New Jersey, including one Implementation Grant awardee.  

New Jersey grantees received a total of $21.1 million in federal funding in this round. Between the awards from 2022 and 2023, a total of $46.2 million has been awarded for projects in the state. While last year’s funding total for New Jersey was $4 million higher, this year’s money will be distributed to many more applicants. 

Award Year:  2022  2023  Total 
Type  #  Amount  #  Amount  #  Amount 
Implementation Grants  1  $20 million  1  $14.4 million  2  $34.4 million 
Planning and Demonstration  10  $5.1 million  22  $6.7 million  32  $11.8 million 
Total  11  $25.1 million  23  $21.1 million  34  $46.2 million 
The SS4A Program

The Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) discretionary program was established under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The SS4A program includes $5 billion in funding over five years to provide grants to regional, local, and Tribal initiatives to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries. The program has a specific focus on vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and people living with disabilities.  

The program offers Planning and Demonstration Grants to support communities in developing comprehensive safety action plans that use data to analyze the safety situation in their jurisdictions and to produce a set of projects that will address their safety needs and work toward a national goal of zero roadway fatalities.  

New Jersey’s County-Based Strategy

New Jersey’s three metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are regional entities that support and fund state and local transportation planning activities and construction projects. Following the first round of SS4A awards, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), the MPO covering the Philadelphia region, was awarded a region-wide Planning Grant including Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, and Mercer counties in New Jersey.  

The other two MPOs, the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) and the South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization (SJTPO) developed their own strategies to provide similar plans for the counties in their regions. SJTPO set up county-level plans for each of its four member counties using alternative federal funding. Five counties within the NJTPA region, which includes 13 member counties, already had Safety Actions Plans completed or in-progress. NJTPA has now allocated funding for plans to the remaining eight counties. Altogether, all 21 counties in New Jersey are programmed to be covered under an action plan. 

While the funding sources vary for everyone, the goal is the same. With strong, data-based safety plans covering the entire state, municipalities will have a strong basis for earning Implementation Grants in future rounds of the SS4A program. These plans and subsequent projects are crucial to achieving New Jersey’s goal of zero roadway fatalities by 2050.   

Town of Hammonton Implementation Grant

The Town of Hammonton, New Jersey in Atlantic County received New Jersey’s only Implementation Grant in the 2023 round. This is the second Implementation Grant awarded to New Jersey in the two years of the program, following the award to the City of Vineland in Cumberland County in 2022.  

Hammonton received $14.4 million in funding for the Bellevue Avenue Safety Improvements Project. The project will address safety issues for pedestrians and bicyclists and address intersection design issues along a 1.3-mile stretch of Bellevue Avenue and cross streets. The project will include crosswalk visibility enhancements, bicycle lanes, enhanced lighting, and corridor access management. The Town of Hammonton is a small but vibrant community along the Atlantic City Rail Line, and the SS4A project focuses on making the downtown area more walkable and transit-friendly for both residents and visitors.  

Extent of the Bellevue Avenue Safety Improvements Project in Hammonton, New Jersey

Planning and Demonstration Awards

Other New Jersey communities across the state also received awards for 22 Planning and Demonstration Grants. Due to a change in the criteria for this type of application, municipalities had the opportunity to ask for funding to undertake temporary demonstration projects to supplement existing or new comprehensive safety action plans. Demonstration projects are an excellent way to “try before you buy” safety infrastructure. By using low-cost, temporary materials like paint and vertical delineators, local governments can show their residents the various ways they can make streets safer for everyone.  

Thanks to coordination between New Jersey’s three MPOs and their constituent counties, all 21 counties in New Jersey will have developed a comprehensive Safety Action Plan in the coming years. The following four communities received funding for demonstration projects and other planning work as part of action plans already in-progress: 

Community  County  Federal Funding Amount 
City of Jersey City  Hudson  $1,004,000 
City of Newark  Essex  $800,000 
Township of Montclair  Essex  $438,220 
Township of Willingboro  Burlington  $96,000 

Five other communities received funding to develop action plans, in addition to demonstration projects. These communities will have the opportunity to produce their own comprehensive Safety Action Plans according to the SS4A guidelines, and they will also use their funding to undertake temporary demonstration projects. The five communities are:

Community  County  Federal Funding Amount 
Township of Cherry Hill  Camden  $400,000 
Township of Lumberton  Burlington  $400,000 
Township of Southampton  Burlington  $400,000 
Township of Medford  Burlington  $200,000 
Township of Union  Union  $200,000 

Finally, thirteen counties received funding for action plans only. These communities will have the opportunity to produce their own comprehensive Safety Action Plans according to the SS4A guidelines. In future funding rounds, they should be well-equipped to apply for larger Implementation Grants or to receive funding for demonstration grants to support their plans. These communities are:

Community  County  Federal Funding Amount 
City of Plainfield  Union  $400,000 
Township of Edgewater Park  Burlington  $400,000 
Township of Belleville  Essex  $400,000 
Township of Edison   Middlesex  $320,000 
City of Pleasantville  Atlantic  $200,000 
City Englewood  Bergen  $200,000 
City of Somers Point  Atlantic  $192,000 
City of Asbury Park  Monmouth  $160,000 
Borough of Red Bank  Monmouth  $120,000 
Township of Maple Shade  Burlington  $100,000 
Town of Westfield  Union  $100,000 
Township of South Orange Village  Essex  $100,000 
Township of Mahwah  Bergen  $80,000 
Expect the 2024 Application in February

The USDOT has noted that the next round of SS4A applications is expected to open in February 2024. The agency has a long list of resources to help communities strengthen their applications, identify which types of funding to apply for, and produce a grant application budget. All of this information is available at www.transportation.gov/grants/SS4A.  

The New Jersey Bicycle and Pedestrian Resource Center has also produced resources explaining the program and its potential to improve roadway safety for New Jerseyans. To learn more, check out the following BPRC presentations and blog articles:  

By Greg Woltman