Washington - Detroit and Dearborn are each to receive nearly $25 million in federal transportation grants intended to improve pedestrian and roadway safety and reduce traffic deaths, officials said this week.
The grants were among $800 million going out in the latest round of Safe Streets & Roads for All funding from the bipartisan infrastructure bill to help communities design safer roads, including $15 million in other road safety grants awarded to Michigan localities, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
"These two applications, one from Detroit and one from Dearborn, really stood out," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told The Detroit News on Thursday.
Detroit is getting $24.8 million to boost safety and bus stop accessibility at 56 high-crash intersections by supporting safer transfers between routes and modes of transport, as well as sidewalk widening and wheelchair-accessible curb ramp updates, better intersection lighting, higher visibility crosswalks and improvements to signal timing, according to USDOT.
The grant will also cover a "traffic stress" analysis to address gaps in cyclist and pedestrian networks and to update the city's Comprehensive Safety Action Plan.
"All of this adds up to an opportunity to save lives in Detroit, which is a city that has one of the higher traffic fatality rates that that we see around the country," Buttigieg said.
Dearborn will receive nearly $24.9 million to put a two-mile stretch of Warren Avenue on a "road diet" that would reduce the number of driving lanes from five to two (plus turning lanes) to calm traffic and update the streetscape to include a demarcated bike lane, LED lighting and a landscaped buffer to mitigate floodwaters.
"The idea of a road diet is that while some roads out there need to be widened and expanded, some others actually need to be brought in a little bit and narrowed, so that the traffic moves at a safer speed," Buttigieg said.
"The traffic will still flow, but in a way that is less likely to lead to crashes, including pedestrian fatalities, which have been a big issue in Dearborn."
The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, a planning organization, is getting $10 million from the grant program to test roadway safety measures aimed at protecting pedestrians and bicyclists, including the installation of bike lanes, curb extensions, speed bumps and enhanced crosswalk pavement markings, according to a summary from Sen. Gary Peters' office.
Macomb County will use a $2.14 million grant to implement video analytics platforms to ID safety issues at signalized intersections.
"These federal investments will help our communities take the necessary steps to address safety concerns and ensure our roadways are as safe as possible," Peters said in a statement.
Last year, 42,795 people were killed on U.S. roadways, which government officials have described as a national crisis.
But early estimates of traffic fatalities for January through September of this year project that traffic deaths declined for the sixth straight quarter ? about 4.5% from the same time in 2022, according to testimony before a House panel this week by Ann Carlson, acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"While we are optimistic that we’re finally seeing a reversal of the record-high fatalities seenduring the pandemic, this is not a cause for celebration," Carlson said. "An estimated 19,515 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the first half of 2023."
These other Michigan localities are also getting Safer Roads grants to develop initial safety action plans: