(WXYZ) — Michigan is receiving a $33.6 million grant from the White House to improve safety on Michigan roads.
The grant is part of Pete Buttigieg's Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program and is meant to address the growing issue of traffic fatalities on U.S. roads, sidewalks, and crosswalks.
“Every year, crashes cost tens of thousands of American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars to our economy; we face a national emergency on our roadways, and it demands urgent action,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “We are proud that these grants will directly support hundreds of communities as they prepare steps that are proven to make roadways safer and save lives.”
Of the $33.6 million, $24.8 million will go to the city of Detroit. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Office, Detroit saw an increase of 88% in its per capita fatality rate from 2017 to 2020. Nationally, Detroit has one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the country.
The other Michigan communities receiving grants include:
- Ann Arbor
- Ferndale
- Highland Park
- Kalamazoo
- Lansing
- Genesee County Metropolitan Planning Commission
- Grand Valley Metropolitan Council
- Keweenaw Bay Indian Community
- Macomb County Department of Roads
- Road Commission for Oakland County
- Southeast Michigan Council of Governments
- St. Joseph County Road Commission
- Van Buren Charter Township
The SS4A Grant program will be awarded to 510 communities throughout the United States totaling up to $800 million in grant awards. The investment comes as the country reached a 16-year-high in traffic fatalities in 2021. The department adds that preliminary data indicates that the country will remain near those levels in 2022, and get even worse for people walking, biking, rolling, and driving trucks.
The award money will go towards redesigning roads and creating better sidewalks and crosswalks to prevent deaths and serious injuries.
The grant will provide $5 billion in funds over five years for regional, local, and tribal initiatives.
