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U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced on Sept. 5 $12,520,308 in grants for Oregon as part of $1 billion in grants through President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program.

The funding will go directly to 354 local, regional and tribal communities across the country, including five in Oregon, to improve roadway safety and prevent deaths and serious injuries on America's rural and urban roads, including some of the most dangerous in the country.

The announcement is paired with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's release of its early estimates of traffic fatalities for the first half of 2024, estimating that traffic fatalities declined for the ninth straight quarter. An estimated 18,720 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, a decrease of about 3.2 percent as compared to 19,330 fatalities projected to have occurred in the first half of 2023.

"Through new funding programs like Safe Streets and Roads for All, the Biden-Harris administration is helping communities of all sizes make their roadways safer for everyone who uses them," Buttigieg said. "We should be energized by the fact that together we've reduced traffic fatalities for more than two years in a row now — but so much work remains to fully address the crisis on our roads."

The Safe Streets and Roads for All program provides grants directly to communities for implementation, planning, and demonstration projects aimed at preventing deaths and serious injuries on the nation's roadways. Since launching in 2022, SS4A has funded projects in more than 1,400 communities, supporting roadway safety for nearly 75 percent of the United States population.

Additionally, SS4A is making historic investments in rural and underserved communities, and many of this year's awards will address critical safety hot spots on some of the country's most dangerous roads. The projects and activities aim to improve safety for all roadway users, including drivers, passengers, pedestrians and students heading back to school, bicyclists, transit users, and people with disabilities.

The city of Portland was awarded $9.6 million for the Safe Systems on 82nd Ave: State Highway to Civic Corridor project for safety improvements on a seven-mile segment of 82nd Avenue, a five-lane arterial on the regional high-injury network. This project will close critical crossing gaps, deploy proven tools to address high-crash locations and improve safety and equity for one of Portland's most important high-crash corridors.

Project components include installing raised center medians, a pedestrian signal, full traffic signals, "no turn on red" at major traffic signal intersections and updating signal timing, as well as funding a safety education and marketing campaign.

The city of Klamath Falls was awarded $2 million for the City of Klamath Falls Intersection Safety Countermeasures for Transportation Disadvantaged Populations project to design and construct safety improvements at five intersections where fatal or serious injury crashes were recorded.

Oregon also received $920,308 for three safety planning and demonstration projects.

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