City of Cleveland awarded $2.3 million Safe Streets and Roads for All grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation

Grant is the latest in a series of investments in safer streets for all Clevelanders 

Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023 – Cleveland – Earlier today the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that the City of Cleveland was awarded a $2.3 million Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant. SS4A program grants go directly to regional, local, and Tribal communities for implementation, planning, and demonstration projects driven at the local level to improve safety and help prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways. 

This first-of-its-kind program was created by President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and is a part of the more than $14 billion in the law dedicated to roadway safety across the country.  

In Cleveland, the grant will fund safety improvements on St. Clair Ave., as well as an extensive analysis of crash patterns in eight critical one-mile high-crash areas in Cleveland identified through the city's Vision Zero Action Plan and ongoing work (see map below). The immediate work in the St. Clair “demonstration” area will also be evaluated as a model for the other identified high-crash areas. 

“We are grateful to our federal partners for this strategic investment in our Vision Zero goal to eliminate traffic crash deaths in Cleveland by 2032,” said Mayor Justin M. Bibb. “This grant directly supports our work on clear, measurable strategies that provide safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for our residents.” 

The SS4A grant is the latest in a series of investments in safer streets for all Clevelanders that includes ARPA investments in the city’s successful speed table pilot program, partnership with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to improve pedestrian safety through the Pedestrian Safety Improvement Program and a $1.8 million Federal SMART grant award to prototype smart signals that can provide emergency vehicle preemption, transit prioritization, bicycle and pedestrian detection, and video-based safety analysis and close call detection. 

“There are many layers to our efforts around safer streets and safer transportation--and that’s by design,” said Calley Mersmann, the city’s transit and mobility strategist. “Vision Zero reframes safety in a way that focuses on the system through things like safer street design and speed management to prevent serious crashes. Human error is inevitable, but traffic fatalities can be prevented.”  

The city is also in the process of finalizing a contract with Toole Design Group to develop a Citywide Mobility Plan that makes it easier, safer, more convenient, and more enjoyable to move around the city outside of a car.  

Per the 2022 Complete and Green Streets ordinance, Cleveland is required to adopt such a plan at least every five years. This process will meaningfully engage residents to build on recommendations from past comprehensive planning efforts, including the 2007 Bikeway Master Plan, to guide bicycle infrastructure build-out, identify needed improvements to pedestrian safety and accessibility, and propose program and policy improvements for people walking and biking. The Citywide Mobility Plan process complements last year’s $50,000 technical assistance award from City Thread, a national nonprofit mobility consultancy.