Gracie WarhurstDallas will receive a $21.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to improve the safety along Martin Luther King Jr./Cedar Crest Boulevard, a major east-west thoroughfare through South Dallas.
The grant comes from DOT’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program, which announced $817 million in funding for 385 communities earlier this month. SS4A’s goal is to eliminate roadway deaths by preventing crashes and other traffic accidents. The program, which started in 2022 with $5 billion over five years, still has $3 billion available.
The Dallas project is a part the city’s Vision Zero Action Plan, an initiative to reduce crashes, severe injuries and fatalities on roadways. Other cities such as Boulder, Colorado, and Madison, Wisconsin, have also committed to Vision Zero and received SS4A grants.
MLK Boulevard is one of the most dangerous roads in Dallas, both Vision Zero and the North Central Texas Council of Government’s Regional Pedestrian Safety Action Plan found, with five severe pedestrian injuries occurring in the past two years.
Dallas plans to use the funds to reduce the number of lanes from five to four and adding bike- and pedestrian-specific lanes. Plans also call for upgrades to crosswalks, lighting and traffic signals. The end goal is to reduce speed along the road and increase access to public transit.
The city has matched $5.25 million of the funds, and Dallas Area Rapid Transit system (DART) has also contributed $200,000 for bus shelter upgrades.
Strategic Partnerships, Inc. can provide information on contract opportunities, plus existing and future government funding. For more information, contact research@spartnerships.com.
Photo courtesy of the Hawaii Department of Transportation
