WASHINGTON – Eight Nebraska cities will receive grant funding through the new federal Safe Streets and Roads Act.  U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced $800 million in grant awards for 510 projects throughout the nation, including eight grants for communities in Nebraska.


The competitive grant program, established by President Biden’s infrastructure law, provides $5 billion over five years for regional, local, and Tribal initiatives — from redesigned roads to better sidewalks and crosswalks — to prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways.


The SS4A awards fund, federal officials say, comes at an important time as traffic fatalities reached a 16-year-high in 2021 and preliminary data indicates will remain near those levels in 2022, even getting worse for people walking, biking, or rolling as well as incidents involving trucks.


As part of SS4A, the Department is awarding grants for both planning and implementation projects. Action plan grants assist communities that do not currently have a roadway safety plan in place to reduce roadway fatalities, laying the groundwork for a comprehensive set of actions.


The Department is awarding eight action planning grants to help improve roadway safety in Nebraska. The applicants receiving awards are:   


City of Beatrice
City of Lincoln
City of Madison
City of Norfolk
City of North Platte
City of Sidney
City of Waverly
Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area Planning Agency 


The next funding opportunity of $1.1 billion is expected to be released in April of this year.