Key Facts:
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- Detroit and Dearborn have each received $24.8 million from the Biden-Harris infrastructure law to make streets safer as part of the “Safe Streets for All” program.
- Targeting high-injury areas, these improvements will include installing curb extensions, high-visibility crosswalks, wider sidewalks, pedestrian countdown timers, bike lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, among other safety measures.
- The Biden-Harris infrastructure law designated $5 billion over the next five years for Safe Streets for All.
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The cities were among the first in the nation to be awarded Safe Streets for All funding from the federal infrastructure law
Detroit and Dearborn have each received $24.8 million in grants to make streets safer and reduce traffic deaths.
Detroit has one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the country: Wayne County has had nearly 16 times more traffic deaths than the average U.S. county since 2016. In 2019, the greater Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro area ranked 18th on the “Dangerous by Design” list released by the advocacy group Smart Growth America. The rankings are based on how many pedestrians fatality statistics.
With these resources, city officials will redesign the roads and transportation systems in high crash areas to focus on pedestrian safety and to ensure safer driving speeds for vehicle traffic.
Targeting high-injury areas, these improvements will include installing curb extensions, high-visibility crosswalks, wider sidewalks, pedestrian countdown timers, bike lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, and other safety measures.
Dearborn’s Warren Avenue will go on a “road diet.” A two-mile section of the wide, busy street will be modified in order to slow down traffic.
What’s a road diet? “The idea of a road diet is that while some roads out there need to be widened and expanded, some others actually need to be brought in a little bit and narrowed so that the traffic moves at a safer speed,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said. “The traffic will still flow, but in a way that is less likely to lead to crashes, including pedestrian fatalities, which have been a big issue in Dearborn.”
“These two applications, one from Detroit and one from Dearborn, really stood out,” Buttigieg told The Detroit News.
The cities, which are required to provide an additional 20% match, are among the first in the nation to be awarded grants from the Safe Streets for All program created by the Biden-Harris infrastructure law.
The Biden-Harris infrastructure law designated $5 billion over the next five years for Safe Streets for All. The competitive grants support the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy as well as its goal of zero deaths and serious injuries on our roadways.
Other Michigan municipalities also receiving Safer Roads grants include:
- Wayne County Comprehensive Safety Action Plan: $1 million
- Novi Safety Action Plan: $160,320
- Dearborn Heights Safety Action Plan: $396,700
- City of Saginaw Safety Action Plan: $278,530
- Canton Township Safe Streets and Roads for All Action Plan: $396,800
- Mount Clemens Downtown District Comprehensive Safety Action Plan: $80,320
- City of Pontiac Road Safety Action Plan Development Project: $200,000
- Creating Safe, Equitable Streets for the Cities of Wayne, Westland, Garden City, and Inkster: $192,000
