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River Falls pushes federal bids for Main Street safety, transit projects
Summary
City consultants briefed the council on federal grant applications aimed at Main Street redevelopment and roadway safety, including Safe Streets and DOT BUILD funding, and outlined near-term steps for application development.
River Falls officials and consultants from Merchant McIntyre Associates told the City Council at a federal funding workshop that the city is pursuing competitive federal grants to fund Main Street redevelopment and roadway-safety measures, including applications to the Safe Streets and Roads for All program and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s BUILD program.
Consultant Tristan Southern of Merchant McIntyre said the city previously “was successful in pursuing $200,000 through the Action Plan Grant,” a step he said is required to be eligible for larger Safe Streets implementation awards.
The matter matters because Safe Streets implementation awards can provide significant sums for roadway-safety projects once an action plan is in place. Southern said implementation awards can range from about $2.5 million to $25 million and that River Falls’ earlier Action Plan grant “opened the doorway for us to look at other funding through the program.” He added that the city will submit a demonstration/supplemental planning application this month and could apply for implementation funding as early as spring 2026.
Southern outlined the application sequence: the city secured the Safe Streets Action Plan funding in December 2023, the City Council approved the grant agreement in August 2024, and the team plans to apply for the demonstration track and then the larger BUILD or Safe Streets implementation tracks. He said DOT engagement from Mayor Tolan’s and City Administrator Simpson’s March Washington visit informed the approach.
For the BUILD program (formerly RAISE), Merchant McIntyre described it as “DOT’s flagship, infrastructure program” that supports planning or implementation grants for transformative surface transportation projects. The consultants said they expect a likely solicitation release in November with a January due date and that BUILD applications require extensive supporting materials, including benefit-cost analyses.
Council members asked how award amounts are decided. Southern said Safe Streets implementation applications are evaluated against what was identified and costed in the action plan: “ultimately, DOT is going to be looking back at that action plan to say, was this identified as a safety priority through the planning process? How much did you say it was going to cost in the plan?”
Southern and city staff said the programs are highly competitive and that their strategy is to pursue multiple funding tracks to give River Falls more than one path to finance pieces of the Main Street project. City planning and DPW staff will meet with Merchant McIntyre to begin benefit-cost work and other application components.
The consultants asked for and received council agreement to continue community and state engagement as part of BUILD competitiveness; Merchant McIntyre said its team will begin more intensive application work with city staff immediately.
