Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Safe Streets Grant topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City staff outlines $3.8 million Safe Streets for All grant and explains NEPA limits that delay most construction until 2026
Summary
Suzanne Flowers told the Transportation Commission the city received a $3.8 million federal Safe Streets for All grant (with $950,000 local match) to fund quick-build speed management, protected bike facilities and a near-miss video analytics program; NEPA and procurement steps mean visible construction is unlikely before summer 2026.
City transportation staff updated the Ann Arbor Transportation Commission Dec. 18 on the Safe Streets for All (SS4A) federal grant, explaining project scope, procurement timing, and regulatory steps that affect when physical work can begin.
Suzanne Flowers, transportation program manager and the SS4A project lead, said the city’s award is $3,800,000, of which $950,000 is local match (from Climate Millage Funds). The grant’s primary elements are quick-build street treatments, a speed-management program, and a near-miss video analytics system intended to help the city identify patterns and prioritize safety projects.
Flowers said staff will attempt to leverage the city’s existing GRIDSMART camera footprint (about 61 locations) to collect two years of video-based detection data; the city will not retain the raw video files — those will be hosted off-site by the vendor selected through the procurement. Questions for the RFP are due this week, full proposals are due Jan. 7, 2025, and staff anticipate council action on a professional services agreement in March or April 2025.
A major constraint Flowers emphasized is a grant condition limiting the city to a single NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) submittal for the grant package. Because the Federal Highway Administration requires one NEPA review for all quick-build and speed-management elements, the city must bundle many proposed treatments into a single environmental review. Federal-HWY review is estimated at two to three months; following NEPA completion the city will seek a grant-agreement amendment that staff estimate could take roughly six months. Combined with city procurement and the need to schedule construction in appropriate seasonal windows, Flowers said the earliest realistic installation date for treatments that require on-street construction and pavement work is summer 2026.
Flowers told commissioners that some pavement-marking work originally anticipated as part of quick-build will instead be handled through a separate capital improvement project already scheduled for 2026, and that the grant will still fund other quick-build protection such as posts or temporary barriers where NEPA and packaging allow. She also reiterated privacy and storage arrangements for the near-miss analytics vendor and named Sam Schwartz (grant coordinator) and partner consultant firms that will assist with design, public engagement and construction oversight.
Next steps: an SS4A public information session and office hours are scheduled for Jan. 7, 2025, 6–7 p.m., a short survey will be available through late January, and the Sam Schwartz team will present a deeper contractor-level update to the commission once selected.
What this means locally: commissioners and members of the public urged staff to explore interim quick-build options on high-risk corridors such as Packard while NEPA and procurement run their course. Staff said they would do so but cautioned that reimbursement and federal procurement rules limit what can be implemented and reimbursed prior to formal NEPA and amendment steps.
