Belmont council authorizes staff to apply for up to $25 million in federal Safe Streets funding

Belmont City Council on Tuesday authorized city staff to apply for a U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) implementation grant, approving a motion to expand the city's request from $22 million to $25 million.

City planning and police staff presented the request and told council the grant would fund capital and programmatic work in the city’s Vision Zero action plan, which Belmont adopted in October 2024. Captain Black, with the Belmont Police Department, told the council the city has recorded more than 3,000 crashes between June 2019 and May 2024, including 11 fatalities and multiple serious injuries, framing the grant as a safety priority.

Reagan, a city staff member leading the SS4A proposal, said SS4A offers implementation awards for communities with qualifying safety action plans and that the program allows up to 80% federal funding and 20% local match. Staff proposed four project packages that together formed the application: safe routes to Page Primary School (estimated $3.6 million); a downtown-to-Belmont Abbey corridor including construction of the Belmont Rail Trail (about $8.4 million); safer routes to South Point High School and Belmont Middle (about $2.6 million); and Woodlon Avenue improvements serving North Belmont Elementary (about $6.3 million). The application also includes about $700,000 for Vision Zero programming and administration and roughly $400,000 for low-cost spot improvements.

Staff said the city plans to rely on a combination of in-kind contributions (staff time and volunteer value), existing budgeted items, payments-in-lieu from developers and possible partner contributions to meet the local match. Reagan noted the city has identified roughly $2.0–$2.5 million in baseline match from in-kind and planned budget items and said staff is pursuing additional partners, including the North Carolina Department of Transportation traffic safety unit and local developers such as Del Webb and Smith Farm, to make up the remainder.

Council discussed prioritization of projects; one council member asked why high-pedestrian locations such as South Point High ranked lower than connectivity projects. Staff said prioritization reflected the advisory board’s ranking and where projects were furthest along in design, which strengthens a competitive application. Staff also reminded council the application window closes at the end of June and that USDOT expects to notify awardees by the end of August.

Councilmember Alex moved to authorize staff to submit the application and to amend the request amount to $25 million, leaving selection of any additional project(s) needed to reach that total to staff discretion. Councilmember Charlie seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

If awarded, the SS4A implementation grant would have a five-year period of performance during which Belmont would be required to complete funded projects. Staff told council they would return with specific agreement terms and any required local funding commitments for council approval before accepting and implementing an award.

Next steps: staff will complete and submit the SS4A application by the June deadline, continue outreach to potential local match partners, and report back to council on any award or required match commitments once USDOT notifies winners (staff said that notification is expected by the end of August).