County Gets $200,000 Road Safety Grant
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Anderson County has been awarded a $200,000 Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. These funds will be used to develop a community-wide safety action plan, which will be used to guide a host of road safety projects throughout the county.
“This grant will help us to identify hazardous roads and road situations around the county,” said Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns. “But more importantly, it will open up another avenue of federal funding for roads in Anderson County which we cannot access right now.”
Only projects chosen as part of this initial grant distribution will be eligible for the additional funds. Anderson County is one of only seven grant recipients in South Carolina. From 2017 through 2021, there were 220 fatal crashes in Anderson County with a corresponding fatality rate of 21.7 per 100,000 population.
“We take very seriously our responsibility to provide the citizens with a safe transportation network” said Anderson County Council Chairman Tommy Dunn. “This grant will allow us to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of our entire system and prioritize our needs.”
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) established the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) discretionary program with $5 billion in appropriated funds between 2022-2026. The SS4A program funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.
The SS4A program supports the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Roadway Safety Strategy and our goal of zero roadway deaths using a Safe System Approach.
“Our efforts to develop a Safe Streets and Roads for All Action Plan that prioritizes traffic and pedestrian safety will create a framework for implementation projects and allow us to access funding sources that were previously unavailable to us” said Anderson County Roads and Bridges Manager Matt Hogan. “We aim to achieve zero traffic-related deaths by the year 2045, and this grant will help guide us towards that objective.”