Seattle awarded $9.7 million ‘Safe Streets and Roads for All’ federal grant

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The City of Seattle has been selected for a $9.7 million ‘Safe Streets and Roads for All’ federal grant. Awarded by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), this grant will fund pavement upgrades to prevent people from skidding off the road while driving in four locations with a history of wet-weather crashes. The grant will also fund a citywide safety analysis of crash data as well as traffic signal upgrades in two locations to increase signal visibility and prioritize pedestrians and emergency services.

This bolsters Seattle’s Vision Zero effort and adds to the list of recent federal grants Seattle has received for traffic safety including $25.6 million Safe Streets For All grant awarded in 2023 to build safer and more accessible crosswalks. We’re building about a dozen crosswalk enhancements a year and expect to complete the work by 2030 when safety efforts funded by the new grant will launch.  

Mayor Katie Wilson recently signed an executive order to strengthen Seattle’s Vision Zero work. New grant improvements represent just a few of the wide variety of strategies we are taking to prevent serious injuries and traffic deaths.  

“Whether it’s a walk to school, a bike ride to work, or anything in between—we need to make sure everyone in Washington state gets to where they’re going safely. This funding will help save lives and build safer, more connected communities in Seattle—from the Chinatown-International District to the Rainier Valley. That’s why I worked hard to include funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that will make our streets safer for everyone, and I will keep fighting to continue these investments.” – Senator Patty Murray

“Thank you to Senator Patty Murray, Senator Maria Cantwell, and our congressional delegation for supporting Seattle and helping to secure this $10 million street safety grant. Safety is my top priority, and traffic safety is one of our community’s top concerns. This funding will make a meaningful impact and support our work to prevent traffic injuries and deaths and ensure that everyone in Seattle can get around our city safely.” – Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson  

“This Safe Streets grant will add to our Vision Zero traffic safety efforts, funding street pavement upgrades to prevent people driving from skidding off the street and harming themselves or others. It also means we can enhance traffic signals in Pioneer Square and the Chinatown – International District to be more responsive to pedestrians and emergency vehicles. We are deeply appreciative of the ongoing leadership of our congressional delegation for your ongoing work to help Seattle secure this and several other federal traffic safety grants in recent years.” – SDOT Acting Director Angela Brady

Pavement enhancements to prevent out-of-control vehicles in the rain

The grant will fund street upgrades to increase pavement friction and prevent people driving from skidding off the road in the rain and harming themselves and nearby people or property. This will be done at four locations with a history of this kind of crash happening too often:

• Rainier Ave S between S Fisher Pl and Sturtevant Ave S
• Highland Park Way SW between SW Holden St and W Marginal Way SW
• SW Roxbury St/Olson Pl SW between 5th Ave SW and SW Cambridge Pl
• Westlake Ave N between the Aurora Bridge and Halladay St

High-friction pavement is a proven safety measure that reduces the risk of hydroplaning. The Federal Highway Administration estimates that this treatment reduces the risk of crashes on wet pavement by 83%, and reducing all crashes by 57%. This benefits people outside of cars as an out of control vehicle is a risk to everyone walking, biking, rolling, or living in the area.

Traffic signal upgrades to support pedestrians and emergency vehicles

The grant will also fund improvements to rebuild two traffic signals on the border of Pioneer Square and the Chinatown – International District:

• 4th Ave S and S Jackson St
• 4th Ave S and S Main St

The signal upgrades will improve safety in several ways:

• Larger, brighter, and more reflective signal lights to increase visibility at night and in the rain.
• Vibrating push buttons to make the walk signals accessible for people who are blind or have impaired vision.
• Longer head start for pedestrians before people driving get a green light.
• Emergency response vehicle priority, and improved signal phasing to reduce conflicts between people walking and driving through the intersection.

Proactive safety analysis will identify where safety enhancements would be most effective

Finally, the federal grant will fund an innovative safety analysis using emerging techniques to identify locations where crashes are likely to occur. This will enhance our ability to plan effective safety investments before crashes occur.

We primarily use historical traffic data to prioritize safety investments based on where the most serious collisions have occurred. Recent advancements in data analysis technology allow us to supplement this with an analysis of other risk factors to help identify places where a safety improvement is needed before a fatal crash occurs.

In addition to 15 years of crash data, this proactive safety analysis will consider street design data in a more comprehensive analysis than has previously been done in Seattle.

The findings will be used to help plan where future safety investments could be most beneficial. It will also help us to catch more potential issues in the design phase of new capital projects, so that they can be addressed before a project is built.

We’re currently building dozens of crossing improvements from previous Safe Streets For All grant

Seattle was previously awarded a separate $25.6 million Safe Streets For All grant in 2023 to build safer and more accessible crosswalks. We are making good progress to build these Safe Streets For All projects by 2030. 

We’ve recently completed a dozen of these safety projects which focus on making it safer to cross the street. Examples of the types of enhancements we’re building include expanded sidewalks, flashing lights at crosswalks, accessible curb ramps, traffic calming measures, and concrete crosswalk islands.

A prominent example is the new crosswalk at Harvard Ave E and E Olive Way in Capitol Hill where new flashing lights and concrete islands help people cross the street safely. Another example is the new crosswalk accessibility improvements at Rainier Ave S and S Massachusetts St, including new curb ramps and vibrating push buttons for people with low vision.

Last month, we publicized an opportunity for contractors to submit bids to complete the next set of Safe Streets for All safety enhancements. We expect to build about a dozen more of these projects in 2027.

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