Madison Awarded $6.3 Million in Federal Funding for Vision Zero Project

The City of Madison was awarded 6.3 million dollars in federal funding from the US Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant to fund Forward to Vision Zero: Safe System for Vulnerable Roadway Users projects. The award comes from funding established under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Madison is one of 48 communities selected to receive a SS4A implementation grant from hundreds of applications. 

“Making streets safer for everyone is one of my top priorities. This is about making sure everyone arrives safely, and that no family loses a loved one in a traffic crash,” said Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway. “I’m grateful to President Biden for making these funds available to cities. This grant will accelerate our work on Vision Zero and allow us to continue to make Madison safe for people walking, biking, taking transit and driving.”

The projects funded focus on low-cost, high-impact strategies that are proven safety countermeasures to prevent fatalities and serious injury crashes for people walking, biking and accessing transit. 

Projects and activities funded include: 

• Building sidewalk and path along E Washington Ave (US Hwy 30 to Annamark) while also improving crosswalks and lighting.
• Traffic calming and crosswalk improvements along Schroeder Rd.
• Improvements at 21 intersections near transit stops.
• Improvements at 6 shared-use path crossings.
• Increased funding for the Madison Safe Ride program and other impaired driving initiatives.
• New safety studies to help determine future improvements in 4 locations – Regent St (W Washington Ave to Speedway), S Whitney Way (Schroeder Rd to Williamsburg Way), N Fair Oaks (E Washington Ave to Commercial Ave) and Winnebago (Thornton to 2nd St)/Atwood Ave (1st St to 2nd St)
• Working with teens to find better ways to address common types crashes for their age group 
• Additional planning to support better engagement, improved reporting and updating the high injury network map

You can review the full Safe Streets and Roads for All application here. 

“The City appreciates the support of U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Representative Mark Pocan and our federal partners for their support and efforts in securing this grant,” said Tom Lynch, Director of Transportation. “We are ready to implement the funded infrastructure and planning projects.”

“We want to thank our elected and appointed officials, residents and Vision Zero stakeholder groups for their support on our Vision Zero work and in pursuing the federal grant,” said Yang Tao, Director of Traffic Engineering. “When we join forces like this, we can make real progress.”

The City of Madison will continue working with our regional partners to find, and apply for, funding that support safety improvements on roads in the Madison area.  These funding opportunities allow more projects to be implemented and help move us closer to eliminating fatal and serious injury crashes.