SS4A Frequently Asked Questions

You can access the amended NOFO on Grants.gov and Transportation.gov. You can also review highlights of changes to the FY22 SS4A NOFO.

Technical changes were made that affect the selection criteria, the application requirements, and the post-award grant administration requirements.

To calculate the population percentage in underserved communities required in both Action Plan and Implementation Grant applications, a new web tool that uses the same underlying data for the Underserved Community designation was duplicated with additional query features and appended 2019 population data. The tool is titled SS4A Underserved Communities Census Tracts (Historically Disadvantaged Communities).

Also see the calculation instructions: Calculating Percentage of Population in Underserved Communities for SS4A.

For Action Plan Grant applicants: 

• The Key Information Table includes a new row to denote whether the application is for “a new action plan,” “to complete an action plan,” or for “supplemental planning activities.”
• The calculation for the selection criteria #1: safety impact clarified how to calculate the fatality rate. The rate is a 5-year annual average per 100,000 persons based on 2019 American Community Survey population data.
• The calculation for selection criteria #2: equity was modified to use 2019 American Community Survey data for the population counts. 

For Implementation Grant applicants:

• The percentage of the population that resides in an Underserved Community calculation was modified to use 2019 American Community Survey data for the population counts. 
• The safety impact criterion rating methodology was revised to remove a reference to “future costs,” which are not to be included in an application narrative.
• Award recipients are encouraged but not required to adhere to the Public Rights-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines.
   

The changes are technical in nature and are not substantive policy changes. The changes improve consistency across the notice of funding opportunity. 

The changes to the calculations for the percentage of the population that resides in an Underserved Community ensures a consistent unit of analysis: 2019 Census tracts. The Underserved Communities tool is based on 2019 Census tract boundaries, some of which changed based on the 2020 Census. 

The underlying data and methodology for the Underserved Community designation remain the same. The query features in the web tool and the inclusion of 2019 population data have both been added to make it easier for applicants to calculate the percent population in underserved communities directly in the tool.

The definition of an Underserved Community as defined for this NOFO is still consistent with the Office of Management and Budget’s Interim Guidance for the Justice40 Initiative and the Historically Disadvantaged Community designation.

Access the SS4A Underserved Communities Census Tracts mapping tool. 

DOT will reach out to those who already submitted applications prior to the amendment to make corrections and address any issues in their application.

In Section F.2.v of the NOFO, which focuses on grant recipient requirements, the paragraph on civil rights obligations and nondiscrimination laws was amended to read as follows (modified wording in bold):

SS4A award recipients should demonstrate compliance with civil rights obligations and nondiscrimination laws, including Titles VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and accompanying regulations. Recipients of Federal transportation funding will also be required to comply fully with regulations and guidance for the ADA, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and all other civil rights requirements. The Department’s and the applicable Operating Administrations’ Office of Civil Rights will work with awarded grant recipients as appropriate to ensure full compliance with Federal civil rights requirements.

The purpose of SS4A grant program is to improve roadway safety by significantly reducing or eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries through safety action plan development and implementation focused on all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, public transportation users, motorists, personal conveyance and micromobility users, and commercial vehicle operators. The program provides funding to develop the tools to strengthen a community’s approach to safety and save lives.

The SS4A program provides funding for two types of grants: 

• Action Plan Grants provide Federal funds to develop, complete, or supplement a comprehensive safety action plan. Having an Action Plan in place is the foundation of the SS4A grant program. Action Plan Grants may also fund supplemental Action Plan activities. The goal of an Action Plan is to develop a holistic, well-defined strategy to prevent roadway fatalities and serious injuries in a locality, Tribe, or region.
   
• Implementation Grants provide Federal funds to implement projects and strategies identified in an Action Plan to address a roadway safety problem. Projects and strategies may be infrastructure, behavioral, and/or operational activities. Implementation Grants may also fund associated planning and design and supplemental Action Plan activities in support of an existing Action Plan. Applicants must have an existing Action Plan to apply for Implementation Grants or have an existing plan that is substantially similar and meets the eligibility requirements. 

For an Action Plan Grant, eligible applicants are:

1. A metropolitan planning organization (MPO);
2. A political subdivision of a State (e.g., cities, towns, counties, special districts, and similar units of local government); 
3. A federally recognized Tribal government; or 
4. A multijurisdictional group of entities described in (1) through (3). 

For an Implementation Grant, eligible applicants listed above must also meet at least one of the following conditions:

1. Have ownership and/or maintenance responsibilities over a roadway network; 
2. Be an eligible applicant with safety responsibilities that affect roadways; or
3. Have agreement from the agency that has ownership and/or maintenance responsibilities for the roadway within the applicant’s jurisdiction.

Please see the Eligible and Ineligible SS4A Applicants factsheet and the NOFO to determine applicant eligibility. 

For the purposes of the SS4A Notice of Funding Opportunity, an applicant’s jurisdiction is defined as the U.S. Census tracts where the applicant operates or performs their safety responsibilities.

For the purposes of the SS4A Notice of Funding Opportunity, a political subdivision of a State is defined as a unit of government created under the authority of State law. This includes cities, towns, counties, special districts, and similar units of local government.

Please see the Eligible and Ineligible SS4A Applicants factsheet and the NOFO to determine applicant eligibility. 

You must use the USDOT SS4A Underserved Communities status tool to identify which Census tracts are underserved communities for the following purposes:

• To calculate the population percentage in underserved communities; and 
• To determine whether an Implementation Grant project or strategy would be located in an underserved community.

There are two options for accessing the data: 

1. Download the shapefile (found about halfway down this page) and use in your own GIS analysis.
2. Use the interactive mapping dashboard to select the relevant Census tracts in your project area and see the associated percent historically disadvantaged population.

Applicants may use the narrative response portion of their applications to address equity, including alternative data sources or analysis (e.g., considering key population groups in projects and strategies, how equity analysis is performed developing an Action Plan, meaningful engagement with certain populations irrespective of if they are in underserved communities or not). 

Supporting materials outside the application requirements as outlined in the notice of funding opportunity are not required.

If supporting materials such as letters of support are submitted, you should clearly identify the relevance of each supporting document (e.g., commitment of match funds, memoranda of understanding with partners or joint applicants, project readiness documentation that provides evidence in support of an Implementation Grant application, etc.).

No Congressional letters of support are requested. 

For Action Plan Grants, DOT seeks to make awards based on safety impact, equity, and additional safety considerations.

For Implementation Grants, DOT seeks to make awards to projects and strategies that:

• Save lives and reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries;
• Incorporate equity, engagement, and collaboration into how projects and strategies are executed;
• Use effective practices and strategies; and
• Consider climate change, sustainability, and economic competitiveness in project and strategy implementation.

Project readiness and funding to provide safety benefits for underserved communities are considerations for Implementation Grants, and budget costs are a consideration for both Action Plan and Implementation Grants.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law established the SS4A program and approved $6 billion in funding, with $5 billion in advanced appropriations. For fiscal year 2022, $1 billion has been made available for grants under the SS4A program. 

There is no funding minimum or maximum. However, the NOFO provides expected minimum and maximum ranges for applicant consideration.

For Action Plan Grants, award amounts will be based on estimated costs, with an expected minimum of $200,000 for all applicants, an expected maximum of $1,000,000 for a political subdivision of a State or a federally recognized Tribal government, and an expected maximum of $5,000,000 for an MPO or a joint application comprised of a multijurisdictional group of entities that is regional in scope (e.g., a multijurisdictional group of counties, a council of governments and cities within the same region, etc.).  

For Implementation Grants, DOT expects the minimum award will be $5,000,000 and the maximum award will be $30,000,000 for political subdivisions of a State. For applicants who are federally recognized Tribal governments or applicants in rural areas, DOT expects the minimum award will be $3,000,000 and the maximum award will be $30,000,000. For an MPO or a joint application comprised of a multijurisdictional group of entities that is regional in scope, the expected maximum award will be $50,000,000. 

In FY22, DOT expects to award hundreds of Action Plan Grants, and up to one hundred Implementation Grants. DOT reserves the right in the SS4A NOFO to make more, or fewer, awards, as well as the discretion to alter minimum and maximum award sizes upon receiving the full pool of applications and assessing the needs of the program.

Yes. Recipients are required to contribute a local matching share of no less than 20 percent of eligible activity costs. All matching funds must be from non-Federal sources, which could include in-kind contributions, funding from the applicant, or other SS4A-eligible non-Federal sources partnering with the applicant.

Unless otherwise authorized by statute, non-Federal cost-share may not be counted as the non-Federal share for both the SS4A grant and another Federal grant program. 

Learn more about cost sharing or matching in the Code of Federal Regulations’ uniform guidance on match requirements (2 CFR § 200.306) and in SS4A Match and Cost Share Examples.

• The SS4A statute requires not more than 15 percent of the funds be awarded to eligible applicants in a single State. For example, if $1 billion is awarded in FY22, the maximum amount of funding to all recipients in a given State would be $150 million.
• Funding for Tribal lands will be treated as their own State and will not count toward a State’s 15 percent limit.
• The SS4A statute also requires 40 percent of the total FY22 funds be made available for comprehensive safety action plans, which includes developing and updating a comprehensive safety action plan, and supplemental action plan activities. For example, if $1 billion is awarded in FY22, the minimum amount of funding to be made available to comprehensive safety action plans is $400 million.

For FY22 funding, an eligible applicant will only be able to submit one application, either for an Action Plan Grant OR an Implementation Grant, but not both.

If an Applicant applies for an Action Plan Grant this cycle, they are encouraged to apply for an Implementation Grant to execute the Action Plan in future funding rounds through SS4A or other funding opportunities.

Depending on specific project timelines, it may be difficult for most awardees to complete an Action Plan through a new grant agreement before the next grant cycle in FY23. DOT expects to obligate SS4A award funding through signed grant agreements as expeditiously as possible, ideally within 12 months after awards have been announced. The expected period of performance for Action Plan Grant agreements is likely between 12 and 24 months.

A local match of no less than 20 percent is required for all SS4A grant funds. Local match may include both cash as well as in-kind contributions. Details on cost-sharing and match can be found in 2 CFR § 200.306, and illustrative examples can be found in SS4A Match and Cost Share Examples.

In-kind contributions are typically in the form of the value of personnel, goods, services, space, and utilities contributed by a non-federal third party, such as a private business or nonprofit, specifically for the project. Routine operations and passive attendance at events do not count as in-kind match. 

Additionally, the value of personnel, goods, services, space, and utilities provided by the recipient toward work on the grant may count toward local match, and may be billed as direct or indirect costs, as appropriate, toward the grant and reimbursed with SS4A funding.

Local match may be used only once and may not be used as match for multiple Federal awards. Other Federal funds cannot be used toward a recipient’s local match requirement including, but not limited to, the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program and Transportation Alternatives set aside funding, Federal funds from other DOT discretionary grant awards, and funds from the American Rescue Plan.

While the Department encourages maximum local contribution, it will not give preference toward projects that provide a local match above 20 percent.

No, there is no set aside and there are no exemptions for the non-Federal match requirement. A match of no less than 20 percent will be required by applicants for all Federal funds, which could include matching funds as well as in-kind contributions.

Tribal Transportation Program (TTP) funds cannot be used as a match. The SS4A statue does not provide USDOT any ability to waive the mandatory local match for any applicant because the specific United States Code provision that permits TTP funds to be used as non-Federal match, 23 U.S.C. § 120(k), applies only to programs funded under Title 23 or Chapter 53 of Title 49. SS4A is a standalone program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and is not funded under either Title 23 or Title 49, so the exception under 23 U.S.C. § 120(k) cannot be applied.

Generally, yes. We encourage applicants to leverage all available USDOT grant programs. However, if you receive multiple sources of funding for the same project, you will need to clearly delineate which sources fund which components or phases.

Yes, States and other government entities that are not applying for the grant program can provide matching funds. However, all matching funds must be from non-Federal sources. For example, funds from the American Rescue Plan or the Federal Highway Administration surface transportation block grant program would be considered Federal sources and are not eligible to be used toward local match. 

Hiring contractors or consultants to directly support the execution of the grant award and its activities is an eligible cost. Expenses related to contracting with these individuals or organizations must take place during the grant award and be reasonable, allocable, and necessary to accomplish the grant objectives/scope of work, unless authorized by DOT in writing after DOT’s announcement of FY 2022 SS4A grant awards.

Expenses incurred prior to the grant award, e.g., costs to develop a grant application, are not eligible for reimbursement.

Procuring contractors or consultants must follow local procurement guidelines and any applicable Federal requirements such as 2 CFR 200.400, 2 CFR 200.401, and 2 CFR 200.403. For further information about procurement guidelines and associated consultant and contractor costs, review 2 CFR 200.320 and 2 CFR 200.430.

Acquiring land for right of way to implement a project in an Implementation Grant is an allowable expense as long as the costs are reasonable, necessary, and allocable to achieve the objectives outlined in the scope of work in the grant award.

In acquiring property as part of a right-of-way purchase, grantees must follow local procurement guidelines and any applicable Federal requirements. For further information about real property, including disposition, and procurement guidelines, review 2 CFR 200.311, 2 CFR 200.320, and 2 CFR 200.403. 

Yes. Funds in fiscal year 2022 are made available for obligation through September 30, 2025. If funds are not fully awarded in this round of funding, USDOT would likely include them in the next round.

For an Action Plan Grant, eligible activities and costs include only those that directly assist in the development of the Action Plan or supplemental action plan activities in support of an existing Action Plan.

Activities must include carrying out projects and strategies identified in an Action Plan. Projects and strategies must be infrastructure, behavioral, or operational activities identified in the Action Plan and must be directly related to addressing the safety problem(s) identified in the application and Action Plan. Implementation Grants may also include supplemental action plan activities in support of an existing Action Plan, as well as fund associated planning and design.

Applications must identify the problems to be addressed, the relevant geographic locations, and the projects and strategies they plan to implement, based on their Action Plan or established plan. This should include specific intervention types to the extent practical. 

Please see the Eligible and Ineligible Implementation Grant Projects factsheet and the NOFO to determine Implementation Grant activity eligibility. 

Please see the Eligible and Ineligible Implementation Grant Projects factsheet and the NOFO to determine Implementation Grant activity eligibility. 

What is the difference between supplemental planning activities—funded through an Action Plan Grant under eligible activity (A)—and the planning, design, and development activities in support of an Action Plan—funded through an Implementation Grant under eligible activity (B)?

Action Plan Grants that fund supplemental action plan activities are to support or enhance an existing Action Plan and are considered to be under the eligible activity (A) developing a comprehensive safety action plan or Action Plan (i.e., the activities outlined in Section A.2.i in Table 1 of the NOFO and the list of supplemental Action Plan activities). Implementation Grants may fund supplemental action plan activities under eligible activity (B) conducting planning, design, and development activities for projects and strategies identified in an Action Plan, as well as supplemental action plan activities under eligible activity (A).

Generally speaking, supplemental action plan activities (A) encompass a broader geography or set of projects in support of an Action Plan Grant and associated planning efforts, and eligible activity (B) would fund project- and strategy-specific planning, design, and development activities directly connected to implementing a project or strategy through an Implementation Grant.

Please see the Eligible and Ineligible Action Plans factsheet and the NOFO to determine if your existing safety plan is eligible for applying for an Implementation Grant.

Please see the Eligible and Ineligible Action Plans factsheet and the NOFO to determine if your existing safety plan is eligible for applying for an Implementation Grant.

A qualifying Comprehensive Safety Action Plan should be completed before an application is submitted for Implementation Grant funding, or Action Plan Grant funding for supplemental Action Plan activities. The application deadline is September 15. 

Yes. Under 2 CFR § 200, Subpart E, these costs may be reimbursed either as indirect costs if such costs are included in the recipient’s approved indirect cost rate, or as a direct cost if the cost is incurred specifically for the award and not otherwise accounted for the approved indirect cost rate. If a recipient intends to enter into such an arrangement and seek reimbursement of direct costs through the grant, those estimated costs should be included in the grant application. During administration, the recipient is responsible for ensuring direct costs incurred are eligible and allocable to the grant administration. States will not have direct funding relationships with USDOT.

USDOT will not review any Action Plans prior to submission of applications to determine whether a potential applicant meets the eligibility requirement for an Implementation Grant or an Action Plan Grant to fund supplemental Action Plan activities. USDOT encourages the use of the Self-Certification Eligibility Worksheet to determine whether your action plan qualifies as a comprehensive safety action plan for the purposes of the NOFO.

Applicants are expected to provide accurate information and must meet the standards and submit the supporting documentation outlined in the Self-Certification Eligibility Worksheet as part of both an Implementation Grant application and an Action Plan Grant application funding supplemental Action Plan activities. USDOT reserves the right to review plans and request additional information to affirm that a plan meets the eligibility criteria.

Areas prioritized for projects must focus on addressing fatalities or serious injuries, but there is no requirement that projects focus on the exact locations of where fatality or serious injury occurs. Applicants are encouraged to address safety systematically instead of individual site treatments. Safety risk characterization could be done through risk models, hazard analysis, the identification of high-risk roadway features, road safety audits/assessments, and/or other proactive safety analyses.

Yes. An eligible applicant must have an agreement with the agency that has ownership and/or maintenance responsibilities for the roadway within the applicant’s jurisdiction to implement the project or strategy as part of an Implementation Grant.

To be eligible for Implementation Grants, Action Plans must be completed and adopted prior to submission of your application (on or before September 15, 2022) to qualify as an existing plan. If your plan is not complete before the September 15 deadline, we encourage you to complete your plan and apply for an Implementation Grant in a subsequent SS4A funding cycle.

Yes, all projects and strategies as part of an Implementation Grant should consider equity in an application, as defined in the NOFO. Equity is a required component of developing or completing an Action Plan.

For the purposes of the NOFO and in alignment with Federal Government Executive Orders, the definition of equity is the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons; Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.

Feasibility studies using quick-build strategies (e.g., paint, plastic bollards) that inform permanent projects in the future are eligible activities for both Action Plan Grants and Implementation Grants as supplemental action plan activities.

Joint applications that engage multiple jurisdictions in the same region are encouraged to promote collaboration across multiple jurisdictions, leverage the expertise of multiple agencies, and facilitate partnerships with entities that have established financial relationships with DOT and knowledge of Federal grant administration requirements. Applicants may propose the development of a single Action Plan covering all jurisdictions, or several plans for individual jurisdictions, administered by the leading applicant. Each jurisdiction in a joint application must be an eligible applicant.

Yes. A recipient may establish an arrangement with a State DOT or another State or local governmental entity to administer an SS4A grant so long as that arrangement complies with State and local law. Under 2 CFR § 200.331, the recipient must determine whether such arrangement is contractual, such as an interagency agreement, or a subgrant. As provided at 2 CFR § 200.300(b), the recipient is responsible for compliance with all Federal requirements applicable to the award. States will not have direct funding relationships with USDOT.

SS4A grant agreements are directly between the applicant and the Department. SS4A grant agreements are not with State DOTs, and eligible applicants cannot serve as a pass through for a State DOT to take full responsibility over the grant agreement. However, an applicant may choose to work with a State DOT and provide SS4A grant funding to State DOTs to assist in the execution of the grant activities separately from the grant agreement. But the SS4A recipient retains responsibility for ensuring completion of the grant activities and for compliance with the terms of the grant award and federal requirements.

No. An eligible applicant may submit only one application to the funding opportunity. A joint application, which is comprised of a multijurisdictional group of entities that is regional in scope, and an individual application, would count as two separate applications.  

If an applicant submits more than one application, USDOT will contact the applicant to confirm which application should proceed; the applicant will be expected to respond within two business days. 

Yes. Based on information provided in applications, the Department will allocate funding amounts to each State to calculate the contribution to the 15 percent maximum by State. In general, Tribal awards, including a consortium of Tribal governments, will not count against the 15 percent maximum by State.

Yes, a series of implementation projects across multiple jurisdictions can be grouped together under a single application. The projects and strategies must be in existing Action Plans and must address identified safety problems. 

Separate Action Plan Grant applications for similar jurisdiction areas are permitted. However, duplicative Action Plan Grant requests will be flagged during the application review process, and DOT may decline to fund duplicative applications irrespective of their individual merits. Joint applications are encouraged but are not required. 

A joint application is comprised of a multijurisdictional group of entities that is regional in scope (e.g., a multijurisdictional group of counties, a council of governments and cities within the same region, etc.). Joint applicants will all be signing a grant agreement, with one as the lead applicant and the rest as supporting signatories. All entities participating in a joint application must be eligible applicants. 

Partners collaborate and work with an applicant on the execution of the project but are not applicants. Partners are not a party to the grant agreement and have no affiliation with USDOT. If an eligible applicant is a partner on an application (and not a joint applicant), being a partner on that application does not preclude the partner from submitting its own application. 

See the SS4A Joint Applicant Scenarios for applicable scenarios and applicant options.

(E.g., roles and responsibilities, implementing infrastructure safety projects on roads not owned by the applicant.)

Generally, a MOU/MOA does not need to be in place at the time of application for most Action Plan Grants and is not an application requirement. As an option, applicants could provide supporting documentation in instances such as joint applications formalizing their partnership, affirming match from a source that is not the applicant, etc.

For Implementation Grants, applicants performing projects and strategies on a roadway that they do not own, maintain, or have safety responsibilities over must, prior to DOT obligating funding to the grant award, have an agreement from the agency that has ownership and/or maintenance responsibilities for the roadway within the applicant’s jurisdiction. For example, an infrastructure project on State-owned roads would require an agreement from the State Department of Transportation. A letter of intent at the time of application would be the minimum required for instances where the projects and strategies are on roadways where the applicant has no ownership, maintenance, or safety responsibilities. 

Implementation Grant application reviews include a project readiness consideration. Depending on the focus of the MOU and the projects and strategies in an application, not having a signed MOU at the time of application could negatively impact the project readiness rating that an Implementation Grant application receives. 

Because State agencies are not eligible applicants, an applying agency should not list them as a joint applicant when submitting their grant application, even if the State agency is named on the MOU in the application packet.

Any MOU or other agreement required to successfully execute the grant agreement must be in place prior to DOT signing an Action Plan Grant or an Implementation Grant agreement. 

Whether you decide to submit an individual or joint application depends on what makes the most sense for your community and situation. Both the Action Plan Grant and the Implementation Grant selection processes give equal weight to individual and joint applicants. Considerations for whether to submit a joint Implementation Grant application include but are not limited to:

• If you do not have ownership over the roadways where projects and strategies are to be executed;
• If you do not have the expertise to complete the projects and strategies;
• If you are unfamiliar with administering Federal grant requirements; and
• If the project and strategy safety advancements provide benefits to multiple communities.

No. The lead applicant applying on behalf of the group would provide its UEI. However, all applicants in a joint application should have their own unique UEI. To obtain a UEI, visit https://sam.gov. 

USDOT anticipates that such cases would be permissible and expects regionally focused plans would permit individual entities within that regional plan to apply for Implementation Grants either individually or jointly. For this year’s funding round, entities within a region that has an eligible plan in place may use that plan to apply for an Implementation Grant.

Eligible applicants may submit an application as a standalone, individual applicant. Joint applications are encouraged, but they are not a requirement. Joint applications are treated the same as individual applications in the selection criteria. If a regional transportation planning agency is a political subdivision of the State as outlined in the NOFO, they are eligible applicants and could be included in a joint application.

The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) contains guidance about the development and content of a comprehensive safety action plan. See Table 1 of the NOFO for more information. 

No. Implementation Grant applications can include a funding request to complete necessary analyses for NEPA and other environmental laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), as part of an Implementation Grant under eligible activity (B) project and strategy-specific planning, design, and development activities. The NEPA and NHPA processes must be complete prior to funds being released for construction. 

Grant recipients are subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other environmental laws. Project sponsors must conduct the applicable environmental studies to identify the project impacts along with any required mitigation. NEPA and environmental resource subject-matter experts should develop materials that identify and evaluate impacts to human and natural resources including the following:

• Low income/minority communities, 
• Historic properties,
• Park and recreation lands, 
• Wildlife and waterfowl refuges,
• Wetlands, and
• Threatened and endangered species and their habitats. 

Project sponsors should also assess the need to obtain new rights-of-way and evaluate those impacts. If the project sponsor lacks staff with the specific skills, knowledge, and experience to conduct environmental studies, they are obliged to engage staff expertise at their State Departments of Transportation or fund consultants/contractors. Hiring consultants/contractors to directly support the execution of the grant award and its activities is considered an eligible cost under the grant.

FHWA’s Overview of NEPA as Applied to Transportation Projects - Environment- Federal-aid Essentials for Local Public Agencies provides training materials and resources that will help applicants better understand the requirements of NEPA and other federal laws and requirements for projects administered by FHWA. 

The NOFO does not prescribe a specific threshold for what is an ambitious percentage in roadway fatalities and serious injuries, and would be determined through the development of the comprehensive safety action plan. As a point of reference, DOT committed to a two-thirds reduction in roadway fatalities by 2040.

Applications must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, September 15, 2022. Late applications will not be accepted. Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov. 

USDOT expects to obligate SS4A funding via a signed grant agreement between the Department and the recipient within 12 months after awards have been announced, though individual recipient timelines may vary depending on the complexity of project, status of project readiness, and other factors. Funding is expected to be provided on a reimbursement basis, with corresponding invoices.

The expected period of performance for Action Plan Grant agreements is between 12 and 24 months. The period of performance for Implementation Grant agreements may not exceed 5 years.

USDOT anticipates that there will be a NOFO open annually for each of the 5 years of the program around the same timeframe.