Delivering for the District: Courtney Announces New Infrastructure Funding to Improve Traffic and Pedestrian Safety in Eastern Connecticut

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Rep. Joe Courtney (CT-02) announced that three federal infrastructure grant awards totaling over $1.3 million will be awarded to the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG), the Northeastern CT Council of Governments (NECCOG), and the Lower CT River Valley Council of Governments (RiverCOG) to support the development of comprehensive action plans to improve traffic and pedestrian safety. The funding was made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and is being awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation under the IIJA’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program.

The SS4A program was established under the IIJA with $5 billion in funding over the next five years to help prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries. Thanks to the IIJA, CRCOG will receive $958,000 in SS4A funding, NECCOG will receive $160,000 in SS4A funding, and RiverCOG will receive $240,000 in SS4A funding. In November 2022, Rep. Courtney wrote directly to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to personally support the SS4A application submitted by RiverCOG—click here to read his full letter.

“The bipartisan Infrastructure Law isn’t just about increasing economic opportunity, although it’s doing plenty of that throughout eastern Connecticut—it’s also about making investments to keep our communities safe places to live, work, and raise our families,” said Rep. Courtney. “Traffic and pedestrian safety has unfortunately become a more pressing issue in the past several years, not just in our region, but nationwide. Increased economic activity brings all sorts of new jobs and career opportunities for people in our region, but it also means we may need to re-think local traffic safety plans as our thoroughfares see greater use. This new round of federal infrastructure funding is going to kick-start efforts to improve traffic and pedestrian safety in towns throughout eastern Connecticut, and it’s another great example of how the IIJA is paying dividends for our region.”

“CRCOG is very excited to receive this grant award that we will use to update our Regional Transportation Safety Plan,” said Matt Hart, Executive Director of CRCOG. “The Safety Plan is an important planning document that serves as the basis for infrastructure projects designed to improve safety for all road users—including pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. With transportation-related fatalities increasing by an alarming 20% in CT in the past year, these infrastructure improvements have never been more important. We greatly appreciate the support and advocacy that Congressman Courtney and his colleagues in our Federal delegation have provided for the IIJA and our application. We know that we have strong partners in Washington to help complete these critical safety projects back home in Connecticut.”

“The awarding of funds of through the IIJA for NECCOG under the Safe Streets and Roads for All program will have a lasting impact on the safety of our region’s transportation system—for all residents and visitors,” said John Filchak, NECCOG Executive Director. “With these funds we will work with and engage all of our regional stakeholders to improve safety for all modes of transportation.”

“RiverCOG is excited to receive this planning grant under the federal Safe Streets and Roads For All program,” said Samuel Gold, Executive Director of RiverCOG. “We will use the grant to create a regional Safety Action Plan that will identify safety deficiencies in the Lower Connecticut River Valley’s street network and create a priority list of improvements to make our streets safer for all users. We also hope to use our regional Safety Action Plan to pursue future federal infrastructure grants to fund fixes to our roads and make them safer for everyone. RiverCOG looks forward to getting started on this project this year!”

Traffic fatalities in the U.S. are at the highest level in decades, and the SS4A program was established under the IIJA to help make our roadways safer for motorists and pedestrians. There are two types of SS4A awards—Action Plan Grants and Implementation Grants—and today’s announcement represents to the first round of SS4A Action Plan grant awards. CRCOG, NECCOG, and RiverCOG will each use new SS4A funding to create comprehensive action plans to improve traffic safety and reduce injuries to pedestrians and motorists. This includes:

• Leadership commitment and goal setting that includes a goal timeline for eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries.
• Planning structure through a committee, task force, implementation group, or similar body charged with oversight of the Action Plan development, implementation, and monitoring.
• Safety analysis of the existing conditions and historical trends that provides a baseline level of crashes involving fatalities and serious injuries across a jurisdiction, locality, Tribe, or region.
• Engagement and collaboration with the public and relevant stakeholders, including the private sector and community groups, that allows for both community representation and feedback.
• Equity considerations developed through a plan using inclusive and representative processes.
• Policy and process changes that assess the current policies, plans, guidelines, and/or standards to identify opportunities to improve how processes prioritize transportation safety.
• Strategy and project selections that identify a comprehensive set of projects and strategies, shaped by data, the best available evidence and noteworthy practices, as well as stakeholder input and equity considerations, that will address the safety problems described in the Action Plan.
• Progress and transparency methods that measure progress over time after an Action Plan is developed or updated, including outcome data.

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