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Atlanta Regional Commission Awarded $3M Federal ‘Safe Streets for All’ Grant

Three examples of School Zone signs set above a blurry photo a roadway.

Atlanta — Jan 27, 2025

(ATLANTA – January 27, 2025) The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) has been awarded $3 million in federal funding to improve safety and access at school communities in the City of Brookhaven, Clayton County, and Spalding County. The funds come from the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program. The grant prioritizes communities that have greater than 17 roadway deaths per 100,000 population per year.

This is a Supplemental Planning and Demonstration Grant for metro Atlanta communities. It is slated to have a 2.5-year implementation, split into two school years. The first year involves planning, while the second will feature real-world demonstration activities that put elements of the plan into action.

Planning activities include public surveys and special audits where families will be able to provide specific concerns. Demonstration activities may include education outreach to teens and other community members, pilots for group walks and rides to school, tactical infrastructure pop-ups, and roadway safety improvements.

Safe Streets and Roads for All was created under the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In all, $172 million in grants were awarded to 257 communities in this round of awards. The community-guided grant program is a component of the National Roadway Safety Strategy to help prevent serious injury and death on our country’s roads and make our communities more connected and walkable.

“The roadway is a shared space, and safety is a shared responsibility,” said Anna Roach, ARC’s Executive Director & CEO. “It is extremely important to improve safety around our schools, especially for vulnerable users like school children. This grant helps further our efforts to do so collaboratively.”

A 20% match will come from the localities involved. ARC will collaborate with Clayton County, the City of Brookhaven, and Spalding County to meet the local match requirements and complete this work. With local match, the total project benefit is $3.8 million.

The three localities were selected in part because they are geographically, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse communities, both within their municipal borders and from one another.  Brookhaven is an urban, central, inside the perimeter zone; Clayton County is suburban; and Spalding County contains more rural areas.

The supplemental planning piece of the grant will directly support ARC’s own Regional Safety Strategy through a site-specific approach to safety evaluation.

Supplemental planning elements for this grant include:

  • Surveys
  • Family safety audits
  • Traditional road safety audits

By assessing both structural safety and family-reported concerns, communities will get a more robust understanding of the specific challenges faced across each school network.

ARC will conduct demonstration activities that will prioritize equity-driven bicycle and pedestrian safety countermeasures that align with established safety goals, as outlined in the 2022 Regional Safety Strategy.

Demonstration activities will include:

  • Community and teen education and outreach
  • School pool pilots
  • Tactical infrastructure pop-ups and demonstration
  • School roadway safety improvements

The U.S. Department of Transportation made the public announcements related to the awards late 2024. See the press release here: https://www.transportation.gov/grants/ss4a/press-releases, and the award recipient list here: https://www.transportation.gov/grants/ss4a/2024-awards.

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The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) is the official planning agency for the 11-county Atlanta Region, including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, and Rockdale counties as well as the City of Atlanta and 76 other cities. The Atlanta Regional Commission’s mission is to foster thriving communities for all within the Atlanta region through collaborative, data-informed planning and investments.

Contact Name: Sheryl Merritt
Contact Phone: 470-757-3799
Contact Email: smerritt@atlantaregional.org

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CDAP
Community Planning Academy
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Empowerline
Georgia Commute Options
Green Communities
LCI
LINK
MARC
Metro Atlanta Speaks
MNG Water Planning District
RLI
State of the Region
UASI
WorkSource GA