At the end of January of this year, the Danville Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which is staffed by the West Piedmont Planning District Commission (WPPDC), was notified that it was chosen as a recipient of a Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant, which staff had applied for in 2022. This award represents the first of a two-step process to help improve the safety of the transportation system within the MPO area for all users.
The SS4A grant is a federal grant which funds measures to “improve roadway safety by significantly reducing or eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries”[1] by improving safety of all users including drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, users of personal mobility, and others. The program is intended to result in the implementation of strategies over a significant geographic area that are considered low-cost but effective at reducing serious injuries and fatalities, and which are evidence-based in achieving this goal.[2]
The SS4A grant awards funding for either the development of an Action Plan, which establishes recommendations to later be implemented in a particular area, or an Implementation Plan, which “implements” the recommendations within the Action Plan. The Danville MPO will be awarded $160,000 in federal funding to develop the Action Plan for the MPO area. A condition of this grant award is the obligation of a 20 percent ($40,000) local match, $30,000 of which will be provided by the City of Danville and $10,000 of which will be provided by Pittsylvania County.
Again, the SS4A grant is intended to fund the development of low-cost yet effective “countermeasures” to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on our nation’s transportation networks. Several examples of countermeasures including access management, a roundabout, a separated bike lane, and a mid-block crossing with pedestrian refuge, follow.
The Danville MPO will employ a consultant, through the agency’s Request for Proposals (RFP) process, and it is anticipated that work on the Action Plan will begin later this year, after which the plan will be developed over the following year or two. Following development of the Action Plan, it is anticipated that the MPO will apply for a SS4A Implementation grant to implement the countermeasures recommended within the Action Plan.
The Danville MPO area (also known as a Metropolitan Planning Area, or MPA) for which the SS4A Action Plan will be developed, consists of the entire City of Danville and the adjacent portion of Pittsylvania County. The following figure, entitled “Danville Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA),” illustrates the footprint of the MPO. The Danville MPO was established as a result of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962, which mandated the formation of urban transportation planning areas in urbanized areas comprising populations of 50,000 or greater for the purpose of a “continuing, comprehensive, and cooperative” urban transportation planning process. The impetus for urban transportation planning was the development of transportation routes that largely served urban areas, and the rapidly-developing Interstate Highway System, many of which serve urban areas.[3]
[1] “FY23 SS4A Notice of Funding Opportunity.” U.S. Department of Transportation. March 30, 2023. https://www.transportation.gov/grants/ss4a/fy23-nofo.
[2] “FY23 SS4A Notice of Funding Opportunity.” U.S. Department of Transportation. March 30, 2023.
[3] “About MPOs.” Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO). Copyright 2019-Present. Retrieved April 5, 2023. https://ampo.org/about-us/about-mpos/.