DOT Opens $993 Million in Road Safety Grants — Apply by May 26
April 6, 2026 · 2 min read
Claire Cummings
The U.S. Department of Transportation has opened applications for the FY2026 Safe Streets and Roads for All program, making $993.5 million available to cities, counties, tribes, and metropolitan planning organizations working to eliminate traffic fatalities.
Nearly $1 Billion Split Between Planning and Construction
The program divides funding into two tracks: $687.8 million for Implementation Grants and $305.7 million for Planning and Demonstration Grants. Implementation grants fund construction-ready projects in jurisdictions with existing safety Action Plans — intersection redesigns, protected bike lanes, speed management infrastructure, and signal upgrades. Planning grants support communities developing new Action Plans or piloting safety interventions like temporary curb extensions and traffic calming measures.
A 20 percent local match is required across both tracks. Federal funding cannot exceed 80 percent of total project costs.
Two Deadlines Grant Seekers Must Track
The hard application deadline is May 26, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. EDT through Grants.gov. But Implementation Grant applicants have an earlier opportunity: DOT is accepting optional pre-applications through April 24 for technical review and eligibility feedback — a step that can meaningfully strengthen final submissions.
Applicants should confirm their System for Award Management (SAM) registration is current before submitting. Lapsed registrations are among the most common reasons applications are rejected on procedural grounds.
How to Position a Competitive Application
SS4A evaluates applications on documented safety problems, data-driven crash analysis, and alignment with a jurisdiction's Action Plan. Communities with high-injury corridors and a clear link between proposed projects and fatality reduction have the strongest odds.
Jurisdictions that received SS4A planning grants in prior rounds now have completed Action Plans — exactly the prerequisite for FY2026 implementation funding. If your city used earlier cycles for planning, this round is your construction window.
Multijurisdictional applications are eligible, and regional partnerships can strengthen both the data case and the match-funding picture. Grant seekers can explore related transportation and infrastructure funding on grantedai.com.
The SS4A program has distributed over $5 billion since its creation under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. With 40,000 annual U.S. traffic fatalities, DOT has signaled that road safety remains a funding priority even in a constrained budget environment.
In-depth analysis of this story and related grant opportunities is available on the Granted blog.