Safe Streets Grant Program Adds Immigration and Lane Restrictions

The federal government's largest pedestrian safety grant program has been rewritten with new conditions that could disqualify cities pursuing road diets, bike lanes, and other traffic-calming measures that reduce vehicle lane capacity.

The revised Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) notice of funding opportunity introduces restrictions that reshape which projects can receive federal dollars — and which cities are willing to apply.

What Changed in the Grant Rules

The updated NOFO makes it harder to receive funding for any project that reduces lane capacity for motor vehicles. Road diets — a proven safety intervention that converts four-lane roads to three lanes with bike facilities — are effectively disfavored under the new criteria.

The program also now bans the use of grant funds for automated traffic enforcement, eliminating a tool that cities like New York and San Francisco have deployed to reduce speed-related fatalities.

Beyond transportation policy, the revised application includes new conditions familiar from other federal programs: applicants must certify cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and eliminate references to climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, racial equity, environmental justice, or the Justice40 Initiative from their applications.

Cities Already Feeling the Impact

Detroit, which is advancing multiple planning efforts to address unsafe streets, faces immediate uncertainty. The city's Safe Routes to School program and a comprehensive update to its non-motorized transportation plan both rely on federal SS4A funding that may now be harder to secure.

Other cities with pending SS4A applications or multi-year implementation grants are reassessing whether their planned interventions still qualify under the revised criteria.

Alternative Funding Paths

Municipal transportation departments should review their pending SS4A applications against the new NOFO language. Projects centered on signal timing, intersection geometry, or lighting improvements — rather than lane reductions — are more likely to align with the revised criteria.

State-level safety grants and foundation funding may fill some gaps. Tools like Granted can help local governments and nonprofits identify alternative funding sources when federal program criteria shift. Detailed analysis of transportation funding alternatives is available on the Granted blog.