Congressional Representatives Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced a $5 million grant this week that aims to make Broward County streets safer for pedestrians.
The Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization will use the federal funds to develop a safety plan to reduce traffic fatalities. This funding, from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, targets high-crash sites in cities and counties.
“Our region is actually one of the most dangerous places in the country for pedestrians and cyclists so, you know, what we need to do is we need to improve our roads to make them safer for pedestrians and for our most vulnerable populations, children and seniors," Moskowitz said.
Moskowitz says the funds will be focused on low-income communities that have not received as much investment in the past.
But Broward officials are asking the federal government for far more money to support these upgrades. They want half a billion dollars to use for planning and implementing road safety projects .
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently announced $800 million in grant awards for more than 500 projects through the new Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Program.
That national grant program provides $5 billion over five years for initiatives from redesigned roads to better sidewalks and crosswalks to prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation's roadways, according to county officials.
"This investment comes at an important junction as traffic fatalities reached a 16-year high in 2021 and preliminary data indicates will remain near those levels in 2022, while getting worse for people walking, biking, or rolling as well as incidents involving trucks," said a press release from the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization.
