Prince William County Awarded $992,000 Federal “Safe Streets and Roads for All” Grant

Recently, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced a historic $800 million in grant awards for 510 projects through the new Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program, a record amount of funding to improve roads and address traffic fatalities. Prince William County Department of Transportation received $992,000 to be used by the Prince William County Government to develop a comprehensive safety action plan.

The competitive grant program, established by President Biden’s historic infrastructure law, provides $5 billion over five years for regional, local, and Tribal initiatives — from redesigned roads to better sidewalks and crosswalks — to prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways.

The Prince William County Comprehensive Safety Action Plan grant application was submitted by Prince William County Government in coordination with the City of Manassas and the Towns of Occoquan, Haymarket and Dumfries. The action plan will build off previous successful planning and public engagement efforts, including key stakeholders like the County’s Racial and Social Justice and Sustainability Commissions, and create opportunities for meaningful community engagement to ensure policies and strategies improve safety equitably.

“We know that Prince William County’s Department of Transportation’s nationally recognized experience and use of innovative, low-cost, high-impact strategies to maximize community benefits, coupled with coordination efforts with community partners, will truly have an impact on our community,” remarked Board of County Supervisors Chair At-Large Ann Wheeler. “A data-backed blueprint of strategies will promote and improve safety to the entire county, with sensitivity to the county’s socioeconomic and geographical diversity.”

In 2021, Prince William County experienced 32 traffic fatalities, including seven pedestrians. Between 2016 and 2020, the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) reported 104 total motor vehicle roadway fatalities in Prince William County, with a five-year annual average of 20.8 fatalities, or 4.5 fatalities per 100,000 persons. Between 2016 and 2019, the rate of traffic fatalities in Prince William County declined, however, this trend reversed in 2020, and 2022 is on track to meet or exceed the 2021-decade high rate.

As Virginia’s second-largest jurisdiction, Prince William County is the first “majority-minority” county in Virginia, and the county’s equity policy (Resolution 20-494) targets regionally designated Equity Emphasis Areas with high concentrations of low-income and minority census tracts for safety improvements. This holistic comprehensive action plan will address the county’s diverse geographic assortment of rural areas, suburbs, towns and urban centers. The plan will enable the development of two distinct but complementary plans: 1) a Towards Zero Death action plan for rural and suburban areas and 2) a Vision Zero plan for the Cities, Towns and other urbanized areas of the County.

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Media Contact:

Gretchen Johnson, Senior Communications Analyst
Prince William County Department of Transportation
[email protected]
703-792-6879