To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Jim Katzer, Transportation Division Manager, Public Works and Development
Prepared By:
prepared
Steven Buckley, Engineer III, Public Works and Development
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presenter
Presenter: Steven Buckley and Jim Katzer, Public Works and Development
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Subject:
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9:30 AM *Safe Streets for All Grant Application
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The Transportation Division is requesting approval from the BOCC to proceed with a federal grant application to the Federal Highway Administration through the Safe Streets for All (SS4A) program.
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Alignment with Strategic Plan: Sustainable Growth and Infrastructure - Prioritize capital improvement projects (CIP) including deferred maintenance.
Background and Discussion: Staff received conditional approval from the BOCC on January 27, 2026, to apply for the 2026 Safe Streets for All (SS4A) grant and requested staff return once a specific project was identified.
On March 27, 2026, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the 2026 Safe Street for All (SS4A) grant program. This NOFO makes available $1 billion in federal funding that FHWA will directly award to local governments across the country for transportation planning and infrastructure projects that show a strong potential to reduce deaths and serious injuries on roadways. Grant applications are scored and awarded based primarily on demonstrated safety benefits. The minimum award for an Implementation (i.e. Construction) grant is $2.5 million. In the past, most Implementation awards have been in the $5 to $10 million range. A prerequisite for applying for this grant involves an officially adopted Comprehensive Safety Action Plan (CSAP) that meets certain criteria. Public Works and Development has been working on a CSAP since last fall and anticipates bringing a draft of the CSAP to a BOCC Study Session on April 28, 2026, and to a Business Meeting for potential adoption on May 12. The deadline to apply for the grant is May 26, 2026.
Staff have considered several projects that would be a good candidate for this grant opportunity, including all partially unfunded projects on the five-year CIP list. Because this national grant opportunity is competitive, and a strong safety benefit must be demonstrated, staff selected a project that will construct intersection improvements at the Parker Road at Florida Avenue intersection as the best candidate for this application. Per the analysis that has been completed in the ongoing CSAP, the Parker / Florida intersection has the highest number of fatal and serious injury crashes of any intersection in unincorporated Arapahoe County in the past seven years, and therefore will score higher than other candidate projects on the evaluation criteria for this grant application. Though intersection improvements at this location are not currently in the five-year CIP, this intersection was identified as a high priority for improvements in the Parker Road Corridor Study from Mississippi Avenue to I-225, a study that was concluded in November 2025, which is more recent than the last update to the 5-year CIP list which was done during last year’s budget cycle. The improvements needed at this intersection which were identified in the Parker Road Corridor Study and which will be included in the grant application include realignment of the northbound and southbound left turn lanes, modification of the northbound and southbound right-turn lanes, and signal and sidewalk upgrades. The project design will also be informed by a current corridor study along Florida Ave and will implement the County’s Bike and Pedestrian Plan.
Alternatives: The BOCC could direct staff not to apply for this grant opportunity. In that case, the Board would be passing up an opportunity to receive funding for the highest priority safety improvement that has been identified in the ongoing CSAP.
Fiscal Impact: Staff is in the process of refining cost estimates for the improvements needed at Parker Road and Florida Avenue intersection, but currently anticipates that the costs for design, right-of-way, and construction would not exceed $5 million, and could be lower. If the grant application is successful, the County will receive 80% federal funding for the identified project, or up to $4 million. The County has initiated conversations with CDOT to evenly split the remaining $1 million in non-federal matching money if the application is successful, leaving the County liable for about $500,000 in project costs. The grant criteria state that the project must be constructed within five years of award of the federal funds, or roughly, by the end of 2031. Staff anticipates that $500,000 of County funds could be available sometime in the next five years from annual allotments dedicated to Safety funding and Bicycle / Pedestrian master plan implementation funding in the CIP over that time frame.
Alignment with Strategic Implementation Strategies: The attached framework helps Arapahoe County institutionalize values-based, transparent decision-making, documenting how we make decisions and carry out actions to achieve the county’s strategic plan.
Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends proceeding with the SS4A grant application for the Parker Road at Florida Avenue intersection.
Concurrence: CDOT and DRCOG have expressed support to county staff to pursue the SS4A grant at Parker Road and Florida Avenue.