Highway Safety Improvement Program call for projects

2023 County Safety Program - Call for projects
Closed - Applications Due March 15, 2023

Available funding for 2022

$35 million of federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funds.
$4 million of state Reducing Rural Roadway Departures funds.

Program Purpose

The purpose of this program is to reduce fatal and serious injury crashes on county roads using engineering improvements/countermeasures. Learn more about the Highway Safety Improvement Program.

Eligibility

• Only counties in Washington State are eligible to apply. Other organizations may work with a county to propose/develop a project.
• Preliminary engineering/design, right-of-way, and construction phases of projects are eligible for funding.
• Counties must submit a local road safety plan that addresses fatal and serious injury crashes in the county to be eligible to apply. A local road safety plan is a data-driven analysis and prioritization of an agency's roadways for traffic safety. Using specific information about the factors present at specific crash locations, the county must identify locations where those factors are present. They then must identify and prioritize improvements/countermeasures/projects to address the highest priority locations. This prioritized list of projects must be presented in the local road safety plan, which must be submitted with the application. The local road safety plan must document how and why the priorities were selected.

Additional Considerations

• Counties are encouraged to incorporate equity-specific safety data and consider equity-related safety risk factors in the development of the local road safety plan. In many communities, traditionally disadvantaged populations are disproportionately impacted by fatal and serious injury crashes.  For more information please see Target Zero, pp. 217-221 (PDF 1.3MB). Counties can access equity-related data through the Washington Tracking Network .
• Counties should consider including projects related to smaller towns or tribes with interconnected roadways in their applications.
• When upgrading an intersection's control type from traffic signs, the county must evaluate a roundabout and provide justification if a roundabout is not selected.

Crash Data Summary

Local Programs is providing each county with a crash data summary. The summary shows information about the fatal, serious injury, and total crashes in the county. It also shows how the county compares with other counties in the state. The summary does not include detailed crash data.

Other Requirements

• Projects are eligible for 100% federal HSIP funding for all phases authorized prior to April 30, 2026. Any phases not authorized by this date may be subject to the remaining funds being rescinded.
• Projects must be fully funded between this funding and other funding sources, as applicable.
• Only one application per county may be submitted. All prioritized projects should be shown on the application.
• There is no maximum funding level for the application.
• Projects must comply with all necessary federal and state requirements as detailed in the Local Agency Guidelines Manual.
• Projects must be completed as selected once they have been awarded funding.
• Recipients must report biannually on the status and expenditures of each project.
• Recipients are required to submit monthly progress billings for projects to ensure timely reimbursement of eligible federal expenditures.
• Costs incurred prior to federal fund obligation are not eligible for reimbursement.
• Projects that are not actively pursued or that become inactive (23 CFR 630) are at risk of being cancelled and the funds reprogrammed.
• All projects must be ADA compliant upon completion or federal funds must be repaid.

Selection process

• All properly submitted applications will be reviewed to ensure they are complete and eligible for funding.
• All projects will be prioritized based on the anticipated cost effectiveness of the proposed work in reducing fatal and serious injury crashes in support of Target Zero.
• WSDOT may conduct site visits with the applicant, as needed.
• WSDOT’s Local Programs Director will select the final County Safety projects by September 2023.

Application form

A completed application form (DOCX 45KB) or application form (PDF 208KB) is required. Applications must include:

• A local road safety plan for the county applying for funding. The information in the application must match what is in the plan.
• A vicinity map showing the location of all improvements/countermeasures/projects.
• A conceptual plan and cross section showing the existing and final configurations for projects that add or revise travel lanes or sidewalks.
• A detailed cost estimate for each phase (preliminary engineering, right of way, and construction). The cost estimate for construction must be determined assuming that the project is design-bid-build or design-build and not constructed by the agency's forces.

Application forms and the above items can be completed electronically or in writing but must be submitted electronically by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, March 15, 2023 by email to HLPGrants@wsdot.wa.gov. Paper submittals will not be accepted. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.