Sandy Williams Connecting Communities Program
Learn how we are making walking, bicycling, and rolling more comfortable and welcoming in overburdened communities along state and legacy highways.
Call for projects - Open
Sandy Williams Equity Needs Viewer
Sandy Williams and Community Connection
The Sandy Williams Connecting Communities Program (SWCCP) was established to improve active transportation connectivity for people walking, biking, and rolling along and across current and former state and legacy highways. The program focuses on communities with high equity needs, which are those most affected by barriers to opportunity and environmental health disparities.
Funding for projects supporting high equity needs communities can be used for planning, design, or construction. Awards range from approximately $200,000 to $2,000,000. An estimated $25 million is available for projects statewide for the 2025-2027 biennium.
The program name honors Sandy Williams, a community activist who worked to reconnect her African American neighborhood after the construction of Interstate 90 through the city of Spokane split it in half. You can learn more about Sandy Williams and the journey to creating the SWCCP in our online storymap.
Program Priorities
- Investing in people. The infrastructure we plan for and construct puts people and place in the center.
- We support transformative projects that look beyond transportation, considering impacts on communities such as gentrification, climate change, and resilience.
- Projects that contribute to improving the safety, comfort, and connectivity for community members to access community spaces and essential services such as recreation centers, medical centers, grocery stores, schools, transit, and parks.
- Partnerships between government agencies, community-based organizations, and diverse small businesses representative of high-equity needs communities are prioritized.
- Integrating racial equity considerations more fully into investment priorities. Starting and focusing on engagement for community-led project designs will create projects aligned with community priorities, and build community trust and support at every step of a project’s development process.
Important dates
October 3, 2024: Grant Program opens.
October 31, 2024: Project interest forms are due.
November 2024: WSDOT identifies selected grantees.
December 2024: Legislative report identifying projects to support is due.
Program funding
Once awarded, SWCCP funds can be leveraged as local match funding for federal funds including RAISE grants, Safe Streets for All grants, Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program grants, and WSDOT-administered federal funding sources. Additionally, funds can bring resources to projects where state agencies such as the Transportation Improvement Board (TIB), regional, or local funding cannot fully meet needs.
Glossary
Census block group
Census blocks, the smallest geographic area for which the Bureau of the Census collects and tabulates decennial census data, are formed by streets, roads, railroads, streams and other bodies of water, other visible physical and cultural features, and the legal boundaries shown on Census Bureau maps. Census data for these areas serve as a valuable source for small-area geographic studies.
Environmental justice
As defined by the state, means the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, rules, and policies. Environmental justice includes addressing disproportionate environmental and health impacts in all laws, rules, and policies with environmental impacts by prioritizing vulnerable populations and overburdened communities, the equitable distribution of resources and benefits, and eliminating harm.
Awards
The Sandy Williams Connecting Communities Program distributed $21,611,000 to 26 projects statewide.
Year One projects
| Kent | Willis Street Road Diet | $683,000 |
| Jamestown S’Klallam | Alternate route for SR 101: Dungeness River Truss – Olympic Discovery Trail | $250,000 |
| Pasco | Sylvester St/SR 395 Bike and Pedestrian Overpass | $373,000 |
| Airway Heights | US 2 Active Transportation Improvements TA7759 | $2,000,000 |
| WSDOT Northwest Region | Judkins Park Station -I-90 Reconnecting Communities | $2,000,000 |
| WSDOT Northwest Region | SR 518/SR 99 Interchange Active Transportation Improvements | $850,000 |
| WSDOT Northwest Region | SR 900/57th Ave S to S 135th St - Pedestrian and Safety Improvements | $1,000,000 |
| WSDOT North Central Region | SR 155 Active Transportation Access | $1,500,000 |
| WSDOT North Central Region | Omak to Okanogan Ped/Bike Feasibility Study | $750,000 |
| WSDOT Southwest Region | SR 507/Skookumchuck River to Thurston Co Line – Pavement Rehab | $200,000 |
| WSDOT South Central Region | Heritage Connectivity Trails - Advancing Mobility and Communities | $300,000 |
| Thurston Regional Planning Council | Martin Way Crossing Strategy | $700,000 |
Year Two projects
| Vancouver | Vancouver Plaza Drive Enhanced Pedestrian Crossing | $425,000 |
| Walla Walla | 9th Ave / SR 125 Pedestrian Crossing Study | $450,000 |
| Airway Heights | US 2 Ped & Multimodal Enhancement Project Phase 1 | $850,000 |
| Othello | SR-26 Community Trail | $910,000 |
| Aberdeen | US 101 Safety Improvement Project | $800,000 |
| Shelton | Cross-town Trail, Phase 2 | $275,000 |
| WSDOT Northwest Region | SR 99/Lynnwood and Unincorporated Snohomish Co Pre-Design Study | $800,000 |
| WSDOT Mount Baker | SR 538 Leigh Way Vic to SR 9 Paving | $500,000 |
| WSDOT Mount Baker | SR 539 / Guide Meridian Complete Streets Pre-Design | $600,000 |
| Moses Lake | SR 17 Shared Use Path - Patton Blvd to Grape Drive | $2,000,000 |
| WSDOT Southwest Region | SR 4/Crawford Bridge Pedestrian Illumination | $885,000 |
| WSDOT South Central Region | Moxee Trail | $1,600,000 |
| Jefferson Co | SR 19 Rhody Drive Ped-Bike Improvements - South Segment | $260,000 |
| Tacoma | Pedestrian Mobility & Safety Improvements at South 56th St and Pacific Ave (SR 7) | $650,000 |
| Active Transportation Division | Contingency | $639,000 |
| Active Transportation Division | Program Management for the biennium | $1,250,000 |
Climate Commitment Act
The Sandy Williams Connecting Communities Program is supported with funding from Washington’s Climate Commitment Act. The CCA supports Washington’s climate action efforts by putting cap-and -invest dollars to work reducing climate pollution, creating jobs and improving public health. Information about the CCA is available at www.climate.wa.gov.
166,800 electric vehicle
registrations in Washington in 2023, up from 114,600 in 2022.
87 wetland compensation sites
actively monitored on 918 acres in 2023.
25,000 safe animal crossings
in the Snoqualmie Pass East Project area since 2014.