Highway Safety Improvement Program call for projects

2025 County Safety Program: Call for Projects

OPEN – Applications Due: March 15, 2025

Available Funding

$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 or tribes in Washington State are eligible to apply. Other organizations may work with a county or tribe to propose/develop a project.
• Preliminary engineering/design, right-of-way, and construction phases of projects are eligible for funding. Design-only projects that include only preliminary engineering, environmental, and/or right-of-way phases are not eligible.
• Counties or tribes must submit a local road safety plan that addresses fatal and serious injury crashes in the county/tribe to be eligible to apply. Local road safety plans are a Proven Safety Countermeasure that provide 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/tribe 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/tribes 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 (http://targetzero.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/TargetZero2019_Achieving_Target_Zero_Lo-Res.pdf). Counties/tribes can access equity-related data through the Washington Tracking Network at https://fortress.wa.gov/doh/wtn/WTNIBL/.
• Counties/tribes should consider the state’s Vulnerable Road User (VRU) assessment priority locations/ratings in their local road safety plan development process.
• Counties should also consider including projects related to smaller towns with interconnected roadways in their applications.
• When upgrading an intersection's control type from traffic signs, the county/tribe must evaluate a roundabout and provide justification if a roundabout is not selected.
• Applying agencies should consider integrating the principles of the Safe System Approach into their safety planning and project development process. The Safe System Approach establishes a holistic and comprehensive guiding framework to make roadways safer for people. This includes designing and operating roadways to mitigate human mistakes and account for injury tolerances, set safe speeds, encourage safer behaviors, and facilitate safe travel by the most vulnerable users. This approach will be consistent with the Target Zero update being released in 2025.

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.

Other Requirements

• Projects are eligible for 100% federal HSIP funding for all phases authorized prior to April 30, 2028. 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/tribe may be submitted. All prioritized projects should be shown on the single 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 county 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 projects by September 2025.

Application Form

A completed application form is required and can be downloaded from here: Application (DOCX 45KB) or Application (PDF 200KB). Applications must include:

• A local road safety plan for the county/tribe 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, 2025 by email to HLPGrants@wsdot.wa.gov. Paper submittals will not be accepted. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Information 

This material can be made available in an alternate format by emailing the Office of Equity and Civil Rights at wsdotada@wsdot.wa.gov or by calling toll free, 855-362-4ADA(4232). Persons who are deaf or hard of hearing may make a request by calling the Washington State Relay at 711. 

Title VI Notice to Public 

It is the Washington State Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) policy to assure that no person shall, on the grounds of race, color, national origin, as provided by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise discriminated against under any of its programs and activities. Any person who believes his/her Title VI protection has been violated, may file a complaint with WSDOT’s Office of Equity and Civil Rights (OECR). For additional information regarding Title VI complaint procedures and/or information regarding our non-discrimination obligations, please contact OECR’s Title VI Coordinator at (360) 705-7090.