Westport Receives Federal 'Safe Streets And Roads For All' Grant

WESTPORT, CT — Westport is receiving a federal grant of $450,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation under the "Safe Streets and Roads For All" program, according to federal officials.

A total of 510 projects from around the country will share $800 million under the program, which is designed to help "prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways."

The funding for Westport will go toward several crosswalk improvement projects throughout town.

Westport is one of six Connecticut communities to receive funding under the program; the other five are:

• Capitol Region Council of Governments
• City of New Haven
• City of Torrington
• Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments
• Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments

The total amount of all the Connecticut grants is $2.4 million.

According to federal officials, "traffic fatalities reached a 16-year high in 2021 and preliminary data indicates will remain near those levels in 2022, even getting worse for people walking, biking, or rolling as well as incidents involving trucks."

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement that addressing traffic safety is a "national emergency."

"Every year, crashes cost tens of thousands of American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars to our economy; this is, without question, a national emergency, and it demands urgent action," Buttigieg said. "We are proud that these grants will directly support community efforts to make roadways safer, by funding strategies that are proven to save lives."