The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced funding as part of $100 million in Fair Share Funds to support local infrastructure as well as nearly $18 million in additional grant funding to 11 communities and two planning agencies as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program.
Letters have been sent to each municipality certifying that community’s Fair Share apportionment for Fiscal Year 2024. The Fair Share Amendment funds are being distributed according to two formulas. The first $50 million is being distributed using the traditional Chapter 90 formula based on local road mileage (58.33%), population (20.83%), and employment (20.83%). The second $50 million is being distributed using a formula based on each municipality’s share of road mileage.
Each community is receiving a different total amount according to how the two formulas apportion the money. Communities may use Fair Share revenue for construction, preservation, and improvement projects that create or extend the life of capital facilities. This includes costs for highway projects and pedestrian and bicycle facilities. Projects that are eligible would include installing sidewalks, bicycle lanes, new pavement, sidewalks, retaining walks, crossing signals, and other transportation infrastructure features.
The Fair Share FY 2024 amounts by municipality can be found here.
The federal SS4A program funding awards can be used to improve roadway safety by supporting communities in developing comprehensive safety action plans based on a Safe Systems Approach, conduct data analyses, and implement projects and strategies that seek to significantly reduce or eliminate transportation-related fatalities and serious injuries involving pedestrians, bicyclists, micromobility users, motorists, public transportation customers, users of personal conveyance, and commercial vehicle operators. Additionally, awarded funding can also be used to support robust stakeholder engagement to ensure that all community members have a voice in developing plans, projects, and strategies.
The announcement made by the U.S. Department of Transportation and MassDOT awards grants to these communities and Regional Planning Agencies:
- Boston- $14.4 million for traffic signal operations design
- Westfield- $200,000
- Chicopee- $320,000
- Pioneer Valley Planning Commission- $1million
- Chelsea- $280,000
- Lawrence- $200,000
- Holyoke- $158,000
- Everett- $90,720
- Pittsfield- $310,000
- Gardner- $230,000
- Central MA Regional Planning Commission – $480,000
Earlier this year, MassDOT announced that 21 municipalities and Regional Planning Agencies in Massachusetts received grant awards through the first two rounds of the Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Program. The recipients of these first two rounds of funding awards were as follows:
- City of Somerville for Somerville Bicycle Network Vision Safety Demonstration Project ($3,984,000)
- City of Brockton for Demonstration Grant ($188,480)
- City of Haverhill for Haverhill Main Street Intersection Development Project ($200,000)
- City of Lowell for Lowell Supplemental Action Planning ($200,000)
- Barnstable County/Cape Cod Commission ($240,000)
- Berkshire Regional Planning Commission ($198,593)
- Boston Metropolitan Area Planning Council ($2,238,680)
- City of Boston ($9,000,000)
- City of Salem ($200,000)
- City of Somerville ($116,800)
- City of Springfield: ($15,012,800)
- City of Worcester ($200,000)
- Merrimack Valley Planning Commission ($375,233)
- Montachusett Regional Planning Commission ($750,000)
- Old Colony Planning Council ($320,000)
- Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District ($880,000)
- Town of Dedham ($207,841)
- Town of Nantucket ($460,000)
- Town of Southbridge ($60,000)
- Town of Ware ($40,500)
- Town of Weymouth ($336,000)