TOOL 7
Expand Funding Sources and Allocations for Safety

Long Description.

Theme: Safe System-Aligned Policies and Budgeting; Role: Planners, Engineers; Complexity: Level 1; Scale: Local, Regional, State.

Overview

This tool presents strategies to institutionalize safety funding by expanding from applying for competitive grants to also viewing every dollar as a potential safety dollar. The shift starts by auditing existing funding sources to unlock proactive opportunities and redirect staff focus from discretionary projects to systemic, high-impact initiatives. Budget assessments for Safe System Approach (SSA) alignment can also identify which planned projects or activities may increase kinetic energy risk unless mitigation occurs. Agencies can also integrate safety considerations into maintenance and operations projects. Agencies distributing funds can explore ways to move away from only reactive formulas like benefit-cost ratios to select projects that provide systemic safety and address upstream root causes. Finally, agencies that distribute funds can link funding allocation and technical assistance to consistency with regional and statewide SSA policies.

Why Is This Important?

This tool is important for institutionalizing the SSA in planning and programming because it transforms pursuing and managing safety funding from a reactive, hot spot-driven effort into a fundamental element of every transportation project. By integrating safety into the budgeting process, agencies can implement more inclusive and consistent improvements across their networks. This systematic approach maximizes the impact of available resources and reduces the likelihood of increasing kinetic energy risks with some projects while pursuing agency-wide safety goals. Ultimately, by embedding safety in every stage of project development and evaluation, using both traditional metrics like benefit-cost ratios and proactive risk analysis, agencies can create a more resilient funding approach and make quicker progress in eliminating severe injuries and fatalities.

Description

This tool advocates for a strategic shift in how agencies approach safety funding, moving away from a largely reactive, grant-dependent model toward proactively integrating safety into all projects. Rather than treating safety as an isolated project type, agencies can embed safety considerations into every project, from planning to design to routine maintenance. While benefit-cost ratios remain a useful evaluation tool and can help secure some competitive grants

for safety projects, reactive projects can be complemented with broader risk analysis measures and systemic, proactive efforts with transition plans to deploy these interventions. Agencies can advance more quickly toward their safety goals by reviewing their annual Capital Improvement Projects to confirm none inadvertently increase kinetic energy risk, reprioritizing based on safety benefits and rescoping for safety enhancements.

Key Elements of this Tool

Optimize Funding Sources and Staff Focus Areas

Conduct an inventory and audit of existing funding sources to identify and unlock opportunities for proactive funding of safety projects. Prioritize staff time away from discretionary and reactive projects to focus on systemic and high-impact initiatives to mitigate kinetic energy risk. Infuse safety into ongoing maintenance and operations projects. Agencies that distribute funding can explore ways to shift away from reactive selection metrics like benefit-cost ratios to prioritize funding for systemic safety projects that reduce kinetic energy risk exposure, and crash likelihood and/or severity.

SSA Alignment Budget Check

Assess the agencyʼs budget and funding distribution to reconsider funded activities that may increase kinetic energy risk without mitigation. For agencies that distribute funding, link financial support and technical assistance to consistency with regional and statewide SSA policies, as well as alignment with Strategic Highway Safety Plans or Vision Zero plans. Some states require a local Strategic Highway Safety Plan or Vision Zero plan to qualify for Highway Safety Improvement Program funds, for example.

Limit Discretionary Funding

While flexibility in funding is important for addressing unexpected concerns and supporting constituents, limiting discretionary funding in both amount and staff time can support higher-priority, high-impact projects being implemented fairly, rather than favoring requests from those with the most influence. Project requests can be categorized as follows: reactive (considered for grant funding), proactive (prioritized within transition plans), opportunistic (aligned with other capital or maintenance efforts), or discretionary (evaluated and systematically prioritized within a limited funding pool).

Recommended in Combination with Other Tools

1. Train Elected Officials and Decision Makers

3. Establish Accountability and Monitoring

11. Set Safety Floors for Treatment Selection

17. Create Proactive Transition Plan

Case Study

Nashville DOTʼs Complete Streets Implementation Guide

The Nashville DOTʼs Complete Streets Implementation Guide is a comprehensive resource designed to help local agencies and stakeholders integrate complete streets principles into every phase of urban planning and infrastructure development. The guide outlines a clear framework for planning, design, implementation, and evaluation to help make streets accessible and safe

for all users—pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and motorists alike, with every city effort. It provides detailed strategies for prioritizing projects, engaging with communities, and identifying funding sources, along with best practices and case studies that illustrate successful transformations of existing street networks. As shown in Figure 7-1, the development of the guide included an assessment of how budget and staff time would need to shift with the institutionalization of complete streets efforts in Nashville. More information is available in the Complete Streets Implementation Guide.

Seven key takeaways in the guide form the foundation for implementing complete streets in Metro Nashville. The guide:

• Institutionalizes complete streets in alignment with an executive order issued by the Nashville mayor relating to complete streets, making this approach standard practice throughout the region.
• Aligns the implementation of these projects with a holistic strategy aimed at achieving Vision Zero goals, integrating safety into every facet of transportation planning.
• Clarifies how it interacts with other available resources, offering stakeholders a framework for navigating the broader landscape of planning tools.
• Reinforces the modal hierarchy for Nashville, establishing priorities among various modes of transportation.
• Serves as a decision-making resource for navigating tradeoffs, especially when dealing with limited right-of-way or conflicts.
• Outlines policies on pedestrian crossing locations and treatment selection.
• Documents the coordinated capital planning process and the project life cycle, providing a systematic approach for executing complete streets initiatives.

Source: Fehr & Peers for Nashville DOT (2024).

Long Description.

The infographic is divided into two categories. The left side is titled ‘Existing Spending,’ and the right side is titled ‘Future Spending.’ Both sides connect the categories proactive, opportunistic, responsive, and discretionary. The text below shows the color coding.

Grey indicates proactive funding, which includes safe streets for all grants, safe routes to school grants, highway safety improvement plan (systemic-focused), and capital spending plan (CSP).

Teal indicates opportunistic funding, which includes repaving, agency collaboration and cost sharing, developer contributions, and other capital projects such as maintenance.

Light blue grey indicates responsive funding, which includes Highway Safety Improvement Plan Grants (Hot Spot Focus) and Vision Zero High Injury Network Project funds.

Dark blue indicates discretionary funding, which includes annual capital plan surplus budget (as applicable) and other annual or ongoing funding sources.

Additional Resources

• City of Boston Speed Humps Policy and Design Directive: As part of the Cityʼs Vision Zero commitment, Boston replaced a “voting system” for discretionary traffic calming to proactively install speed management tools based on a transparent, data-driven needs assessment and a set annual budget. Collision history and vulnerable population data from the U.S. Census were used to determine the locations of speed humps. For more information, see the City of Bostonʼs announcement and FAQ page for the policy: https://www.boston.gov/departments/transportation/making-neighborhood-streets-safer.
• San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency—Vision Zero Quick-Build Program: Under Mayor London Breed, San Francisco emphasized systemic implementation of safety measures. In 2019, Breed directed the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to expedite project delivery by proactively adopting “Quick Build” projects. These projects focus on high-injury corridors and are designed for rapid, cost-effective implementation, allowing for adjustments based on community feedback. As of spring 2025, the city has completed 40 Quick Build projects.
• Seattle Crosswalks Policy: In 2022, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) revised its crosswalk installation policy. Previously, new crosswalks required pedestrian counts to justify their necessity, often delaying implementation and discounting latent demand. The updated policy identifies “pedestrian generators,” such as schools, parks, libraries, community centers, hospitals, and major transit stops, where pedestrian activity is anticipated. This shift allows SDOT to proactively install marked crosswalks in these areas without waiting for pedestrian count thresholds to be met, streamlining the process and enhancing pedestrian safety. For more information, see this article on the policy change by Ryan Packer in The Urbanist.

References

City of Boston. Making Neighborhood Streets Safer. Accessed July 6, 2025. https://www.boston.gov/departments/transportation/making-neighborhood-streets-safer

Fehr & Peers for City of Nashville Department of Transportation. Complete Streets Implementation Guide. April 2024. https://www.nashville.gov/sites/default/files/2024-04/NDOT-Complete_Streets_Implementation_Guide.pdf?ct=1713458758

Packer, Ryan. “SDOT Adopts Policy Change to Allow More Marked Crosswalks Without Red Tape.” The Urbanist, February 22, 2022. https://www.theurbanist.org/sdot-adopts-policy-change-to-allow-more-marked-crosswalks-without-red-tape

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. Vision Zero Quick-Build Program. Accessed July 6, 2025. https://www.sfmta.com/vision-zero-quick-build-program