Background:

DVRPC has now successfully secured three awards from the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) federal discretionary grant program: first for the development of the  Regional Vision Zero Action Program in 2022, then in 2024 for the Regional Vision Zero Plan Supplemental Planning and Partner Support suite of projects, and again in 2025 for the Getting to School Safely in the Delaware Valley project. The SS4A program, established in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), is a competitive grant program with $5 billion in appropriated funds over five years (federal fiscal years 2022 through 2026). The SS4A program funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway fatalities and serious injuries.

DVRPC’s 2024 grant-funded project was designed to advance the goals of the Regional Vision Zero Plan by creating new streams of work to support DVRPC’s partners’ pursuit of improving roadway safety by using plan elements like the Regional High Injury Network (RHIN) to identify corridors for further study. 

The 2025 award of $1.04 million will provide DVRPC the resources and opportunity to examine traffic safety in relation to primary and secondary schools, allowing the expansion of safety partnerships to the community level in coordination with traditional partners. This is an important opportunity to strengthen our regional safety culture. The RHIN will again serve as the data-driven starting point for this effort.

With this study DVRPC will investigate street safety around schools from a regional risk perspective. The RHIN helps us better understand the road segments across our nine counties with the highest trends of severe crashes–those resulting in fatalities or severe injuries (KSI). The KSI map layer is supplemented by a second layer that includes road segments where bicyclist and/or pedestrian crashes of any severity occurred, which serves as a surrogate for vulnerable road user activity and risk. Research into the overlap of RHIN segments with school-based travel patterns may include:

• Compiling data on school zone standards, school transportation plans, and common travel routes for parents, children, staff, and neighbors accessing schools.
• Mapping locations of schools and school zones and analyzing school proximity to RHIN segments, access roads, and the local context factors.
• Surveying and understanding local driving culture and related safety implications.
• Engaging county, local, and school district partners to identify potential programmatic needs, solutions, and specific locations for deeper safety study.
• Conducting focused safety studies at multiple schools which draw on the findings of the research effort, develop improvement recommendations in collaboration with local stakeholders, and provide support to advance those recommendations.
• Detailing systemic strategies for improving roadway safety near schools or in school zones.

Cost and Source of Funds:

Total Project Cost: $1,300,000.00

Federal Grant Amount:

• $1,040,000.00 Federal funds from SS4A Grant

Local Match to Federal Grant:

• $260,000 Total Local Match

The Regional Technical Committee recommends the DVRPC Board amend the FY 2026 Unified Planning Work Program to add project 26-52-210 - Getting to School Safely in the Delaware Valley.