A quick guide to the SMART, ATTAIN, and SS4A grant programs of the US Department of Transportation

The Bipartisan Infrastructure law unlocked $6.8 billion in funds to enable local government agencies to undertake innovative planning, demonstration, and implementation activities using advanced transportation technologies. 

The three programs, SMART, ATTAIN, and SS4A, are funded for 5 fiscal years, from 2022 through 2026. Below is a quick comparison of the three programs:

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SS4A - Safer Streets For All

• Amount: $5B/Total
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• Funding period (fiscal years): 2022-2026
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• Type: Discretionary (lower competition)
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• Funding area / eligible projects:
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• Eligible Entities: MPOs, Counties, cities, towns, and other special districts; federally recognized tribal governments, partnerships comprised of entities above

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SMART - Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation

• Amount: $100M/Year
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• Funding period (fiscal years): 2022-2026
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• Type: Competitive Grants
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• Funding area / eligible projects: Development or updating of a "Comprehensive Safety Action Plan"; conduct planning, design, and development activities in support of an Action Plan, Implementation of projects and strategies identified in an action plan.
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• Eligible Entities: States, subdivisions of states, tribal governments, public transit agency or authority, public toll authority, MPO, groups comprised of 2 or more eligible entities

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ATTAIN - Advanced Transportation Technology and Innovation

• Amount: $60M/Year
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• Funding period (fiscal years): 2022-2026
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• Type: Competitive Grants
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• Funding area / eligible projects: Deploy, install, and operate advanced transportation technologies to improve safety, mobility, efficiency, system performance, intermodal connectivity, and infrastructure ROI
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• Eligible Entities: State or local govt; transit agencies, MPOs, multijurisdictional groups; consortium of research or academic institutions

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Whether you are seeking funds to develop or expand on a road safety plan, test promising new technologies to manage your transportation system, or deploy a proven solution systemwide, Vianova can help. Here’s how:

Introducing our Road Safety Solution

Vianova’s Road Safety Solution provides a risk ranking and score for each road segment and intersection in your road city’s or region’s road network. These rankings are based on a combination of vehicle behavioral data, such as harsh braking, swerving, and overspeeding, as well as vulnerable road user data, which includes pedestrian and cyclist volumes; it can also include shared mobility data as available. Furthermore, Vianova can add additional critical data points to the index, such as road conditions or weather data, according to your jurisdiction’s needs and priorities.

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Road Safety data is available as a historical data set or as a regularly updated feed, available in both real-time streams and intermittent updates (such as once per month).

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How our Solution Can Help with SS4A

Whether you are seeking USDOT financial support to develop a comprehensive road safety plan, or are seeking funds to implement an existing plan, Risk Aware adds depth and insight to both needs assessments and outcome-tracking efforts. The following are just a few ways that Risk Aware can help your SS4A-funded project.

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Prefunding:

• Use our Road Safety Solution to prepare your application:
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  • Demonstrating project relevance/need with data on risk across your entire network
  • Complement existing data points to bolster your case for interventions
  • Communicating safety issues to the general public as part of an outreach strategy
  • Conduct a retrospective analysis to understand the impact of earlier interventions

Post-Award:

• Use our Road Safety Solution to inform the development of your Action Plan:
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  • Conduct a thorough risk assessment across your entire road network
  • Incorporate our Road Safety Solution into multivariate analysis
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• Use Risk Aware to track progress on your Implementation Plan:
  
  • Conduct a longitudinal analysis of your road network before and after interventions
  • Compare the impact of the same interventions on different kinds of streets, and different interventions on the same kinds of streets

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Are you applying for an SS4A grant? Let’s talk about how Vianova can help.
Click here to get in touch.