Council voted unanimously to support the Safer Streets for All (SS4A) safety plan initiative
At a recent meeting, Milford City Council authorized support for a Safe Streets and Roads For All (SS4A) grant initiative. The grant is to be used for a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan that will provide action items toward safer streets and roads.
“Whereas the charter of the City of Milford vests power in the city council to provide for and preserve the health, peace, safety, cleanliness, ornament, good order and public welfare of the city and its inhabitants. And whereas the bipartisan infrastructure law established the SS4A program for local initiatives to develop and complete a comprehensive safety action plan that well defined strategy to prevent roadway fatalities and serious injuries,” Willis Shafer, Director of Public Works, read from a Resolution 2024-14. “And whereas the city of Milford, comprehensive plan includes transportation goals such as the enabling the safety and efficiency mobility of residents utilizing all modes of travel. And whereas the City of Milford completed a bicycle master plan with a goal of providing residents with a dynamic, active transportation system that is inclusive, safe and functional for all levels of recreation and commuting, and whereas the city wishes to formally complete a comprehensive safety action plan as a building block to significantly improve roadway safety for all users.”
Shafer continued.
“Now therefore, be it resolved by the Council of the City of Milford that we will follow the goals of the action plan, those being leadership, commitment, goal setting. safety analysis. engagement, liberation. Equit, policy and process changes, strategy and project selection, progress and transparency, further result of the Milford City Council, by majority vote, authorizes safe streets and roads for all SS4A grant application of the above grant and is approving the execution of the grant agreement in the amount of $150,000 in the allocation of City matching funds of $30,000.”
The SS4A grant program is a discretionary program with $5 billion in appropriated funds to be dispersed over five years. The grant funding began in 2022 and will run through 2026. The grants are designed to create action plans that identify the most significant roadway safety issues. One area where the grant could be used is improvements to the city’s bicycle master plan. Councilwoman Madula Kalesis asked City Planner Rob Pierce to explain the bicycle master plan.
“The bicycle master plan was prepared a couple of years ago through a grant process or grant that was received by DelDOT and Century Engineering that met for a couple of years during COVID to put together the bicycle plan, and it’s on a city’s planning website,” Pierce said. “There was a link for that document. It just shows the kind of more complete long term network of bicycle facilities within municipal limits and the surrounding growth area.”
City Manager Mark Whitfield explained that this was a planning grant that was to be used for additional planning. He explained there was a lot more funding available but first the city had to go through the planning process. Councilwoman Nadia Zychal asked if any of the funding could be used toward a comprehensive sidewalk plan.
“The grant is for safe streets and roads for all, so I don’t know that it could fully fund a sidewalk plan, but it can identify areas where the sidewalks are in a condition that are an impediment to safety or if you have missing segments of sidewalks or where they are not accessible under ADA,” Anne Marie Townsend of the Rossi Group who helped put the application together. “So, I think some of it can be handled but I don’t know that it could do a full sidewalk plan in and of itself.”
Council voted unanimously to support the grant initiative.
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