The Building Safer Streets Act mandates updates to federal design standards and grant requirements to prioritize multimodal safety, improve accessibility for small communities, and ensure street designs better protect all road users.
Seth Moulton
Representative
MA-6
The Building Safer Streets Act aims to improve road safety and accessibility for all users by modernizing federal design standards and increasing support for multimodal infrastructure. The legislation mandates clearer guidance on traffic control devices, requires states to prioritize safety for vulnerable road users, and streamlines the grant process to better assist small communities in implementing safer street designs.
Building Safer Streets Act Mandates New Safety Standards and $100 Million Small-Town Set-Aside for Pedestrians
The Building Safer Streets Act is a major overhaul of the rules that dictate how our roads are designed, shifting the focus from moving cars quickly to keeping everyone safe. Within one year, the Secretary of Transportation must start showing their work, providing research-backed justifications for why certain safety designs are prohibited in the federal traffic manual (MUTCD). The bill also forces a change in how the government spends your tax dollars; for the first time, federal grant evaluators are prohibited by Section 4 from counting higher speed limits as a "benefit" when calculating the value of projects on local streets and non-freeways.
Designing for Everyone, Not Just Engines
For years, road design has treated pedestrians and cyclists as an afterthought, but this bill changes the legal default. Section 4 amends existing law to require that multimodal transportation—like bike lanes and sidewalks—be "accounted for" rather than just "given due consideration." This isn't just semantics; it means engineers must actively evaluate these features. If you’re a parent pushing a stroller or a worker biking to a shift, this could mean fewer "sidewalks to nowhere." The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is also tasked with creating a list of "categorical design exceptions," which acts like a fast-pass for safety features like protected bike lanes, allowing cities to skip the usual bureaucratic red tape that often delays safety improvements for years.
A Fair Shake for Small Towns
If you live in a smaller community, you know that competing for federal grants often feels like a losing battle against big cities with massive planning departments. Section 6 addresses this by carving out a 10% set-aside for projects in small communities that cost less than $1 million. Even better, the bill allows the federal government to cover up to 90% of the bill—up from the usual 80%—if the town can show a local funding commitment. This is a game-changer for a small-town grocery store owner or a local council member trying to fix a dangerous intersection without draining the entire municipal budget.
Better Data and Bus Stops
To make sure these changes actually work, the bill orders a deep dive into why fatal crashes happen, specifically looking at road design factors. It also requires the government to finally issue joint guidelines for bus stop placement. Instead of a bus stop being a lone pole in a patch of grass next to a 50-mph road, Section 4 mandates designs that prioritize accessibility, safety, and proximity to where people actually need to go. While some drivers might be annoyed that "shaving two minutes off the commute" is no longer the top priority for federal funding, the trade-off is a street network designed to ensure everyone—whether they are driving, walking, or taking the bus—actually makes it home.