Comprehensive Safety Action Plan
A safety action plan is a powerful way to prioritize safety improvements and justify investment decisions. A formal plan will enhance communication with stakeholders and access to funding opportunities. As part of the 2024 fiscal year (July 1 - June 30), SEMPO will be undertaking the development of such a plan to enhance the safety of all roadway users with a goal of eliminating fatalities and serious injuries occurring within the SEMPO planning area.
Latest Update (02/02/2023)
The Southeast Metropolitan Planning Organization (SEMPO) is pleased to announce, through a competitive selection process, the planning organization has been selected to receive $160,000 in federal discretionary grant funds through the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) initiative authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The grant funds received will be used to develop a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan to serve the SEMPO planning area. The purpose of SS4A grant is to improve roadway safety by significantly reducing or eliminating roadway fatalities and serious injuries through safety action plan development and implementation focused on all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, public transportation users, motorists, personal conveyance and micro-mobility users, and commercial vehicle operators. Once completed, the Comprehensive Safety Action Plan will allow SEMPO member entities to apply for Implementation (capital construction) discretionary grant funds through the Safe Streets and Roads for All initiative.
Update (07/21/2022)
SEMPO member entities have teamed up to submit an application to the Safe Streets and Roads For All (SS4A) grant program authorized within the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) for the development of a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan (CSAP). The plan will address roadway safety for all users within the SEMPO Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA) which includes the City of Cape Girardeau, the City of Jackson, and portions of Cape Girardeau County and Scott County, Missouri, as well as portions of the Village of East Cape Girardeau and Alexander County, Illinois. All applications are due August 19, 2022 with anticipated award date of early 2023.
To address the dramatic rise in traffic deaths and serious injuries, the USDOT is making an ambitious long term goal of reaching zero deaths and serious injuries on the Nation’s highways, roads, and streets. In pursuit of this effort, the USDOT established the “Safe Streets and Roads for All” (SS4A) initiative which is a competitive grant program that will provide 5 billion dollars over the next 5 years to improve traffic safety by supporting local communities in the development of safety action plans, and the implementation of projects which reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries on the local road network.
Nationwide, traffic deaths are increasing at an alarming rate, particularly in disadvantaged and underrepresented communities. The Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data reports a total of 48 motor vehicle fatalities from 2016 to 2020 within Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. Portions of the SEMPO Metropolitan Planning Area also resides in Scott County, Missouri and Alexander County, Illinois where the same data sets show Scott County experiencing 33 fatalities from 2016 to 2020 and Alexander County experiencing 10 fatalities from 2016 to 2020. Continued fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways is unacceptable and in many instances preventable. Focusing on roadway safety and the elimination fatal and serious injuries on our roadways is paramount within the goals and objectives established by the Southeast Metropolitan Planning Organization.