Davids Secures New Investments to Improve Road Safety in the Kansas Third
Today, Representative Sharice Davids announced $1.75 million is coming to Kansas’ Third District to improve roads and address traffic fatalities. The Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program was established by the bipartisan infrastructure law, which Davids was the only member of the Kansas delegation to support, to redesign roads and streets to prevent deaths and serious injuries.
Last year, Davids released a report examining the state of transportation safety in the Third District of Kansas. It found 21 percent of Kansas’ pedestrian crash related deaths in 2020 happened in the Third District.
“One Kansan loses their life every 20 hours to a motor vehicle accident. These deaths are preventable with the right policy approach,” said Davids. “These new investments from the bipartisan infrastructure law will help make streets across northeast Kansas safer for everyone, including drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and emergency and construction workers.”
Six cities and one county received funding to keep drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians safe. The awardees include:
- Johnson County’s Action Plan Development - $240,000
- Leawood’s Vision Zero Action Plan - $452,000
- Mission’s Transportation Safety Action Plan - $160,000
- Overland Park’s Transportation Safety Action Plan - $500,000
- Paola’s Transportation Safety Action Plan - $120,000
- Prairie Village’s Transportation Safety Action Plan - $80,000
- Spring Hill’s Safe Streets for All Action Plan - $200,000
“Safety is key in Overland Park, and one of the reasons residents choose to live in our great community,” said Curt Skoog, Mayor, Overland Park. “This funding will help us learn what types of traffic safety measures will be most effective to keep the community safe. I’m thankful to Representative Davids and the Kansas Department of Transportation’s partnership on this important project.”
“The City of Leawood is pleased to receive support under the Safe Street and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program to develop City of Leawood Vision Zero Action Plan,” Peggy Dunn, Mayor, City of Leawood. “The City will use the federal funds to develop a plan for improved pedestrian and vehicle safety to make the city more walkable and bike-friendly with a safer transportation system that serves everyone.”
"The City of Mission, Kansas, was pleased to have the opportunity to submit a grant through the Safe Streets and Roads for All Program to complete this important Safety Action Plan and to know the request was supported by Representative Davids,” said Sollie Flora, Mayor, City of Mission. “The timing of the grant aligns perfectly with an update to our Comprehensive Plan, where one of the key features is analysis of the transportation network to identify opportunities to support multimodal transportation. Emphasizing walking, driving, bicycling, and public transit will improve transportation options for all users, as safe streets encourage multimodal transportation by offering safe, attractive, and convenient alternatives to car travel."
“This SS4A planning level grant will help the City of Prairie Village to further study traffic safety items throughout the city limits,” said Keith Bredehoeft, Public Works Director, City of Prairie Village. “The study will help guide future planning in Prairie Village will help prevent future fatality accidents. This planning level grant will also allow us to submit for future construction grants potentially available under the SS4A program as well.”
“We were ecstatic to learn that we received the SS4A, Transportation Safety Action Plan grant,” said Randi Shannon, City Manager, City of Paola. “After the City completed the Planning Paola Comprehensive Plan in 2022, the council and staff have been able to better prioritize what the community needs, and from the citizen input, what they want to see us use our time and resources for. Therefore, we are striving to improve quality of life by improving transportation safety for all users and abilities. Receiving this grant allows us to continue the momentum from adoption of the comprehensive plan and develop a Transportation Safety Action Plan for our community.”
"The City of Spring Hill is extremely grateful for being selected to receive the SS4A grant funding." said Lane Massey, City Administrator, City of Spring Hill. "These funds are the first step in developing a safety action plan along the K7 corridor. This plan will help define roadway safety issues that impact the safety of our citizens and the tens of thousands of Kansans that travel through this region on-a-daily basis. We look forward to this project and how this plan will impact the K7 corridor."
The bipartisan infrastructure law, which is paid for through a combination of new revenues and savings, has been called the most fiscally responsible infrastructure bill in at least a decade by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In all, more than $3.1 billion in federal bipartisan infrastructure law funding has been announced for Kansas, with more than 258 specific projects identified—from lead pipe replacement in Olathe to safety initiatives in KCK to long-overdue upgrades to K-68 in Miami County. Davids is the only member of the Kansas delegation to vote for the law.