State and local governments and metro planning organizations are among the entities who can apply for up to half a million dollars each to use in developing, refining, and deploying safety tools that address specific roadway safety problems.

The funds – which will be disbursed by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) – are intended to help the awardees use innovative data tools and information to improve roadway safety. The DOT has published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) as part of its  Safety Data Initiative, which helps communities devise policies to reduce roadway fatalities.

This funding opportunity makes available up to $3 million to develop, refine, and deploy safety tools that address specific roadway safety problems. The DOL says it anticipates making awards of $250,000 to $500,000 to each successful applicant.

“This is part of the DOL's ongoing effort to utilize predictive data analytics to identify and address systemic factors contributing to crashes and improve roadway safety in communities across America,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.

In addition to those mentioned above, other eligible applicants are political subdivisions of a state or local government and tribal governments.

The funding complements existing safety data improvement programs at the Federal Highway Administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration by focusing on improving data tools practitioners use to inform their policy and decision-making.

The NOFO is available on grants.gov at: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=322472. Applications are due by January 17, 2019 at 3:00 PM ET.

On December 3, 2019 at 2:30 PM ET, the Department will hold a webinar to provide an overview of this funding opportunity. Information about registering for the webinar is available on the Department’s Safety Data Initiative webpages.