Mount Rainier receives largest funding in Maryland to eliminate serious injuries and deaths on our roadways.

City of Mount Rainier, Dec. 13 – The City of Mount Rainier is proud to announce that it has been awarded a $9,764,000 federal grant by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) as part of the 2023 DOT’s Safe Streets for All (SS4A) Grant Program. Mount Rainier is one of only 48 communities selected nationwide to receive implementation grants and is the largest grant recipient in the state of Maryland. 

 “We launched our Vision Zero efforts to address critical safety issues in our community. The awarded funds are transformational, directly impacting the safety of our community members, especially our kids and the vulnerable, for generations to come,” said Mayor Celina Benitez. “We are thankful to the Biden Administration, as well as our Congressional delegation, for passing the legislation that made the SS4A program with historic funding levels directly accessible to municipalities,” she added. 

The SS4A is a new grant program authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It will support the city’s Vision Zero Action Plan by funding the implementation of safety improvements including street redesigns, traffic calming devices, speed management strategies, and more.   

To position itself for this grant, the Mayor and City Council passed legislation in March 2023 creating the Vision Zero Task Force, consisting of volunteer residents, elected officials, and city staff. The Task Force worked with a third-party contractor, Toole Design Group, to create a comprehensive plan to redesign its streets based on feedback from the community and best practices in the industry and to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries in the city by 2040. The Mayor and Council adopted the Vision Zero Action Plan in May 2023. 

“This is the culmination of our collaborative effort and a testament to what happens when we set a vision – however audacious – to redesign the look and feel of our city, and then work together to get it done,” said Councilmember Luke Chesek, a member of the Task Force. 

Councilmember Jarrett Stoltzfus, another member of the Task Force, remarked, “This grant will help Mount Rainier make critical safety improvements across the entire city, including some of the most disadvantaged portions of the community and those areas that have seen some of the highest frequency of injuries.”  

The SS4A grant is the largest competitive grant won by Mount Rainier in the City's history.

For more information on Mount Rainier’s Vision Zero Efforts and Action Plan, please visit https://www.mountrainiermd.org/government/city-projects

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