Save Westport's Federal Safety Grant

Westport's Public Works and Engineering teams, along with the Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Committee, have been doing real work on traffic and pedestrian safety: new sidewalks, crosswalks, intersection improvements, and the completion of the Safety Action Plan that positioned the Town to pursue additional federal safety funding. Last December, that work paid off. Westport won a federal SS4A grant of $895,200 (80%) from FHWA, requiring just $223,800 from the Town (20% local match), for a total project budget of $1,119,000.

On Wednesday, October 7, the Board of Finance will vote on whether to fund the Town's share. Without it, Westport can't accept the full grant.

The grant will support safety initiatives Westport urgently needs:

• A Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan. A community priority for years, now fully funded. It defines the townwide walking and biking network Westport should realistically invest in, identifies priority projects and planning-level costs, and lays out the steps to move them toward implementation. The Master Plan includes:

  • A Safe Routes to School Plan. Westport has never had one. This is the foundational plan for making it safer and easier for kids at public and private schools to walk and bike to school. It identifies priority improvements to crossings, connections, and school-area traffic, and a path to implementation.

  • A Complete Streets Policy. A townwide framework for considering safety, accessibility, and the needs of all users whenever Westport plans, designs, or maintains its streets. It can guide capital projects and roadway maintenance, and complements the ongoing Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD).

• A Public Right-of-Way ADA Transition Plan. Identifies accessibility barriers on sidewalks, curb ramps, crossings, and pedestrian signals across town, and sets a prioritized, financially informed program to fix them over time. It gives Westport a practical roadmap for sidewalks that work for people with disabilities and people of all ages and abilities.

• A Safety Demonstration Projects program. Puts selected Safety Action Plan recommendations on the ground with temporary, measurable improvements on Town-controlled streets and facilities. The Town can see what works before deciding whether to keep, adjust, expand, make permanent, or remove each one.

This grant doesn't stop at planning. It provides dedicated funding to put temporary safety improvements on the ground and measure their results before the Town makes larger permanent investments. The planning builds on the adopted Safety Action Plan rather than repeating it, and public meetings, surveys, and school and stakeholder sessions will help shape priorities.

Westport worked hard to win this grant. Let's make sure our town can keep it.