SS4A Grants 2026: FY2026 Awards and What Comes Next

SS4A source review, Grantsights, November 6, 2026: Grantsights checked the FY2026 notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) attached to the FY2026 SS4A listing on Grants.gov (opens in a new tab) against section 24112 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on govinfo.gov (opens in a new tab), DOT's SS4A program page (opens in a new tab), DOT's FY2025 and FY2026 award pages, and USASpending award records. Grantsights read DOT's program, press-release and FY2025 award pages from Internet Archive copies captured between October 17 and October 23, 2026, and confirmed the FY2026 award counts and totals on DOT's FY2026 awards page (last updated October 30, 2026) on November 6, 2026. Where official sources stop: no DOT page says whether there will be an FY2027 round, how much it would hold, or whether today's rules would survive a new law. Congress decides that, and the bill text below is the best evidence so far.

SS4A Grants Status on November 6, 2026

Both SS4A tracks finished their FY2026 cycle with about $1.01 billion awarded, and neither has a next round. According to the FY2026 NOFO, DOT made $993,488,194 available, split into $687,809,874 for Implementation Grants and $305,678,320 for Planning and Demonstration Grants. DOT's FY2026 awards page reports 297 awards: 197 Planning and Demonstration Grants totaling $329,291,958 and 100 Implementation Grants totaling $683,677,961. The NOFO had said DOT could increase the total if more funds became available.

Grantsights searched the federal grants database's public API on November 6, 2026 for "SS4A" and "Safe Streets and Roads for All" across forecast, posted, closed and archived notices. It returned the five rounds from FY2022 to FY2026 and nothing else. The FY2026 listing still shows "closed," with an award ceiling of $25,000,000 and a floor of $100,000.

DOT's own release for the FY2026 awards is dated October 29, 2026 and reports $1,012,969,919 for 297 projects in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and tribal lands. DOT's FY2026 page says 95 of those projects focus mainly on post-crash care and trauma support, and that 52% of awards benefit rural communities. The FY2026 SS4A awards page (opens in a new tab) has a map and a full awardee list with project details, so check a peer's project there before quoting it.

How SS4A Money Moves: DOT to Your Jurisdiction, No State in Between

SS4A has 1 federal grantor and no pass-through. DOT's Office of the Secretary picks winners and signs a grant agreement with each one, and the FY2026 NOFO says states and state DOTs can't apply or even be co-applicants. A county gets the money from DOT itself, not from its state department of transportation.

There are 2 kinds of grant, and the FY2026 NOFO lets each applicant submit only one application in a round, so you choose:

1. Planning and Demonstration Grants pay to write a new Action Plan (DOT's term for a safety action plan aimed at zero roadway deaths and serious injuries), update one, do supplemental planning such as road safety audits, or run temporary demonstration projects like quick-build curb extensions or pilot programs that test ideas before a jurisdiction commits.
2. Implementation Grants build or carry out projects and strategies already named in an eligible Action Plan: infrastructure, behavioral programs, operational changes and, new in FY2026, post-crash care. They can bundle supplemental planning and project design into the same request.

Two funding limits shape who wins. Section 24112(c)(2)(A) caps any one state at 15% of a year's program funds, and the NOFO treats tribal lands as their own "state" for that cap. And a share of each year's money must go to Action Plan work. The statute says "not less than 40 percent," but section 109A of the FY2026 transportation appropriations act in Public Law 119-75 (opens in a new tab), approved February 3, 2026, substituted 30% for 40% and let DOT move unused planning money to other SS4A grants. The FY2026 NOFO applied the 30% figure.

The NOFO expects DOT to sign grant agreements within 12 months of the award announcement, and the period of performance runs from 24 months up to five years. Section 24112(f)(3) of the statute keeps grant funds available to the recipient for 5 years after the grant is provided.

Who Can Apply for SS4A Grants and What the Application Includes

Section 24112(a)(2) lists 4 kinds of eligible applicant, and the FY2026 NOFO repeats them: an MPO; a political subdivision of a state or territory; a federally recognized tribal government; and a multijurisdictional group of those entities with a named lead applicant. The NOFO defines a political subdivision as a unit of government created under state law, including cities, towns, counties, special districts, certain transit agencies and transit authorities or public benefit corporations created under state law.

The exclusions matter as much as the list. According to the FY2026 NOFO, "Non-profits are not eligible applicants" unless they were created under state law with roadway safety or planning responsibilities equivalent to a political subdivision, and states and territories aren't eligible. A Vision Zero coalition, a bike advocacy group or a hospital trauma program can only take part as a partner, a subrecipient or a source of letters and engagement.

Grantsights' view: the line between "special district" and "nonprofit" is where applicants get surprised. According to USASpending award records, SS4A money has gone to public universities, such as $1,054,878 to Auburn University and $3,674,971 to the University of Texas at Arlington (described as an FY25 grant), and $5,800,000 to the Tallahassee-Leon County Consolidated Dispatch Agency. Grantsights didn't find DOT's eligibility reasoning for those recipients on its pages. If your entity isn't a city, county, MPO or tribe, email SS4A@dot.gov with your enabling statute before you spend a month on an application.

Implementation applicants face an extra test. According to the FY2026 NOFO, they must hold an existing plan that's "substantially similar" to an Action Plan, finalized or last updated between 2021 and the May 26, 2026 deadline, and they may combine up to 3 plans to meet all the components. State-level plans, such as a Strategic Highway Safety Plan, don't count. A town covered by its county's or MPO's eligible plan can rely on that plan if the plan includes the town's projects. Implementation applicants must also own or maintain the roads involved, have safety duties that affect them, or have a signed agreement with the road owner.

Every applicant also needs an active SAM registration and Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) before it submits, and the NOFO lets DOT skip an applicant that hasn't complied by award time; the SAM.gov registration guide walks through it. Applications go through Valid Eval, not the federal grants portal. What a FY2026 application contained:

• Standard forms: SF-424 and SF-LLL for everyone, plus SF-424A and SF-424B for planning requests or SF-424C and SF-424D for implementation requests, with the SF-424 amount controlling if numbers conflict
• The NOFO's information table: population from the 2020 Census, a 2019 to 2023 count of roadway deaths from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), and the fatality rate per 100,000 people
• A narrative: no more than 2 pages for a Planning and Demonstration request under $1,000,000 or 3 pages above that; up to 12 pages for an Implementation request, or 14 if it bundles supplemental planning
• For Implementation, the Self-Certification Eligibility Worksheet, the plan or plans, a budget split by location, and a project readiness schedule covering National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review, right-of-way and utilities

How DOT Scored FY2026 SS4A Applications

The FY2026 NOFO used 3 merit criteria for planning requests and 4 required criteria for implementation requests, then let a Senior Review Team of DOT officials reshuffle the highly rated pool before the Secretary made final picks.

Numbers do some of the sorting. The NOFO said DOT may prioritize planning applicants with a fatality rate of 17.5 deaths per 100,000 people or more, and may favor applicants that have never received SS4A money.

The Senior Review Team list is where FY2026 changed most. Per the NOFO, favorable considerations included letters of support from public safety agencies and the labor unions representing first responders, rural applicants, at-grade rail crossing fixes, truck parking with a safety link, beautification and child-friendly design, and projects reflecting Executive Order 14321 on crime and disorder. Less favorable considerations were infrastructure that reduces vehicle level of service or access for emergency and delivery vehicles, automated traffic enforcement except in work zones, school zones or school bus cameras, and new bike lanes that reduce vehicle capacity. For a city whose Action Plan centers on road diets and speed cameras, that's a red flag to plan around, not a ban: those projects stayed eligible, but they scored as less favorable in that final round.

What SS4A Pays For and What It Won't

Per the FY2026 NOFO, eligible activities fall into 3 statutory elements: developing or updating an Action Plan; planning, design and development for projects in a plan; and carrying out those projects and strategies.

The match rule applies to both tracks. Per the FY2026 NOFO, the federal share can't exceed 80% of total eligible costs and recipients must contribute at least 20%, from the applicant or other eligible non-federal sources, in cash or in kind; the grant matching requirements guide explains how in-kind match is documented. Match must be non-federal unless a statute says otherwise, and the NOFO warns that combining SS4A with federal-aid highway funds could badly delay the grant agreement. The exceptions: tribes may count Tribal Transportation Program funds as match, and applicants in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands get a 100% federal share when the required match is under $200,000.

What DOT's SS4A Pages Don't Tell You

DOT's program page lists the money awarded, but 5 practical facts sit in the notices, the statute and the award data instead.

1. An award announcement isn't a signed grant. DOT's December 23, 2025 release named three FY2025 projects: $5.6 million for a Memphis first-responder driving facility, $4 million for 911 upgrades in Shawnee County, Kansas, and $21.4 million for a Huntsville pedestrian and bicycle bridge. USASpending award data showed no signed award matching any of those three projects as of November 6, 2026. That's a fact about the data, not a cancellation: the NOFO allows 12 months to sign, and older rounds took longer. For example, the City of Vacaville, California received $14,887,400 under an award described as FY24, signed July 27, 2026.
2. Planning grants need a match too. The FY2026 application table required the non-federal share to be "equal to, or greater than, 20%" for Planning and Demonstration requests. A town asking for $200,000 needs $50,000 of its own toward a $250,000 project, and staff time can count if it's documented.
3. Deadlines come on a statutory clock. IIJA's Division J required each NOFO within 180 days of the money becoming available and awards within 270 days of the NOFO. FY2025 awards landed on December 23, 2025, exactly 270 days after the March 28, 2025 notice. FY2026 awards came about 216 days after its notice.
4. Unfunded top applications don't vanish. The FY2026 NOFO says applications that reached the Highly Rated list but weren't funded become "Projects of Merit" and carry into future SS4A rounds, "subject to authorization and appropriations." If you were told you made that list, keep the file current.
5. The windows got shorter. Look at the table below before assuming you'll have a full season to write.

Grantsights pulled the dates and funding from each round's federal listing through the public API on November 6, 2026, and the award dates from DOT's SS4A press-release page (opens in a new tab) as captured on October 23, 2026. FY2023 and FY2024 listed more than $1 billion. The FY2026 notice shows how that can happen: it added $13,488,194 of carryover to the year's $1 billion after DOT kept $20,000,000 (2%) for administration. According to DOT's program page, the FY2022 through FY2025 rounds together provided $3.9 billion to more than 2,000 communities.

Will There Be SS4A Grants in FY2027? What the Law Says

The money ran for 5 fiscal years, and the fifth is spent. Division J of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (opens in a new tab) appropriated $5,000,000,000 for SS4A, with $1,000,000,000 made available for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026. Section 24112(f)(1) separately authorized $200,000,000 a year for the same five years. Neither names FY2027.

The program's legal authority got a short extension. Division C of Public Law 119-103 (opens in a new tab), the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2026, approved September 2, 2026, keeps provisions of IIJA Divisions A through C that would otherwise expire after September 30, 2026 in effect through December 11, 2026. That's authority, not a new $1 billion. Grantsights found no FY2027 SS4A notice and no law appropriating FY2027 SS4A money as of November 6, 2026.

The main bill in Congress would keep SS4A but change it. The BUILD America 250 Act, H.R. 8870, as introduced on May 19, 2026 (opens in a new tab), would:

• Move SS4A into title 23 of the U.S. Code as section 155, run through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
• Authorize $500,000,000 for FY2027, rising to $625 million, $750 million, $875 million and $1,000,000,000 in FY2031, from the Highway Trust Fund
• Flip the Action Plan rule from "not less than 40 percent" to "not more than 5 percent" of each year's funds
• Add a 30% set-aside for projects in areas of 50,000 people or fewer, and tell DOT to prioritize applicants that already have a plan
• Raise the federal share from 80% to 90% and add the District of Columbia as an eligible entity

According to Congress.gov (opens in a new tab), the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee ordered the bill reported with amendments by a 62 to 2 vote on May 22, 2026, and no later action was listed on November 6, 2026. Only the introduced text was posted, so the committee's amendments may have changed these numbers. Grantsights' view: if a version like this passes, the cheap first step changes. A town without a plan would find planning money scarce, so a town that needs a plan should look at state, MPO or county funding for one now rather than wait for SS4A to pay for it.

SS4A Grants Award Data: Who Won, by Size and State

Grantsights analysis of USASpending.gov (opens in a new tab) prime awards under Assistance Listing 20.939 found 1,449 awards signed from October 2023 through September 2026, worth $1,089,911,906. The most recent year, federal fiscal year 2026, had 608 signed awards with $473,363,309 in positive obligations (one award showed a $61,023 deobligation and one showed $0). The median was $272,000 and the middle half ran from $160,000 to $520,000. FY2025 had 405 signed awards worth $287,685,924 with a $240,000 median, and FY2024 had 436 worth $328,923,696.

The shape is the program in miniature: 444 of 606 positive awards were under $500,000, mostly Action Plans and supplemental planning, while 16 awards over $5 million held 41% of the dollars. Of the FY2026 records, 434 descriptions named planning, demonstration or an Action Plan, 25 named implementation, and 149 named neither, so that split is a floor, not a count. The descriptions also show the round mixing: 60 named FY24, 38 named FY25 and 14 named FY23.

By count, California led with 81 awards ($124,471,996), then Florida 57 ($32,072,403), Texas 47 ($45,804,509), Tennessee 30 ($14,988,864) and Ohio 27 ($24,581,262). New York had only 17 awards but $54,870,006, because New York City's Department of Transportation drew 2 large grants. The FY2026 records cover 49 state and territory codes.

Small and rural places win real money here. One county in Tennessee, Cumberland County, received $667,300 under an FY25 grant to its highway department, signed September 16, 2026, and Tennessee counties such as Maury ($402,400), Franklin ($260,145) and Coffee ($212,000) show up with FY25 awards to highway departments too. Tribes appear throughout: the Chickasaw Nation received $600,000 and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation $348,192, and the Nome Eskimo Community's FY25 grant was $28,000.

Two honest limits. USASpending lags DOT's announcements by months, so none of the October 2026 selections appear yet, and most FY2025 Implementation Grants hadn't shown up either. And these are prime awards only; any SS4A money a county passes to a town or nonprofit partner isn't counted here.

Non-Federal Money Around an SS4A Project

The FY2026 NOFO lets the 20% match come from "other eligible non-Federal sources," and for a city that's usually its own budget, a local sales tax or a developer contribution. Private foundations rarely pay for a public works department's crosswalks, so don't plan your match around them.

Foundations fit better at the edges. A nonprofit that can't apply for SS4A, such as a pedestrian safety coalition, a youth bike education program or a trauma prevention group, can seek foundation money for education campaigns, community engagement and evaluation, and a city can name it as a partner in its Action Plan. A community foundation gift can also cover a piece of a small town's match, if the grant agreement allows it.

The Grantsights community funder list is the closest fit for that kind of local civic work. It lists private foundations that made community grants, sorted by state, using their 990-PF filings, with a free preview of your own state and a refund within 30 days if it doesn't suit you. It's foundation money, not federal grants, and it won't replace SS4A. The statewide figures below are all community giving in Grantsights analysis of 990-PF filings pulled October 29, 2026, not road safety gifts.

Those medians are a few thousand dollars. That's the right size for a walk audit, printed safety materials or a community survey that feeds an Action Plan, not for construction. For open federal and state notices, including any new SS4A round, use the Grantsights grant search.

Common Mistakes With SS4A Applications

These 7 mistakes come straight from the FY2026 NOFO's rules and the award record, and each one can cost a jurisdiction a round.

• Applying for Implementation without an eligible plan. The NOFO says applicants without one "should NOT apply for an Implementation Grant." A state Strategic Highway Safety Plan doesn't qualify.
• Sending two applications. Only the last one submitted is reviewed, and you must pick one grant type.
• Writing a corridor study and calling it an Action Plan. Corridor-level or site-specific studies count as supplemental planning, and a plan must cover the whole jurisdiction.
• Overlapping with a neighbor. DOT may decline a new plan in an area where another jurisdiction already has SS4A planning money or a competing FY2026 request. Talk to your MPO and county first.
• Assuming a nonprofit partner can be the lead. It can't, unless state law created it with roadway safety duties.
• Leaving out project readiness. Implementation requests missing NEPA status, utility relocation or right-of-way information were rated "Unlikely" on readiness.
• Treating the award date as the start date. Applicants underestimate the gap between selection and a signed agreement. According to the FY2026 NOFO, costs incurred before DOT obligates the funds can't be reimbursed or counted as match unless DOT authorizes them in writing, so keep the council's budget calendar flexible.

Related Guides for Road Safety Funding

At least 6 other Grantsights guides touch on SS4A applicants' problems. Tribal transportation offices can compare SS4A with other federal routes in grants for Native American tribes, and fire and EMS agencies interested in the new post-crash care priority should read grants for EMS and ambulance services. Police departments, which can't lead an SS4A application but often join one, have grants for police departments. For the bigger infrastructure picture, the IIJA infrastructure grants guide covers other programs from the same law, and rural towns can compare other federal sources in federal grants for rural organizations.

FAQ: Common Questions

Are SS4A grants open right now? No. FY2026 closed May 26, 2026, DOT announced 297 awards in late October 2026, and no FY2027 notice exists as of November 6, 2026.

When is the next SS4A deadline? There isn't one. A new round needs new money from Congress.

How much can a city or county get from SS4A? In FY2026, $100,000 to $5,000,000 for planning and demonstration and $2,500,000 to $25,000,000 for implementation; the median FY2026-signed award was $272,000.

Can a nonprofit or a state apply for SS4A? Usually not. Only MPOs, political subdivisions, tribes and groups of them can apply.

What's the SS4A match requirement? At least 20% of total costs for both grant types, in cash or in kind.

How do you apply for an SS4A grant? Register in the federal System for Award Management, then submit through Valid Eval as the notice directs, not through the federal grants portal.

Sources

These sources were checked November 6, 2026, except where an archive capture date is given.

• Grants.gov: FY2026 Safe Streets and Roads for All Funding Opportunity (DOT-SS4A-FY26-01), with the FY2026 NOFO attached (opens in a new tab)
• Grants.gov: FY2025 Safe Streets and Roads for All Funding Opportunity (DOT-SS4A-FY25-01), with the FY2025 NOFO attached (opens in a new tab)
• Grants.gov API records for DOT-SS4A-FY22-01, DOT-SS4A-FY23-01 and DOT-SS4A-FY24-01
• DOT: Safe Streets and Roads for All program page (opens in a new tab) (read from an Internet Archive capture of October 21, 2026)
• DOT: 2025 SS4A Awards (opens in a new tab) (Internet Archive capture of October 17, 2026)
• DOT: 2026 SS4A Awards (opens in a new tab) (totals taken from page text returned by a web search tool; the page refused direct requests)
• DOT: SS4A press releases (opens in a new tab) (Internet Archive capture of October 23, 2026)
• DOT: December 23, 2025 release on FY2025 SS4A awards (opens in a new tab)
• govinfo.gov: Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law 117-58, section 24112 and Division J (opens in a new tab)
• govinfo.gov: Public Law 119-75, Division D, section 109A (opens in a new tab)
• govinfo.gov: Public Law 119-103, Division C, Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2026 (opens in a new tab)
• govinfo.gov: H.R. 8870, BUILD America 250 Act, as introduced (opens in a new tab)
• Congress.gov: H.R. 8870 actions (opens in a new tab)
• USASpending.gov award search (opens in a new tab): Grantsights API pull of Assistance Listing 20.939 prime awards, November 6, 2026
• Grantsights analysis of 990-PF community giving by state, pulled October 29, 2026