CULLMAN, Ala. – The Cullman City Council at a special-called meeting on Monday, May 18, voted to seek a grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program to develop a safety plan for area roadways.
The Alabama Department of Transportation described the program:
“The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) established the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) competitive grant program with $5 billion in appropriated funds over 5 years, 2022-2026. The SS4A program funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway fatalities and serious injuries. Approximately $1 billion is still available for the next funding round.
“The SS4A program supports the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy and our goal of zero roadway deaths using a Safe System Approach.”
Since FY 2022, SS4A has provided $3.9 billion in funding “to save lives and reduce serious injuries on our roadways,” according to the program description.
The special-called meeting was held because the application deadline is the day of the next Cullman City Council, which is set for Tuesday, May 26. The deadline was prior to the meeting time that day.
Cullman City Council President Kim Hall presented Resolution No. 2026-92 to enter into a contract with Simple Grants, a national consulting firm providing problem-solving application support and grant management services, to provide writing and application assistance for the SS4A program.
“This is a program that is federally funded by the Department of Transportation,” said Hall. “It’s been around for several years, and several billion dollars have been awarded through these grants to communities to help assist in providing safety in transportation modes, whether that be pedestrian, motor vehicle – it could be bicycle routes – all different avenues that communities could use this grant money to provide safety on their streets and transportation programs.”
She explained that the council must first apply for the grant, which will be tasked to Mayor Woody Jacobs. Then a safety plan will need to be adapted.
“So to get that, the community has to first apply for a grant and develop a safety plan; that’s the first phase of this program,” she said. “We don’t even know if Congress will continue to fund this program, but we thought it would be prudent for our community to go ahead and look at writing the grant to get funding for us, assistance for us to provide a safety plan for our community. So this is a grant that we will be applying for to help us develop a safety plan for the citizens of Cullman.”
The council passed Resolution No. 2026-92 unanimously.
Moving on to Resolution No. 2026-93, Hall explained it would authorize Jacobs to submit the application for the SS4A program.
It was passed unanimously.
“We will work on submitting the grant this week,” Hall told the audience. “We have public data that will be available and hopefully this will be submitted by next Tuesday with a response back shortly after.”
The next Cullman City Council meeting will be Tuesday, May 26, at 7 p.m. in the Cullman City Hall auditorium at 7 p.m. Meetings are normally on Mondays; however, May 25 is Memorial Day.
