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TARCOG News & Headlines

Read on for recent happenings, announcements, and notable headlines from TARCOG and its communities throughout the region.

TARCOG RPO Selected for U.S. DOT Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Funding

The Top of Alabama Regional Council of Governments (TARCOG) Rural Planning Organization (RPO) has been selected to receive $400,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Grant Program. The grant will enable TARCOG planning staff to conduct the “Top of Alabama RPO Guide to Enhancing Transportation Safety (TARGETS),” a regional transportation safety planning process that will serve our four-county, 41-municipality RPO region.

This planning effort will convene regional stakeholders, analyze critical road safety issues, and develop a comprehensive action plan that “TARGETS” safe roads with an emphasis on sustainability and equity. The action plan aims to develop a holistic, well-defined regional strategy to significantly reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries. This will empower our under-resourced communities to coordinate transportation safety efforts for high-impact, cost-effective implementation projects, thereby improving safety while aligning investment in transportation infrastructure improvements across the RPO region.

Specific “TARGETS” for the planning effort include encouraging the adoption of Complete Streets policies by participating jurisdictions and emphasizing strategies for safe streets and roads for our elderly and school-aged populations. Developing a regional transportation safety action plan will enable regional stakeholders to work together to better serve our underserved areas and identify sustainable cost-sharing solutions to make critical road improvements over a four-county region that is experiencing increased road safety concerns as a result of the thriving Huntsville economy.

TARCOG RPO was one of eight projects selected for funding in Alabama and one of only two regionally-oriented projects.

SS4A Announcement: https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/biden-harris-administration-announces-historic-800-million-more-500-projects-improve

Action Plan Award Recipient Listing: https://www.transportation.gov/grants/ss4a/2022-awards-action-plan-grants