Helping U.S. communities maximize a historic investment in road safety

 

Challenge 

When the five-year, $5 billion Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program launched in 2022, the goal was clear: reduce roadway injuries and fatalities nationwide by funding regional, local, and tribal safety initiatives across the country. Recognizing that many SS4A grant recipients—particularly smaller and more rural communities—were new to the federal grant process, FHWA leaders wanted to provide a support structure to help them effectively carry out their award. They tasked Guidehouse with creating a broad, accessible set of resources that could help recipients turn grant money into concrete safety outcomes for all roadway users. 

Approach 

Working closely with SS4A leadership teams, we developed a suite of solutions across three broad categories: 

An online resource hub 

Responding to the SS4A program’s need for a single, centralized source of information for grant recipients and their stakeholders, we built a rich but easy-to-navigate web experience targeted to around 2,500 end users. Designed as a self-service enablement platform, the SS4A Clearinghouse website features: 

• A step-by-step roadmap that organizes the SS4A grant lifecycle into clear phases, helping recipients understand compliance requirements, anticipate reporting and reimbursement milestones, and identify relevant resources to reduce administrative burden 
• Comprehensive safety action plans and training aids—seen as essential building blocks for improving roadway safety—covering coalition-building strategies and actions, data-driven safety analyses, policy and process change navigation, and transparent reporting guidance 
• Informational and educational assets such as a searchable resource library, webinar and event recording archive, and options for sharing feedback and requesting additional support 

Customized training 
To improve recipients’ overall grants management and planning capabilities, we developed customized training resources, events, and workshops. These helped leaders apply safety data, boost community engagement, and understand federal requirements so that they could develop data driven, community-specific plans that would translate to implementable safety practices. This support combined structured guidance, peer learning, and targeted coaching to address common implementation and compliance challenges, with particular emphasis on recipients new to U.S. Department of Transportation competitive funding. 

Direct stakeholder engagement
We provided hands-on, individualized support to address each grant recipient’s unique challenges, questions, and opportunities. Through a shared inbox and one-on-one coaching sessions, we connected recipients directly with our team’s transportation specialists to answer their grant administration, roadway safety, and compliance questions. This individualized support was designed to help recipients apply our training resources to their local context and resolve issues that could otherwise delay project delivery. 

Impact 

Since its launch in September 2024, the SS4A Clearinghouse website has garnered more than 180,000 views. This robust, repeated engagement suggests that the site is meeting recipients’ need for a central source of insights. 

Our training and individualized coaching initiatives have also garnered a strong positive response. For an ongoing workshop series on safety planning, 100% of attendees polled about the training agreed or strongly agreed that the workshops were effective. And participants reported an average 13% increase in their understanding of all workshop topics. 

Across these events, stakeholders have highlighted their appreciation for our focus on peer learning, with one recipient praising “the opportunity to talk with others at the table and the real-life authentic examples shared by presenters.” 

By complementing high-touch support with readily available self-service resources, we’ve helped grant recipients effectively deliver their SS4A grant outcomes with efficiency—bringing their communities that much closer to safe roadways for all users.