How to Demonstrate Safe Outcomes in Grant Applications Webinar - Rails to Trails Conservancy

Webinar – Safety First: How to Effectively Demonstrate Safe Outcomes in Grant Applications

By: Rails-to-Trails-Conservancy WEBINAR
July 2, 2024

Join the TrailNation Collaborative, powered by Rails to Trails Conservancy, to gain tools and tips for safe outcomes in grant applications. Attendees heard from Shayna Rose from the Baltimore City Department of Transportation and Ian Thomas from America Walks about the various ways they demonstrate safety outcomes in their everyday work, including demonstration projects and walking audits. During this safe outcomes in grant applications webinar, attendees learned how to talk about projects and safety improvements in solid, quantifiable ways to produce stronger and more competitive grant applications.

Speakers:

Shayna Rose, Planner and Vision Zero Manager, Baltimore City Department of Transportation

Ian Thomas, State and Local Program Director, America Walks

Kim Chesser, State Agency Advocacy Specialist, RTC

Mary Ellen Koontz, TrailNation Collaborative Lead, RTC (moderator)

Here are some recommendations from the webinar and resources to get you started on a planning or demonstration application:

Conduct a Walkability Audit to include in your application

Check out this quick video on how to complete a walking audit in your community: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98dqXLh3M2U

AARP Livable Communities Walk Audit Toolkit: https://www.aarp.org/livable-communities/getting-around/aarp-walk-audit-tool-kit.html — includes worksheets to help you track the process

Design and implement pop-ups and quick build projects to demonstrate what permanent traffic calming infrastructure could look like

AARP Pop-Up Placemaking Tool Kit: https://www.aarp.org/livable-communities/tool-kits-resources/info-2019/pop-up-tool-kit.html

You must show that you are working on an Action Plan to apply for demonstration grants, which can go up to $10 million. There is a huge amount of opportunity for so many communities to get infrastructure on the ground because the process to apply for planning and demonstration grants is less competitive than implementation grants.

What USDOT is looking for in your application:

USDOT subscribes to a Safe Systems Approach, which means they prioritize action plans that are built around multiple factors that contribute to the outcome of a crash. These factors include Safer People, Safer Vehicles, Safer Speeds, Safer Roads, Post-Crash Care

USDOT prioritizes projects that affect Justice40 Census Tracts
- Learn more about Justice40: https://www.transportation.gov/equity-Justice40
- Explore Equity and Justice40 Analysis Tools: https://www.transportation.gov/grants/dot-navigator/equity-and-justice40-analysis-tools

Action plans must include an equitable approach. Equitable approaches can look different. Go to 35:35 of the webinar recording to learn more.

Recommendation: itemizing projects, or breaking them down into phases or smaller chunks, gives USDOT the flexibility to pick and choose projects if they can’t fund the entire application.

Demonstration projects are about trying out new types of programs and measuring their effects. They work if there is new measurement and reporting. All demonstration projects need to be temporary and reversible.

Resources

Learn more about the TrailNation Collaborative: https://www.railstotrails.org/our-work/trailnation/collaborative/
TrailNation, an RTC initiative, brings to life our vision of trails at the heart of healthy, thriving communities. Check out the full body of our TrailNation work at www.railstotrails.org/trailnation
Learn strategies, including investment strategies, for building trail networks in the Trail Nation Playbook: https://www.railstotrails.org/trailnation/playbook/
Looking for trail funding? Check out RTC’s federal funding resources: https://www.railstotrails.org/policy/funding/
Learn more about America Walks: https://americawalks.org/
Check out this quick video on how to complete a walking audit in your community: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98dqXLh3M2U
Find more about Week Without Driving, here: https://americawalks.org/campaigns/week-without-driving/
Check out the AARP Walk Audit Tool Kit: https://www.aarp.org/livable-communities/getting-around/aarp-walk-audit-tool-kit.html
Baltimore is home to TrailNation’s Baltimore Greenway Trails Network. Learn more about this emerging 35-mile network: https://www.railstotrails.org/trailnation/baltimore-greenway-trails-network/
The next round of Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants closes on August 29th. Learn more here: https://www.railstotrails.org/policy/funding/safety/ss4a/

RTC’s TrailNation Collaborative, Trail Development and Policy teams produce a free webinar series designed to help trail professionals build, grow, manage, maintain, promote or otherwise support trails and trail networks. Sign up here to get webinar alerts.

Have a comment or question on our webinar series? Contact us below with topic or speaker ideas. We appreciate your feedback! Email us.

Webinar – Safety First: How to Effectively Demonstrate Safe Outcomes in Grant Applications

Speakers:

Here are some recommendations from the webinar and resources to get you started on a planning or demonstration application:

Donate

Related

Webinar – Working With Railroads Part 1: Productive Partnerships for Successful Projects

Unlocking Opportunity: The Role of America’s Trail Networks in Strengthening Communities Webinar

Webinar – TrADE Talk: State Innovations for Transportation Alternatives