The U.S Department of Transportation awarded Bloomington $1.44 million to improve street and road safety.
USDOT created the Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant to help finance local government projects to improve street safety and limit traffic-related deaths. Since 2022, USDOT has awarded $3.9 billion to over 2,000 communities in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
This year the department awarded 521 grants in two categories, planning and demonstration grants, and implementation grants. Areas who received grants near Bloomington included Knox County, Morgan County Highway Department, Westfield, Lebanon and Beech Grove.
Bloomington, which received the funding in December, was awarded a planning and demonstration grant, according to USDOT records. This funding is used for creating and developing an “action plan” toward road safety.
“This funding will allow us to advance transportation projects both large and small—from full corridor studies to place-specific demonstration projects while strengthening connections across our city,” Planning and Transportation Director David Hittle said in a February press release. “It helps ensure our transportation system is safer, more accessible, and more equitable for residents, regardless of how they choose to travel.”
With the funding, Bloomington plans to allocate $1 million to conducting a corridor study on South Walnut Street from Dodds Street to Gordon Pike, Bloomington Safe Streets Program Manager Hank Duncan said.
This means the city will study overall road conditions, including speed, traffic patterns and street crossings. This road was chosen because it was identified as a high priority corridor using a rating system outlined in the city’s Safe Streets Program guide . According to Monroe County crash data, there were 82 crashes on South Walnut Street in 2024.
Remaining funds will be used to install hardened centerlines on major intersections to slow down left turns and highlight the separation between lanes on two-way roads. The city will also gather safety data and public feedback for five intersections, though the city has not announced which ones, by temporarily swapping out stoplights for all-way stops or single lane roundabouts, Duncan said.
“These demonstration projects in particular are quite interesting because they are types of infrastructure with the explicit goal of trying something new and observing the effects to determine if these are worthwhile investments in the long-term,” Duncan said.
The grant fits into Bloomington’s Safe Street for All Action Plan created in 2024, Duncan said. The end goal of the Safe Streets for All Action plan is zero deaths or serious injuries on Bloomington streets by 2039.
According to Monroe County crash data, there were 3,700 crashes in 2024, 127 resulting in serious injury and 10 resulting in death. Seventy-four included pedestrians and another 48 bicyclists.
“I mean, a big part that they've done a lot of work with is cycling lanes and things of that nature,” Craig Medlyn, officer of safety for the Bloomington Bicycle Club, said. “I think that that's been a really big improvement.”
The Safe Streets for All grant will help speed up Bloomington’s own pre-existing Safe Streets for All action plan, which relies on grant funds usually provided by the Monroe County Metropolitan Planning Organization, Duncan said.
According to 2024 data from the U.S. Census, 2,713 Bloomington residents walked to work and 1,903 used public transportation. Duncan hopes that better street safety will make Bloomington a safer city for all types of commuters.
“We are a tight-knit community, and there is a responsibility to give everyone a safe and comfortable route to wherever they need to go in Bloomington,” Duncan said.
