Transportation safety is always a priority for the City of El Dorado, whether it’s driving, walking or biking. A Safe Streets and Roads for All grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation will help the City continue to improve safety throughout the community. The City received notice from Congressman Ron Estes’ office of the $160,000 grant. This will be used for a road safety audit to develop a new City of El Dorado Transportation Safety Action Plan, which will be part of the previously authorized Transportation Master Plan now underway. “This will help us identify places that have safety issues in the transportation network,” explained City Engineer Scott Rickard. “From there, we will come up with a plan to remediate those issues.” The grant will hopefully open other opportunities for federal or state grant dollars. Typically, federal funds are first used to fund planning documents to justify construction projects. “This will give us a guiding document to apply for additional grant funds for building out the improvements,” Rickard said. “It also will aid in updating the City’s Capital Improvement Plan for future improvements.” El Dorado is one of only seven cities in Kansas who received this grant, which focuses on planning and projects to improve safety and help prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways. In addition to the federal grant of $160,000, the Kansas Department of Transportation is funding the matching 20 percent so there is no cost to the City.
Source: City of El Dorado
