ROUTES Initiative Quarterly Newsletter

U.S. Department of Transportation sent this bulletin at 10/13/2021 10:25 AM EDT

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

Bookmark and Share

 

The ROUTES (Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success) Initiative aims to address disparities in rural transportation infrastructure by developing user-friendly tools and information, aggregating  DOT resources into a single web resource, and providing technical assistance. If you want to learn more about ROUTES, or how it can help your community, visit the ROUTES Initiative website or reach the ROUTES team at rural@dot.gov.

ROUTES News

Funding & Financing

Grant Award Announcements

Active Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs)

Safety

Volunteers Needed for Pilot Program

Countermeasures That Work, 10th Edition

NHTSA Child Passenger Safety Week

ROUTES Updates

 

Recording Available for August Webinar - Learn About TACL! The Transportation Technical Assistance Coordination Library 

The Transportation Technical Assistance Coordination Library (TACL) provides a sustainable methodology and platform for access and findability of rural and tribal transit coordination resources across a diverse range of transportation technical assistance centers and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Find out more about TACL and learn how to search this database of transportation coordination resources during this training session. Participants in this webinar found out about TACL and learn how to search this database of rural and tribal transportation coordination resources during this training session.

The recording is available here.

Funding & Financing

 

Grant Award Announcements

The Secretary awarded over $900 million to 24 projects across 18 states through the INFRA program. These grants advance the Administration’s priorities of rebuilding America’s infrastructure and creating jobs by funding highway and rail projects of regional and national economic significance that position America to win the 21st century. INFRA grants were selected based on several criteria. In addition to prioritizing projects that would improve local economies, create jobs, and meet all statutory requirements, for the first time in USDOT’s history, grants were considered by how they would address climate change, environmental justice, and racial equity. Further, USDOT prioritized funding to rural areas to address historic underinvestment. Approximately 44 percent of proposed funding will be awarded to rural projects, which exceeds the statutory requirements for rural projects set by Congress by 19%.  

The Federal Transit Awarded (FTA) awarded $182 million to 49 projects across 46 states through the Low or No Emission Bus and Facility program. This will fund the deployment of zero-emission and low-emission transit buses and supporting equipment and facilities. FTA's Low-No Program supports transit agencies in purchasing or leasing low- or no-emission buses and other transit vehicles that use technologies such as battery electric and fuel-cell power to provide cleaner, more efficient transit service in communities across the country. This year's funding opportunity prioritized applications with an environmental justice component as well as those that support workforce development to help America’s transit workers succeed even as their jobs change along with technology.

Active Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs)

ROUTES maintains a running list of open NOFOs applicable to rural transportation. This list can be found here, along with historical information on these grants (including prior NOFOs).

All Federal grants, including transportation grants, can be found at grants.gov. To find transportation related funding opportunities, select "All Department of Transportation" under the "Agency" menu on the left-hand side.

Other Resources

Crash Reporting Pilot Study - Volunteers Needed! 

DOT’s Volpe Center is seeking rural or tribal communities to partner with as pilot users for a new crash data collection tool. Ruina is a user-friendly, free, open source, mobile crash data collection tool that is being developed by computer science and engineering students at the Olin College of Engineering, in partnership with the Santos Family Foundation for Traffic Safety and in coordination with NHTSA and FHWA traffic records and safety engineers. Ruina can be used to collect all the Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC) data elements. Compared to crash data collected on inconsistent paper forms, more accurate and complete crash information can enable transportation planners to make better decisions about which road safety infrastructure countermeasures to plan, seek funding for, and invest in to reduce the serious and fatal crashes.  

The Ruina crash reporting app offers:

  • Standardization in crash data collection process
  • Automated data collection (e.g., driver license scanning) and auto-population of certain data fields
  • Different export formats
  • Customization of MMUCC elements and jurisdictional language or additional fields
  • Crash data collection without internet connection
  • Tips to support users through the data collection process

For a video overview of this tool, view this brief video: https://streamable.com/z6p19u?fbclid=IwAR13kmsm9V7M4lVFXbwD6uqyRkdMNRpaj5dnvVD6EKUDKW__dEpLyer_yxk

Development of Ruina is at a crossroads. A partnership with a Tribe or rural community would be valuable to inform the next phase of Ruina development and help it transition from an academic tool to one that realizes its potential to create safety benefits in a real-world setting. We are looking for one or more communities to join us as pilot users to provide ongoing feedback to guide customization of the app, perform real-world testing of how it works, and help us evaluate and maximize its benefits to future users.

Commitment would be 1-2 hours per week and we are looking to onboard communities this fall. If you are interested in participating, or have any questions or concerns, please contact Alexander Epstein (alexander.epstein@dot.gov) or Angie Byrne (angie.byrne@dot.gov).

Countermeasures That Work, 10th Edition 

In September, NHTSA released the 10th edition of Countermeasures That Work and a two-page Traffic Tech explaining the guide. The report supports a proactive, equitable Safe System approach to eliminating fatalities on our nation’s roads and covers 10 program areas: alcohol- and drug-impaired driving, bicycle safety, distracted driving, drowsy driving, motorcycle safety, older drivers, pedestrian safety, seat belts and child restraints, speeding and speed management, and young drivers. Additionally, NHTSA will publish easy-to-use reference sheets on each of the 10 issues to help communities learn about and implement the most effective strategies.

NHTSA Child Passenger Safety

CPS Week was September 19-25, but NHTSA’s resources are available year-round! Check out:

  ROUTES Icon