Senator Murray Announces $1.5 Million to Improve Road Safety on Tribal Lands in Washington State

ICYMI: VIDEO: Senator Murray Hails Major Investments in Washington State Roads, Bridges, and Public Transportation in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced $1.5 million in grant funding for eight projects across Washington state that will reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries on Tribal lands. The grants come from the Tribal Transportation Safety Fund and are funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Senator Murray was a leader in passing. Transportation-related injuries and fatalities affect Native American and Alaska Native populations at higher rates than other demographic groups, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.

“Traffic deaths and injuries are a serious problem throughout the country, and pedestrian safety cannot be an afterthought anywhere, especially in Tribal communities,” said Senator Murray. “It’s great to see the federal dollars I helped secure in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law go out to help keep drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists in Tribal communities across Washington state safe—from Spokane to Skagit County. As Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I’m going to keep up the work to bring home the resources we need to keep families safe on the roads across Washington state.”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides the largest funding level ever for the Tribal Transportation Program, including the Safety Fund, by increasing the total authorized from $2.4 billion under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act to $3 billion for Fiscal Years 2022 through 2026.

Tribes in Washington state that will receive funding from the Tribal Transportation Program Safety Fund this year include:

• Swinomish Indian Tribal Community – Swinomish Village Sidewalk Gaps Project ($325,000)      
• Swinomish Indian Tribal Community – Inventory and Assess Signage Retroreflectivity Project ($45,000)             
• Upper Skagit Indian Tribe – Coyote Drive Pedestrian Safety Improvement Project ($757,730)       
• Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe – Sophus Road US101 Roundabout Preliminary Engineering Project ($261,000)           
• Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe – Update the Transportation Safety Plan Project ($10,000)             
• Spokane Tribe of the Spokane Reservation – Update the Transportation Safety Plan Project ($10,000)             
• Kalispel Tribe of Indians – Roadway Safety Audits at 3 High Risk Locations Project ($68,019)         
• Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians of Washington – Update the Transportation Safety Plan Project ($10,000)  

Senator Murray, a former chair of the Senate Appropriations Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies subcommittee (T-HUD), has been a constant advocate for improving road safety and investing in infrastructure in underrepresented communities across Washington state, including in Tribal communities. Earlier this year, Senator Murray held a roundtable in Seattle to announce nearly $26 million for pedestrian safety projects across the city.

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