US awards $1 billion for road safety projects as traffic deaths remain high

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Department said on Thursday it is awarding $1 billion for a series of projects aimed at reducing traffic crashes, as road deaths remain sharply higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The department separately on Thursday estimated that 18,720 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the first six months of 2024, down 3.2% over 19,330 deaths in the first half of 2023.

While traffic fatalities have declined for nine straight quarters, they remain sharply higher than prepandemic levels, when just over 17,000 people were killed in the first half of 2019.

Among the 350 new awards that are part of a $5 billion, five-year program funded by the $1 trillion 2021 infrastructure law is $29.8 million for Los Angeles to implement safety improvements at 77 intersections, mostly near schools and commercial areas.

Many projects are aimed at making it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists including $10 million for Savannah, Georgia to upgrade 15 intersections including dedicated left turns, sidewalks, crosswalks, and extended bicycle lanes. A further $20 million is earmarked for Chicago to boost safety efforts in the North Avenue corridor.

Traffic deaths spiked after the start of COVID-19 and remain elevated. The fatality rate in early 2024 fell but still was higher for the three-month period in any pre-pandemic year since 2008.

As U.S. roads became less crowded during the COVID-19 pandemic, some motorists perceived police as less likely to issue tickets, experts said, resulting in riskier behavior on the roads.

U.S. traffic deaths jumped 10.5% in 2021 to 42,915, the highest number killed on American roads in a single year since 2005.

In 2022, the number of pedestrians killed rose 0.7% to 7,522, the most since 1981. The number of cyclists killed rose 13% to 1,105 in 2022, the most since at least 1980.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)