Ephrata City Council seeks federal grant for street safety action plan

EPHRATA — Ephrata is taking its first step toward a long‑term strategy to improve roadway safety after the city council unanimously approved applying for a U.S. Dept. of Transportation Safe Streets for All planning grant at its May 20 meeting. 

The city is seeking $96,000 in federal funding, paired with a $24,000 local match, for a total project cost of $120,000. The grant would fund development of Ephrata’s first comprehensive street safety action plan, a requirement for many future state and federal transportation grants. 

City Engineer and Grant Planner Dave Bren said the planning grant is the entry point into a multi-tiered federal program designed to help communities identify hazards, test potential solutions and eventually build safety improvements. 

“The first step is to use it to do a safety plan, a comprehensive safety plan for streets,” Bren said in an interview with the Columbia Basin Herald. “Once you have that kind of analytical safety plan that identifies projects, then you can start going after grants to fund those projects.” 

The safety action plan would analyze crash data, identify problem intersections or corridors, and gather public input. Bren said the process includes community mapping exercises where residents mark areas they believe are unsafe for drivers, pedestrians or cyclists. 

“You can look at the quantitative numbers, like the accidents that have been reported, but in addition, you can meet with the public,” he said. 

The planning process is expected to take 12 to 18 months, if funding is awarded. 

Without a formal safety plan, Ephrata is currently ineligible for many transportation safety grants offered by USDOT, the Washington State Dept. Of Transportation, and other agencies. Bren said that’s typical for smaller cities, and the Safe Streets for All program is designed to help communities build that foundation. 

“There’s a whole area of safety‑type grants that the first thing they ask you for is what do you have for a safety plan, and we don’t have that yet,” Bren said. “This grant leads to further grants.” 

USDOT awarded nearly $1 billion to 521 communities nationwide last year. Bren said Ephrata has a strong chance because the program reserves a significant portion of its funding specifically for planning grants. 

The city will be notified whether its application is successful toward the end of the year, Bren said.