Mableton accepts $240,000 Safe Streets and Roads grant

Photo above: screenshot of Mableton Community Development Director Michael Hughes speaking before the Mableton City Council

At Wednesday’s Mableton City Council meeting the council accepted a grant from the Safe Streets and Roads for all Program (SS4A), a federal program that according to the U.S. DOT website, “supports the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy and our goal of zero roadway deaths using a Safe System Approach.” 

The grant will provide the city with $240,000, and will require the city to match that with $60,000, for a total of $300,000 dedicated to the grant’s purpose.

Mableton’s Community Development Director Michael Hughes introduced the agenda item, and said that in June of 2025, the Mableton City Council approved a resolution authorizing the submittal of the SS4A grant application that included the required local match.

“The grants provide funds for local governments like the city of Mableton, regional and tribal communities by supporting development of comprehensive safety action plans and implement roadway improvements that are designed to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries using the safe system approach,” Hughes said.

The grant was approved by the U.S. DOT in December of 2025.

Before the vote, Mayor Michael Owens said, “Just for clarity’s sakes, this SS4A grant, I’m thrilled that we got this money and be able to move forward.”

“But I want to be clear the usage of this is largely a technical grant or technical assistance grant, which means that this will help us do a plan, a study, determine how our city is safer,” Owens said.

“A week doesn’t go by where I don’t get emails or calls about an intersection or strip of sidewalk or an area that is unsafe in our city,” he said. “There’s a lot of residents who ask, What are we doing about that?”

“Well, seeking this grant and getting it is a great first step, but the long term solution is going to be … hopefully using this grant to identify areas in our city that has challenges … and using this grant to unlock future millions of dollars,” said Owens.

Hughes said he agreed with Owens.

“We’ll be actually working on putting together a scope of work that I hope to have ready in the next couple of weeks and then we’ll work with purchasing to have that advertised and then we will retain the services of professional consultants who do this work all over the country,” Hughes said.

“We’ll be able to identify spots throughout the city … that are problem spots.”

The motion was made to approve acceptance of the grant, and it passed unanimously.