Federal highway officials have quietly scrubbed bike lanes, speed safety cameras and several other tools from the Federal Highway Administration list of "Proven Safety Countermeasures," a move safety advocates say could make it tougher for cities to land federal backing for street redesigns. Local transportation planners say the change lands just as many cities are struggling to refill shrinking design and enforcement toolkits aimed at reducing traffic deaths.
The shift was first reported by NPR, which found that FHWA quietly cut the list from 28 items to 23, without a public announcement. Agency spokespeople pointed to a review intended to align the program with the current administration priorities, and advocates told NPR they only noticed the changes after the department rolled out a new round of discretionary grants earlier this month.
What FHWA Used To Call “Proven” And Why It Counts
FHWA documents and toolkits published near the end of the last administration and in 2021 explicitly listed bike lanes and speed safety cameras among the 28 countermeasures, and they spelled out expected safety gains. The agency guidance cites research showing that adding a bike lane can cut crashes on a two-lane road by roughly 30 percent and on a four-lane road by as much as 49 percent, and that automated speed enforcement systems can reduce crashes by about half in some urban arterial settings. Those details appear in materials from FHWA and in the agency booklet also published by FHWA.
Where The Federal Money Is Flowing Instead
On July 7 the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $1.73 billion in discretionary BUILD grants, with 127 awards across the country. According to the department release, the program prioritized roads, bridges, ports and transit projects, and local advocates note that this particular round showed little clearly earmarked funding for bike or pedestrian specific efforts. The full list of awards and project types is laid out by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Experts Say The Data Did Not Suddenly Disappear
Transportation experts and former FHWA staff told NPR that the earlier expansion of the proven countermeasure list was built on peer reviewed research and field evaluations, and they worry that dropping items from the list sends the wrong signal. “We should be making decisions about safety based on evidence,” former FHWA acting administrator Stephanie Pollack told NPR, and former FHWA safety official Michael Griffith described the word “proven” as a label reserved for tools backed by a body of research. Advocates point out that the change comes as U.S. road deaths remain unacceptably high, a context highlighted in the NPR coverage.
What It Could Mean On The Ground In San Francisco
San Francisco has been steadily adding protected bike lanes and rolling out quick build safety projects while also experimenting with automated enforcement and curb management tools. That push shows up in local project pages, including the Transbay Howard Streetscape effort and recent quick build installations. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and other local advocates say these projects lean on the same research FHWA once highlighted when the city seeks state or federal support, and local reporting has found that enforcement and maintenance often determine whether new lanes actually deliver the promised safety gains. Project details are available from SFMTA, coverage of new quick build lanes comes from SFBike, and on the ground reporting about enforcement and bike lane blockages has been published in the San Francisco Chronicle.
What Happens Next And The Tools Cities Still Have
For now, the FHWA change appears to be an update to an online toolkit rather than a formal rulemaking, and state and local agencies still have authority to design and fund safety projects based on the broader research literature and local pilot results. City transportation departments and groups such as the National Association of City Transportation Officials continue to publish design guidance and case studies that agencies can use to justify safety projects even if one federal webpage changes. Those resources are collected by NACTO.
