Raleigh is getting $10.2 million in federal money for safety improvements on several roads, after a year in which crashes on city streets killed 38 people and injured 6,226 others, per the Division of Motor Vehicles. The grant, drawn from the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All program, will fund sidewalk construction, new crosswalks, intersection reconfigurations and traffic signal upgrades across the city.
Where the Money Goes First
According to the News & Observer, Raleigh will make safety improvements on Poole Road between Williams Road and Carya Drive, on Rock Quarry Road between Blazing Star Lane and Lyndhurst Drive, and at the intersection of Rocky Quarry Road and Vardaman Street. The city also plans to install reflective backplates on traffic signals at 90 intersections citywide, a relatively low-cost fix meant to make signal heads more visible to drivers. Raleigh will contribute $2.5 million of its own money to match the federal award, reporter Richard Stradling noted in the same article.
The grant traces back to the infrastructure law Congress passed in 2021, which also sent Raleigh $1 million earlier to identify its most dangerous crash locations and develop prevention strategies, the News & Observer reported. Raleigh's award was one of 297 grants nationwide that the Trump administration announced totaling $1 billion, with North Carolina's Buncombe County, the Town of Rutherfordton, and the Foothills Regional Commission — based in Rutherford County — also receiving planning grants under the same round.
A Representative's Pitch and a Grim Backdrop
U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross touted Raleigh's grant over the weekend, saying the $10 million investment would help the city implement proven safety measures and build on its work to reduce serious and fatal crashes, according to the same report. Ross said she advocated for the grant and supported the bipartisan infrastructure law that funded it. Raleigh recorded nearly 17,000 crashes last year, per the Division of Motor Vehicles figures cited in the article.
The city has already adopted a goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries, joining the national Vision Zero movement, which aims to design and regulate streets so that human mistakes do not turn into fatal crashes. Sean Driskill, who heads Raleigh's Vision Zero Program, has pointed to a broader safety push that goes well beyond this single grant. As reported by ABC11, Driskill said the city averages around 40 fatalities every year, and Raleigh recorded 185 fatal crashes and 905 serious-injury crashes between 2019 and 2023.
Risky Driving Behind Most Fatal Crashes
ABC11's reporting found that 85% of Raleigh's fatal crashes in 2023 involved dangerous behaviors, with 71% of victims not wearing seatbelts and more than 54% of fatal crashes involving speeding. The outlet also reported 189 fatal or serious-injury crashes tied to alcohol or drugs between 2019 and 2023, and cited a LendingTree report identifying Raleigh as having the highest crash rate among the 50 largest U.S. cities in the country.
Separate from this federal award, the city has applied for a $12.6 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration to fund additional safety efforts, including work near schools, and expects a response by the end of 2026, per the same ABC11 report. Raleigh's broader Comprehensive Safety Action Plan sets a target of cutting fatal and serious-injury crashes in half by 2040 and eliminating them entirely by 2055.
School Zones and Downtown Crosswalks
Raleigh has already installed flashing crosswalk beacons at several elementary and middle schools and added crosswalks, sidewalks and stop signs at Wildwood Forest Elementary, according to the News & Observer. The city also installed new traffic lights near Riverbend Elementary and Wakefield Middle and High Schools, and officials say the new grant will fund similar safety measures near six additional schools.
Driskill told City Council members that a raised crosswalk near Broughton High School on St. Mary's Street had been well received and had a big impact on driver behavior. Separately, downtown Raleigh is seeing its own pedestrian safety push: per WRAL, the city plans to shorten the distance at 25 downtown crosswalks by extending curbs, in a phase-two project funded through NCDOT at a cost of roughly $1.1 million. That downtown work is separate from the federal grant detailed in this story, but reflects the same citywide push toward Vision Zero.
A Data-Driven Approach
City analysis has found that just 8% of Raleigh's roads and 3% of its intersections account for the majority of its severe traffic crashes, according to earlier News & Observer reporting that examined fatal and serious crashes citywide from 2015 through 2023. That same reporting pointed to Hoboken, New Jersey, as a comparison point, noting the city had gone eight years without a traffic death at the time.
Crash fatality counts in Raleigh have varied by source and year. The Raleigh Police Department reported 62 traffic deaths in 2022, up from 40 in 2021, according to CBS17, while a city report on the Vision Zero program put the 2022 total at 59 fatalities resulting from 53 fatal crashes. The state's NC Vision Zero dashboard maps crash trends by county, city and law-enforcement jurisdiction. The federal Safe Streets and Roads for All program that funded Raleigh's new grant is designed to support planning, demonstration projects and strategies intended to prevent death and serious injury on roads for all users, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
