On Dec. 13, the U.S. DOT announced $813 million in Safe Streets and Roads For All (SS4A) grants, including 48 implementation grants and 337 planning grants. Webster County’s $8,456,908 award was the only implementation grant awarded for Iowa.

This funding will help the Webster County Roads Department improve road safety on 32.5 miles of rural county roads that have been identified as high-risk locations for crashes and fatalities, Webster County Engineer Jamie Johll said.

“The state has a website with all crash data, so that’s where we started looking at roads that had safety issues,” Johll said. “And then we just have a good inventory of all our roads, so we know the ones that have issues. We look at traffic count quite a bit, too. The higher the traffic count, the higher on our radar it always is.”

On the five segments of county roads that are part of the project, there were eight fatal crashes between 2017-2021, according to state data. Improper lane departures accounted for nearly 60 percent of all the fatal accidents on county roads during that time period, according to the county’s grant application.

Portions of D20, C56, P59, P73 and D54 will undergo improvements as part of the project

D20 east of Fort Dodge and C56 west of Badger will receive wider paved shoulders, while the rest of the project will have the full-width of the road repaved. Edge and centerline rumble strips will be added to the roads and new paint will be put down.

Support from Iowa lawmakers was monumental in Webster County receiving this grant, Johll said. In February 2023, Johll and Webster County Supervisor Mark Campbell traveled to Washington DC to solicit support for several projects, including these road safety improvements.

“The legislators were very receptive to our ideas and the support that we obtained was a key factor in securing this grant,” Johll said.

Johll said he’s thankful for the support from State Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, and U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley with this process.

The entire project is estimated to cost just over $13 million, and the nearly $8.5 million federal grant is a huge chunk of that cost. Johll said he’s working with the Webster County Board of Supervisors to be able to find the remaining $4.5 million in the county’s existing budget over the next couple years.

“I’m hoping we can come up with the money locally and not have to bond for it,” he said.

Construction is tentatively expected to begin in the summer of 2025.

The process for which federal funding is allocated for road projects like these is highly competitive, Johll said.

“For many years, the federal aid was distributed on a formula basis, so each county got a certain amount of money every year based on traffic counts, miles of roads, how bad your roads are, stuff like that,” he explained. “Now it’s mostly grant based. There’s a lot of money out there, but every county has to fight for their share.”

The Engineer’s Department’s newest employee, Mark Condon, has been working on the grant writing for the project, Johll said.

The SS4A program was established by President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law that was passed by Congress in 2022. The SS4A program funds regional, local and tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries. The program was established with $5 billion in appropriated funds over five years, from 2022 to 2026. More than $3 billion remains available for future grant funding rounds.

Roads included in the project:

• D20 from Quail Avenue to the county line between Webster and Hamilton counties — shoulder widening

• C56 between U.S. Highway 169 and Badger — shoulder widening

• P59 between Fort Dodge and Badger — full-width paving

• P73 from Lehigh to Dayton — full-width paving

• D54 from P73 to the county line between Webster and Hamilton counties — full-width paving