Beltrami County Wins $200,000 Federal Grant for Road Safety Plan

Beltrami County has secured a $200,000 federal planning grant to build a Comprehensive Safety Action Plan aimed at eliminating serious injuries and fatalities on county roads, with the Beltrami County Highway Department named as the official awardee under Project Grant 693JJ32540440 through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Safe Streets and Roads for All program.

The grant, recorded in federal systems in June 2025 and publicly announced by the county on December 29, 2025, funds what the county describes as a strategic, data-driven effort rooted in the national Safe System Approach, a framework built around five pillars: safer people, safer roads, safer speeds, safer vehicles, and better post-crash care.

"Safety on our roadways is a top priority for Beltrami County," said Bruce Hasbargen, Beltrami County Engineer. "The Comprehensive Safety Action Plan will help us better understand where serious crashes are occurring and why. With support from the SS4A grant, we can take a proactive, data-driven, and community-informed approach to making our roads safer for everyone who uses them."

The plan will pull together crash data, technical analysis, and direct community input to identify where the county's road network is failing and to develop prioritized strategies covering drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, and commercial vehicle operators. Federal grant language for the SS4A program explicitly names pedestrians, bicyclists, public transportation users, motorists, and micromobility users as the intended beneficiaries of safety improvements funded through the initiative.

The county's public engagement process will include community events, focus groups, an online survey, and an interactive feedback map. Residents can access the survey and map through the county website by navigating to the Public Works Department, selecting the Highway Division under the departments menu, clicking the roads button, and opening the Traffic and Safety tab before selecting the SS4A Grant Project link.

One corridor that illustrates the kind of safety gap the plan could address is County State Aid Highway 4, described in project documentation as a two-lane, unlit highway with no sidewalk or bicycle facilities. A proposed path running parallel to CSAH 4 would separate people walking and cycling from vehicle traffic along a heavily traveled stretch connecting community housing, a workforce center, and a health clinic.

Beyond the planning work itself, completing a CSAP formally positions Beltrami County to apply for SS4A implementation funding in future grant rounds, meaning the $200,000 investment in planning could unlock larger federal dollars to physically build the safety improvements the plan identifies. The federal award carries a grant duration of two years and eight months, with the work to be completed primarily in Beltrami County.