Chelan launches ‘Safe Streets for All’ plan to compete for federal safety funding

CHELAN — The City of Chelan is moving forward with a federally funded “Safe Streets for All” planning effort aimed at reducing serious crashes and positioning the city to compete for future transportation safety grants.

City Council members heard an administrative report Jan. 27 from Public Works Director Jake Youngren outlining the scope of the project, which is funded primarily through a U.S. Department of Transportation grant created under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.

The city received the grant in April 2025, with federal funding covering about 80 percent of the total cost, or roughly $177,000. The city’s required 20 percent match is approximately $35,540 and will be funded through its transportation planning budget.

Youngren said the plan is required in order for Chelan to be competitive for future federal safety grants.

“This is a federal program that was born out of the bipartisan infrastructure bill,” he told council. “There’s money allocated to it, and essentially to get access to that, you need to have this plan in place.”

The city has selected the Transpo Group to complete the work, following a request for qualifications process. The plan will include crash data collection and analysis, safety mapping, identification of high-risk areas, and public and stakeholder engagement.

Youngren said the federal government has laid out specific requirements for what the plan must include, with a focus on reducing roadway fatalities and serious injuries.

He also noted that while the work will overlap in some areas with Chelan’s broader transportation planning efforts, the Safe Streets for All plan must stand on its own.

“You might be wondering, we just got done talking about the transportation element and if there’s overlap between these documents,” Youngren said. “Yeah, there certainly is, but they are on their own silos, and they kind of need to stay in their own silos.”

The study will focus primarily on Chelan’s main arterial streets rather than neighborhood residential streets, and will include considerations for vehicle, pedestrian, and bicycle safety.

Once completed, the plan will allow the city to apply for future rounds of federal funding aimed at implementing safety improvements identified through the process.

“That would be our hope,” Youngren said, referring to future grant opportunities. “It’s kind of the first step in hopefully getting access to being competitive in some of those monies.”

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media