August 15 deadline to apply for traffic safety improvement funds
The Iowa DOT's Traffic Safety Improvement Program (TSIP) funds city and county safety projects through one-half of one percent of the Road Use Tax Fund. Funding is available on a competitive basis for projects in the following categories:
- Site improvement (primary selection criterion: benefit/cost analysis)
- Purchase of traffic control device(s) (primary selection criteria: safety benefits, funding level)
- Safety study (primary selection criteria: relevance to safety, annual funding level)
Proposals for funding each year must be submitted to the Office of Traffic and Safety by August 15. Successful applicants will be notified in February or March of the following year.
Suggestions for successful TSIP applications
- Propose projects that can reduce major injury and fatal crashes rather than on high-crash locations with a lot of property damage.
- Propose the actual improvement you can and will build. Making changes to an approved project (e.g., changing an approved five-lane proposal to a three-lane project, deleting left-turn lanes from an approved intersection improvement, etc.) will result in loss of TSIP funding (an application for funding for the revised project can be submitted the following year).
- Apply for site improvements that reflect a benefit/cost ratio of at least 1.5. Project applications are ranked, and projects with the greatest benefit/cost ratio will be funded first. (In the past, the most successful applications have reflected a benefit/cost ratio above 1.7.)
- Submit your application on time. All completed application materials (except for associated city council resolutions) must be included in the application on or before August 15.
For more information
The TSIP application and benefit/cost worksheet, with instructions for submittal, are online, www.dot.state.ia.us/tsip.htm. If you have questions about the application process, contact Bill Bielefeldt, Iowa DOT Office of Traffic and Safety, 515-239-1623, bill.bielefeldt@dot.iowa.gov.
