The Building Safer Streets Act directs the federal government to prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users alongside cars when designing and funding transportation projects. The bill requires the Federal Highway Administration to update traffic control standards to allow more flexibility for local communities to implement safety-focused designs that deviate from national guidelines, and it mandates the creation of new design standards specifically for bus stops, bicycle infrastructure, and multimodal streets. It also establishes a Government Accountability Office study to examine how often engineers feel blocked by existing standards from implementing safer street designs, with findings due within two years. The legislation modifies several federal grant programs by requiring applicants to document their consideration of pedestrian and bicycle facilities, sets aside at least ten percent of Safe Streets for All funding for small communities with projects under one million dollars, and requires states receiving federal highway funds to update their design manuals to support lower-speed streets in non-freeway areas.
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