EPA grant is now official

I'm pleased to say that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant funding the Congress for the New Urbanism's Emergency Response & Street Design Initiative has been officially awarded. CNU was awarded $150,000 for the first year, with the potential for additional EPA grant funds over four more years.

Work on this project is well under way.

We brought two-dozen fire marshals, traffic engineers, architects and planners together in Austin, Texas, on April 1-2, just before CNU XVI, in a workshop that proved illuminating for both fire marshals and CNU members alike.

Based on that gathering’s discussion, we’re augmenting the section on emergency vehicles in the CNU/ITE manual, Context Sensitive Solutions in Designing Major Urban Thoroughfares for Walkable Communities.

And an emergency response sub-group has been added to the preparations for CNU’s Transportation Summit 2008, on Nov. 6-8 in Charlotte, N.C.

CNU will host a series of small meetings, and at least one more big meeting, as this project progresses.

Under terms of the EPA grant, CNU is required to provide matching funds, which we will do through direct and in-kind contributions of time. Sub-contractors on this project will also donate time as part of the match.

The grant proves CNU’s efforts to improve the urban environment are recognized by federal agencies that have the power to affect those improvements.