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Solutions · Grant-funded streets

How do you review SS4A, Complete Streets, and SMART grant specs?

Cities, counties, MPOs, state DOTs, and their engineering consultants advertise Complete Streets, Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A), SMART, and other DOT innovation work from more than one book. Specset reads the local specifications, the state DOT standard specifications and special provisions, and the federal-aid provisions the team uploads, and cites conflicts before the set is advertised.

Run a pilot →See the use cases
Before bid

Local specs, the state DOT book, and federal-aid provisions.

The conflict is rarely inside one PDF. A city special provision amends a paragraph in the state DOT standard specifications. The plans show a third version of the same detail. Specset reads the federal-aid provisions the team uploads, including when the contract incorporates them by reference.

Specset files the conflict with a citation to each source. The reviewer who stamps the set confirms or dismisses the finding. Specset does not replace that call, and it does not decide whether a cost is eligible under a grant.

Fictional project and agency. The reviewer confirms or dismisses the finding.
Form FHWA-1273 →Design quality review →
Programs

The programs these street sets come from.

Program facts below are the agencies' own descriptions, linked. Specset reviews the specifications and plans those projects bid.

Complete Streets

The FHWA planning page says a Complete Street is safe, and feels safe, for everyone using the street. The goal is a comfortable, connected, and safe network for pedestrians, bicyclists, public transportation users, children, older individuals, individuals with disabilities, motorists, and freight vehicles.

Section 11206 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as that page states it, defines Complete Streets standards or policies as those that ensure the safe and adequate accommodation of all of those users. The same page states that States and metropolitan planning organizations must use not less than 2.5 percent of their planning and research funds for Complete Streets activities that increase safe and accessible transportation options.

FHWA also describes a Complete Streets design model that integrates safety for all users into planning and analysis. The bid set is where that design becomes construction specifications and plans.

FHWA Complete Streets →FHWA design-model resources →

Safe Streets and Roads for All

USDOT describes Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) as a discretionary grant program focused on reducing serious injury and fatal crashes through comprehensive safety action plans, called Action Plans, and their implementation. It funds Planning and Demonstration Grants and Implementation Grants. Implementation Grants fund projects and strategies consistent with an existing Action Plan. Eligible activities can be infrastructural, behavioral, or operational.

Eligible applicants include metropolitan planning organizations, cities, towns, counties, and other political subdivisions of a State, federally recognized Tribal governments, and multijurisdictional groups of those entities. State departments of transportation are not eligible applicants. USDOT encourages eligible applicants to partner with State entities. Consultants are not eligible applicants. An eligible applicant may employ a consultant to help prepare an application or to help carry out an award.

When that street is advertised, Specset reviews the specifications and plans. Specset does not prepare the SS4A application. Award eligibility stays with USDOT and the recipient.

SS4A program →SS4A eligibility →

SMART

Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) provides grants to eligible public sector agencies for demonstration projects focused on advanced smart community technologies and systems, to improve transportation efficiency and safety. USDOT describes it as a two-stage program. The second stage is for recipients of a first-stage grant.

The applying page lists States, political subdivisions of a State, Tribal governments, public transit agencies or authorities, public toll authorities, metropolitan planning organizations, and groups of those entities applying through one lead.

A demonstration is still built from specifications and plans. Specset reviews that bid set. SMART technology areas are defined by USDOT. Award eligibility stays with USDOT and the recipient.

SMART program →Applying to SMART →

DOT innovation

FHWA Accelerating Innovation advances innovative practices and technologies for highways. It administers the Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration program as an incentive for eligible entities to accelerate the implementation and adoption of proven innovation in highway transportation. The State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) Incentive program provides resources to help STICs make innovations standard practice in their States. Every Day Counts identifies a new collection of proven, underutilized innovations every two years.

When a DOT or a city bids the construction that carries one of those innovations, the specifications and the plans still have to agree. Specset reviews that set. A Specset pilot is a document review, not an AID Demonstration application. Award eligibility stays with FHWA and the recipient.

FHWA Accelerating Innovation →
Plan review

AI for DOT plan review, before the set is advertised.

Specset inventories the plan sheets and the specification sections, then files conflicts and mismatches between a drawing and the governing paragraph. Each finding cites the sheet or the section. A second pass tries to disprove the finding before it is filed.

The agency engineer or the consultant reviewer confirms, edits, or dismisses it. That is the plan review on a DOT or city street: the same cited design review used on other public books, pointed at this set. It is not a grant application.

All use cases →Design quality review →Spec intelligence →
Formats

Agency spec formats and MasterFormat.

Specset parses agency specification formats as well as MasterFormat. Caltrans, WSDOT, FDOT, and UFGS are examples of how public books are organized.

Upload the book as the agency issued it. Conforming special provisions into the standard sections happens before the review starts.

UFGS and DOT specs →
Who this is for

Cities, counties, MPOs, state DOTs, and their consultants.

The same bid-set problem, on different sides of the advertisement.

Cities and counties

Local specifications and special provisions sit beside the state DOT standard specifications on the street you advertise. Specset cites conflicts in that set before bid.

MPOs

Metropolitan planning organizations are eligible SS4A applicants and plan Complete Streets with their members. The construction review belongs on the bid set a member agency advertises, not on the planning memo alone.

State DOTs

State DOTs advertise federal-aid and innovation work from their standard specifications and special provisions. They are not SS4A applicants. USDOT encourages eligible local and regional applicants to partner with them.

Engineering consultants

Consultants prepare the plans and the project manual for the agency. They are not SS4A applicants. An eligible recipient may employ them to help carry out an award. The review runs on the set they issue, and the agency reviewer still makes the call.

Innovation pilot

Run a pilot for DOTs and cities.

Bring one street project that is heading to bid. Specset returns a cited review of conflicts in that set. Your engineers decide what to change before advertisement.

The pilot is a document review for state DOTs and cities, and for the counties, MPOs, and engineering consultants who deliver the same sets. It is not an application for SS4A, SMART, or AID Demonstration. Award eligibility stays with the granting agency and the recipient. How project data is handled is on the security page.

  1. 01

    One project, heading to bid

    A state DOT or a city picks one street project. A county, an MPO member, or the engineering consultant delivering that set can send it.

  2. 02

    The books, as issued

    Plans, local specifications, state DOT standard specifications, and special provisions. Specset reads the federal-aid provisions the team uploads, including when the contract incorporates them by reference.

  3. 03

    A cited conflict list

    Specset files conflicts among those documents, each one cited to the paragraph or the sheet. Your engineers confirm or dismiss every finding before advertisement.

Run a pilot →SecurityContact
Sources

Official program pages for the facts above.

Eligibility and program definitions are stated on these pages.

Safe Streets and Roads for All
USDOT program page. Action Plans and grant types.
SS4A applicant eligibility
Who may apply, who may not, and how consultants and State DOTs fit.
SMART grants
USDOT program page. Purpose and the two stages.
Applying to SMART
Who may apply.
Complete Streets
FHWA planning page. Definition, IIJA section 11206, and the 2.5 percent planning set-aside.
Complete Streets resources
FHWA description of the Complete Streets design model.
FHWA Accelerating Innovation
AID Demonstration, STIC Incentive, and Every Day Counts.
Form FHWA-1273
FHWA page for required contract provisions on federal-aid construction contracts.
Common questions

What agencies ask before they advertise a grant-funded street.

01What is AI for DOT plan review?

Specset reads the plan sheets and the specification sections together and files conflicts before bid. Specset reads the federal-aid provisions the team uploads. A finding cites the local specification or special provision, the state DOT standard specification, and those uploaded provisions when the documents disagree. A reviewer on the agency or consultant team confirms or dismisses each finding. The check does not replace the engineer who stamps the set.

Use casesDesign quality review

02How does spec review for SS4A projects work?

USDOT funds SS4A Action Plans and the projects that implement them, for eligible cities, counties, metropolitan planning organizations, other political subdivisions, and Tribal governments. State DOTs and consultants are not eligible applicants. When an implementation project is advertised, Specset reviews the specifications and plans for conflicts among the local book, the state DOT standard specifications and special provisions, and the federal-aid provisions the team uploads. Specset does not prepare the application. Award eligibility stays with USDOT and the recipient.

SS4A programSS4A eligibility

03What does a Complete Streets construction specifications review check?

FHWA describes a Complete Street as safe for every user, and a Complete Streets design model as a way to bring that safety into planning and analysis. The construction review checks the specifications and the plans for that street: sidewalks, crossings, bicycle facilities, and transit stops on the sheets, against the local specifications and the state DOT standard specifications and special provisions. Conflicts are cited before bid.

FHWA Complete StreetsFHWA design-model resourcesUse cases

04Where does technology for SMART grant projects meet the construction set?

SMART funds demonstration projects that use advanced smart community technologies and systems. Those demonstrations are still built from specifications and plans. Specset reviews that bid set and cites conflicts before advertisement. SMART technology areas are defined by USDOT. Award eligibility stays with USDOT and the recipient.

SMART programApplying to SMART

05What is an innovation pilot for DOTs and cities?

A Specset pilot is a review of one street project before bid. A state DOT or a city can send it, and so can the county, MPO, or engineering consultant delivering the set. Include the plans, the local specifications, the state DOT standard specifications, and the special provisions. Specset returns cited conflicts. Your engineers decide what to change before advertisement. The pilot is a document review. It is not an application to SS4A, SMART, or the FHWA AID Demonstration program. How Specset handles project data is on the security page.

Run a pilotSecurityFHWA Accelerating Innovation

Before advertisement

Review the street set before you advertise it.

Send the plans, the local specifications, and the state DOT book. Specset cites the conflicts. Your engineers decide what changes.

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