Grant Program

To be eligible to apply, applicants must be one of the following agencies in Colorado:

• Local governments: cities, towns, and counties
• Regional transportation authorities and transit agencies
• Natural resource or public land management agencies
• School districts, local education agencies, and public or nonprofit private schools
• Federally recognized tribal governments
• Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) representing areas with a population of 200,000 or under

Understand the time and effort to manage a grant-funded project:

• Learn about what grants management at CDOT looks like in practice by taking our overview training.
• For design and construction projects, refer to the CDOT Local Agency Manual to learn what complying with state and federal requirements entails. Get to know the process requirements of managing a CDOT-funded grant that includes engineering reviews found in the Local Agency Manual website.
• Be financially prepared for your portion of the costs. Recipients provide a minimum of 20% of the total project costs, unless qualifying for a match waiver, which eliminates the match requirement for select local governments. To see if you are eligible, please see the Guidance Book, Appendix A.

Funds must benefit school-aged children in kindergarten through 12th grade. Projects must be within a 2-mile radius of the identified school(s).

There are two types of awards:

• Infrastructure grants: Capital and construction projects that make it safer for students to walk and bike to and from school.
  • Minimum grant award: $250,000 per project (for existing CDOT grant-funded infrastructure projects, there is no minimum request amount)
    Maximum grant award: $2 million per project
  • Eligible infrastructure projects: Planning, design and construction of infrastructure that will substantially improve the ability of students to walk and bicycle to school safely, such as building new or making improvements to sidewalks, bike lanes, road crossings, ADA access, traffic calming infrastructure, or bike parking.
• Non-infrastructure grants: Education, encouragement and enforcement activities that engage children to walk and bike safely to and from school.
  • Minimum grant award: $25,000 per project 
    Maximum grant award: $2 million per project
  • Eligible non-infrastructure activities: Activities that encourage walking and biking to school, such as public awareness campaigns, bicycle safety skills education and training course areas, and funding for SRTS coordinators.

All applicants must submit a Letter of Interest (LOI), which will be released on October 30, 2026 and are due for submission by December 15, 2026. LOI submissions will be reviewed for regulatory and engineering compliance, including eligibility, project readiness, cost estimates and schedule reasonableness. Feedback will be provided to each LOI applicant for incorporation into the formal grant application.

Each distinct project requires its own LOI. Each agency may submit up to 2 projects/LOIs for this grant call.

To submit your LOI:

1. Download and fill out the LOI PDF form
2. Fill out the short digital form and upload the completed LOI pdf as an attachment

Following the Letter of Interest (LOI) step, applicants who are invited to apply can submit an application. Applications are due February 19, 2027.

The Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee conducts the initial competitive review and makes recommendations regarding awards to the Colorado Transportation Commission for a final decision.