Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency has secured a $23.5 million federal grant to fund major improvements along Tharpe Street, including new sidewalks, turn lanes, drainage upgrades and technology designed to improve traffic safety.
The funding, recently announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), comes through the federal Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program. The award will allow Blueprint to move forward with improvements approximately seven years earlier than originally scheduled.
The grant builds on an initial $9 million local investment, bringing the combined funding commitment to $32.5 million.
“This project delivers what our residents have asked for – a safer Tharpe Street,” said Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency Board Chair and Tallahassee Mayor Pro Tem Curtis Richardson. “With an initial investment of $9 million, Blueprint staff leveraged an additional $23.5 million in federal funding to deliver this critical project for our community.”
The federal funding will support design and construction of the first segment of the Northwest Connector Corridor project, extending from Ocala Road to Mission Road.
Planned improvements include sidewalks along portions of Tharpe Street that currently lack pedestrian facilities, additional turn lanes to reduce traffic backups and replacement of existing open drainage ditches with an underground piped system.
The full Northwest Connector Corridor project covers approximately 2.6 miles of Tharpe Street, from Ocala Road to Capital Circle Northwest. The improvements are also intended to enhance access to Tower Road Park and Stoneler Road County Park.
An important component of the grant application was the inclusion of a Real-Time Automated Incident Detection, Notification and Rapid Response System.
The proposed technology will use sensors along Tharpe Street and at selected nearby intersections to automatically detect crashes and send alerts to the City of Tallahassee’s Regional Traffic Management Center.
The system is intended to improve emergency response times and traffic management following accidents. The City of Tallahassee will implement the intersection safety component of the project.
The $23.5 million award is the third major federal safety grant secured for local transportation improvements in recent years.
In December 2025, the same federal program awarded $16.8 million for improvements along North Monroe Street. In 2024, the program provided $9.6 million for the Jake Gaither pedestrian safety project.
Together, the three awards total approximately $49.9 million in federal transportation safety funding for the Tallahassee area.
Blueprint officials said the agency’s strategy of leveraging federal funding has allowed major infrastructure projects to advance without changing the project priorities previously approved by the Intergovernmental Agency Board.
Blueprint will work with USDOT over the coming months to finalize the grant agreement.
Construction on the Tharpe Street improvements is currently anticipated to begin in 2030.
Blueprint is a joint City of Tallahassee-Leon County agency responsible for implementing infrastructure projects funded through the local infrastructure sales tax and other funding sources.
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