Salem Receives $4M for Emergency Services and Road Safety

Salem will receive $4 million in federal funding to improve emergency response services, strengthen public safety infrastructure and expand coordination between local and regional agencies.

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the funding through its Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program. The program supports projects intended to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries, including improvements to post-crash care and emergency response.

Salem plans to use the grant across three main areas: community paramedicine, emergency service infrastructure and regional coordination.

REACH Program Logo

Expanding Salem’s REACH Program

Part of the funding is expected to support the Rapid Engagement, Assessment and Community Health program (REACH).

Launched in January 2026, REACH pairs a Salem Fire Department paramedic and emergency medical technician with a behavioral health professional from Marion County. The team responds to people experiencing behavioral health crises, substance use concerns, and other complex medical or social needs.

Instead of relying solely on a traditional emergency response, the team can assess patients in the field, provide crisis stabilization and connect them with appropriate healthcare, behavioral health and community resources.

The program is designed to reduce repeat 911 calls and unnecessary emergency room visits while keeping ambulances and fire crews available for critical emergencies.

During its first month, the REACH team recorded 49 contacts and made 45 community referrals or resource connections. It also prevented 27 fire companies from being dispatched and released 23 responding units, allowing emergency crews to handle higher-priority calls elsewhere in Salem.

Investing in Emergency Equipment and Technology

The grant will also support public safety infrastructure, including emergency medical vehicles, equipment, technology, staffing, and services.

Federal project details identify several possible demonstration projects that could improve post-crash care. These include emergency vehicle alerts, improved data sharing between responders, traffic-signal preemption, and models for delivering blood before a patient reaches the hospital.

Temporary pilot programs will allow Salem and its partners to test these approaches and determine which investments could improve response times, patient care and responder readiness.

Strengthening Regional Coordination

Emergency response rarely stops at city boundaries. Salem regularly works with Marion County, healthcare providers, and other regional organizations when responding to crashes, medical emergencies, and people experiencing mental health crises.

The grant will support additional staff training, data collection, and strategic planning to improve that coordination. Salem will also develop a Supplemental Safety Action Plan to identify high-risk roadways and other opportunities to reduce serious crashes.

This work will build on Salem’s previous Safe Streets and Roads for All grant. The city received $2.8 million through the program in 2023 to create a transportation safety action plan and test roadway-safety strategies.

Building on Local Safety Efforts

The new funding gives Salem an opportunity to expand programs that are already showing promise while testing new emergency-response tools.

For residents, those investments could lead to better coordination after serious crashes, more appropriate support for people experiencing crises, and greater availability of ambulances and fire crews when urgent calls come in.

The grant also supports Salem’s broader effort to connect public safety, healthcare, and community services. By strengthening those partnerships, the city can continue developing a response system that directs people toward the right help while preserving emergency resources for the situations that need them most.