PROVIDENCE – The federal government spent more on pedestrians in the Providence metropolitan area than in any other urban region over the last three years, according to a study released Monday.

The government spent an average of $4.01 per person on bicycle and pedestrian projects annually in the Providence-New Bedford-Fall River region from 2005 to 2008, according to Transportation for America, a Washington-based coalition of transit, environmental and public health advocates. The federal money is doled out by state transportation agencies.

That amount was the most spent in any of the nation’s 52 metro areas with populations of 1 million or more. It was nearly triple the 52 areas’ average annual investment of $1.39 per person.

The Nashville region was second at $3.82 per person. Boston was No. 28 at $1.11, and Richmond, Va., ranked last at 15 cents.

Transportation for America said the broad aim of its study was to push Congress to invest more in infrastructure upgrades in metropolitan areas that will make them safer for pedestrians. More than 76,000 Americans were killed while crossing or walking down the street over the last 15 years, the group said.

“This is the equivalent of a jumbo jet going down roughly every month, yet it receives nothing like the kind of attention that would surely follow such a disaster,” the organization said.

The Providence metro area scored relatively well in safety, ranking at No. 42 out of the 52 metro areas with a “Pedestrian Danger Index” of 38.4. The group created the index by comparing pedestrian fatalities in 2007 and 2008 with the number of people who said in the 2000 census that they walked to work.

In Providence, 3.3 percent of workers said they walked to work in 2000. The region had an average of 1.25 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 residents in 2007-08.

For Rhode Island as a whole, the “Pedestrian Danger Index” was 32.4, with a total of 26 pedestrian fatalities in 2007 and 2008.

The study found the most dangerous places to walk were in the South, especially Florida – Orlando, Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville topped the list, in that order.

The safest places to walk were Minneapolis-St. Paul; Boston; and the region that includes New York City, Northern New Jersey and Long Island.

Some of Transportation for America’s measures made Rhode Island appear more dangerous than other places for pedestrians.

Pedestrians accounted for 19.4 percent of all traffic deaths in Rhode Island in 2007 and 2008, fourth-most in the nation, behind New York (22.5 percent), New Jersey (22.1 percent) and Hawaii (20 percent), the group said.

In Massachusetts, 17.7 percent of traffic deaths were pedestrians. The national average was 11.8 percent.

The report also found that Rhode Island is a dangerous place for elderly people to walk.

The state ranked fourth with an annual average of 3.4 traffic fatalities per 100,000 people ages 65 and older. Hawaii ranked first (7 fatalities per 100,000 seniors), followed by California (3.9) and New York (3.7). Massachusetts ranked 8th with 3.2 fatalities.

The relatively high statewide levels of pedestrian fatalities occurred despite the fact that Rhode Island spent the third-largest amount per capita on walking and biking from 2005 to 2008 at $6.12, or 4.3 percent of the state’s total federal transportation funds.

The group’s full report, “Dangerous by Design,” is available at t4america.org.