SAFETEA-LU makes a federal requirement that state Departments of Transportaion (DOTs) develop and implement a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP). The High Risk Rural Roads Program specifically addresses safety on rural roads and is part of that plan. Rural major and minor collectors and local rural roads quality. Traffic professionals use SHSP to identify the state's key safety needs—including high risk rural roads—and apply federal funding to reduce fatalities, injuries and crashes.
A roadmap to prepare a grant for HRRRP funds
The state's Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) must be in place by October 1, 2007 or risk losing a portion of the HSIP funding. With its 65-year history of leadership in traffic safety solutions, 3M is committed to helping traffic professionals develop proposals for the award of HRRRP funding. Here is a way to get started.
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Assemble Core Constituents
The state DOT develops its SHSP after consulting with:
- The state governor's highway safety representatives
- Regional transportation planning organizations, MPOs (Metropolitan Planning Organizations
- Major transportation mode representatives
- Persons responsible for administering Section 130 (crossing hazard elimination) at the state level
- State and local traffic enforcement and EMS (Emergency Medical Services) representatives
- Operation Lifesaver
- Motor carrier safety program representatives
- Motor vehicle administrators
- Other major state and local safety stakeholders
Prepare Baseline Documentation
Establish existing conditions.
- Review existing literature1, 2
- Have in place a crash data system to collect and analyze crash data on rural roads
- Perform safety problem identification and countermeasure analysis on high risk locations (crash rates exceed statewide average for that functional class of roadway
- Establish the relative severity of locations
Develop a Strategic Plan
Once the current state of road safety is reviewed, proceed to developing the HRRRP positioning of your SHSP.
- Adopt a strategic goal
- Identify emphasis areas based on the "four E's" (Engineering, Education, Enforcement, EMS)
- Form task groups to identify performance-based goals, strategies and countermeasures
- Determine implementation priorities ("program of projects")
- Draft Strategic Highway Safety Plan
- Evaluate regularly and submit annually to the Transportation Secretary
Useful links
1 http://safety.transportation.org/guides.aspx > for NCHRP Report 500
2 http://cms.transportation.org/?siteid=60 > AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan
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