Selecting Projects and Strategies to Maximize Highway Safety Improvement Program Performance

Federal Highway Administration2021PDFTech ReportGross, FrankHarmon, TimCynecki, Michael J.Dittberner, RandyChestnutt, C.VHB/Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.United States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of SafetyScurry, KarenUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of SafetyUnited StatesHighway safetyBenefit cost analysisSafety analysisSafety programsPerformance measurementFHWA-SA-20-001DTFH61-16-D-00005 (VHB)Scurry, KarenThe Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) is a core Federal-aid highway program with the purpose to achieve significant reductions in fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads. States implement the HSIP using various safety management approaches to identify, develop, prioritize, and select HSIP projects. State Departments of Transportation and metropolitan planning organizations set annual targets for safety performance using five Federally-required measures in terms of fatalities and serious injuries (23 CFR Part 409.209). Meeting or exceeding safety performance targets is not a certainty, but a potential based on the predicted performance and potential range of effectiveness of the HSIP as well as external factors. Agencies can help improve safety performance by increasing funding for highway safety projects and by choosing locations with high potential for safety improvement along with countermeasures that offer the greatest reductions in fatalities and serious injuries per dollar invested. Employing sound safety management approaches (i.e., site-specific, systemic, and systematic), economic measures (benefit-cost ratio for fatal and serious-injury crashes), implementation strategies, and professional judgment to increase the predicted safety performance of the HSIP increases the potential that a State maximizes its HSIP performance. While this guide focuses on the HSIP, the methods are applicable to other infrastructure and non-infrastructure programs.120