PLANNING TOPICS

Transportation safety planning (TSP) aims to eliminate transportation fatalities and serious injuries by fully integrating safety considerations into the transportation planning process. The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) support for TSP is a joint effort of the FHWA Office of Safety (HSA) and the Office of Planning (HEPP). FHWA offers resources and services to transportation agencies on TSP opportunities, requirements, resources, and noteworthy practices.

Zero is the only acceptable number of deaths on our roads and achieving that is our safety goal. Achieving the vision of zero fatalities requires a shared responsibility whereby safety is considered in all agency transportation investment decisions, every project considers the impact on safety of all users, and every federally funded project includes appropriate safety features and improvements. Planners play a critical role in prioritizing safety in transportation programs and projects, as every transportation project, whether the project’s purpose is safety-related or not, is an opportunity to improve safety.

The most successful TSP processes are collaborative efforts that bring together a variety of disciplines (engineering, planning, transportation operations, maintenance, etc.) and stakeholders (local elected officials, traffic enforcement, emergency management services, etc.) to form partnerships to identify, analyze, discuss, prioritize, fund, and implement transportation safety solutions. Above all, TSP advances the consideration of safety in planning and decision-making. It considers safety goals, objectives, performance measures, and targets at the system level, and it integrates them into the transportation planning process and its related products (long-range plans, short-range plans, transportation improvement programs, and work programs). TSP is a proactive approach that incorporates safety into the existing planning process, ensuring that safety considerations are not treated as an afterthought but prioritized early in the process.

Planners can be the catalyst to form partnerships that integrate TSP at various stages of the planning, project development, and implementation processes:

Engineering safer roads. Planners may influence infrastructure improvements by incorporating safety principles and data throughout the project identification, selection and technical planning processes. Consider policies and processes that prioritize accommodations of all users from project initiation.

Education, awareness, and outreach. During the public outreach components of the planning process, planners may educate the public and transportation professionals on the need to address safety during the planning process. Planners may also involve law enforcement and EMS during the development of plans in order to include a variety of safety perspectives and expertise.

Analyzing data. It is often the planner’s role to collect and analyze crash, roadway, and volume data to identify transportation system safety needs and priorities. Planners develop safety goals and objectives based on public and stakeholder input, results of data analysis, and information in other plans (i.e., Strategic Highway Safety Plan).

Assessing safety performance. Adopt policies and procedures to conduct safety performance assessments on each project, regardless of funding source. Safety performance assessments quantify the potential effects of transportation investment decisions in terms of crash frequency and severity.

Monitoring performance. Planners identify safety performance measures and targets and monitor performance.

The Federal planning rule mandates that Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and Departments of Transportation (DOTs) must prioritize safety as one of the ten planning factors. As stated in 23 CFR 450.206(a) and 23 CFR 450.306(b), the transportation planning process provides for the consideration and implementation of projects, strategies, and services that will increase the safety of the transportation system for all users.

MPOs and DOTs are required to integrate in the transportation planning process, directly or by reference, the goals, performance measures, and targets described in the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP), Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTSAP), and other safety and security planning and review processes, plans, and programs, as appropriate [23 CFR 450.206(c)(4); 23 CFR 450.306(d)(4); 49 USC 5329(d)].

MPOs and State DOTs are encouraged to consider safety in the transportation planning process by integrating into the Statewide and Metropolitan Transportation Plans various safety-related plans, priorities, goals, countermeasures, projects, performance measures, and targets from programs like the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), Public Transportation Agency Safety Plans, emergency relief, disaster preparedness plans, homeland security strategies, and safeguarding the personal security of all users [23 CFR 450.216(d); 23 CFR 450.324(h)].

Additionally, safety consideration is part of specific components of the planning process, including the Congestion Management Process, the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, and the Transportation Improvement Program [23 CFR 450.322; 23 CFR 450.324; 23 CFR 450.326].

National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS): The NRSS outlines the US DOT’s comprehensive approach to significantly reducing serious injuries and deaths on our Nation’s highways, roads, and streets.

Safe System Approach: The Safe System Approach serves as the guiding paradigm to address roadway safety. The Safe System Approach is human centered as it acknowledges that humans make mistakes and human bodies have limited ability to tolerate crash impacts. It has been embraced by the transportation community as an effective way to address and mitigate the risks inherent in our enormous and complex road system. It works by building and reinforcing multiple layers of protection to both prevent crashes from happening in the first place and minimize the harm caused to people involved when crashes do occur. It is a holistic and comprehensive approach that provides a guiding framework to make places safer for all people.

Office of Safety - TSP: The FHWA Transportation Safety Planning webpage provides more information about integrating safety into planning, noteworthy practices, summaries from TSP workshops in several states, related publications and links, and other resources to support agencies when advancing TSP.

MPO Guidebook for Using Safety as a Project Prioritization Factor: The purpose of this guidebook is to identify the state of the practice by Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) using safety as a project prioritization criterion and to identify potential methods for using safety as a factor in project prioritization. The methods are categorized into three levels of complexity so MPOs of all sizes and at all stages of performance-based transportation planning can identify appropriate methods to effectively incorporate safety into project prioritization.

• A recorded presentation is also available that walks through the guidebook and provides additional information.

PlanWorks Safety Application: This resource supports consideration of safety issues and strategies at individual Key Decisions throughout the transportation planning process.

Building Links to Improve Safety: How Safety and Transportation Planning Practitioners Work Together: This resource guide shows transportation planners and safety practitioners how to work together to link the transportation planning and safety planning processes to address safety challenges (Publication number FHWA-SA-16-116, December 2016).

Applying Safety Data and Analysis to Performance-Based Transportation Planning: This guidebook provides State and regional planners with information on how to effectively use safety data and analysis tools in performance-based transportation planning and programming processes (Publication number FHWA-SA-15-089, November 2015).

Funding Safety for All: This resource provides a list of funding sources to carry out Complete Streets projects. FHWA encourages implementation of projects and programs that improve safety and accessibility for all road users.

Making Safety Everyone’s Business: Integrate Safety into All Programs and Projects Poster: Every transportation project, whether the project’s purpose is safety-related or not, is an opportunity to improve safety. This poster identifies opportunities to integrate safety at each phase of the transportation project development process, helps transportation practitioners understand their individual roles in this process, highlights noteworthy practices by agencies, and provides resources that can support safety integration.