States and Local Governments Honored for Lifesaving Roadway Safety Programs

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Roadway Safety Foundation (RSF) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) today honored 10 exemplary highway safety projects and programs with National Roadway Safety Awards.  

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death with more than 33,000 fatalities and 2.3 million injuries each year.   Award winners are credited for the development of innovative, lifesaving safety programs to help lessen the toll of highway fatalities and injuries.

"The roadway safety innovations that we recognize here today address key obstacles facing our country as we look to modernize our transportation infrastructure," said U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Victor Mendez.  "I commend all of today's winners for their efforts to enhance safety and save lives on our nation's roadways."

The National Roadway Safety Award recipients were evaluated on three criteria:  1) Effectiveness, 2) Innovation, and 3) Efficient Use of Resources.  There were two award categories: 1) Infrastructure and Operational Improvements and 2) Program Planning, Development, and Evaluation.

"The innovative highway safety projects honored today are vital because deficiencies in the roadway environment contribute to nearly one-third of all traffic deaths," said Roadway Safety Foundation Executive Director Gregory M. Cohen.  "The National Roadway Safety Awards are an opportunity to recognize the unsung heroes who plan, engineer and implement creative measures to help save lives on a daily basis and rarely receive credit for doing so." 

2015 National Roadway Safety Award Honorees:  

• Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department, Clark County, Ark.:  For improving interstate safety with pavement surface treatments to reduce deaths and injuries in wet weather conditions. 

• Florida Department of Transportation, Tampa Bay, Fla.:  For its vehicle-mounted Advanced Lighting Measurement System, which has revolutionized how the state collects road lighting data and allowed the agency to collect 250 miles of roadway lighting data in just a few months, rather than a few years. 

• Florida Department of Transportation, Statewide, Headquartered in Tallahassee, Fla.:  For its "Safe Mobility for Life Coalition," an alliance of agencies, universities, and interest groups that identifies both engineering and behavioral solutions to improve the safety, access, and mobility for Florida's aging population. 

• Michigan Department of Transportation, Statewide, Headquartered in Lansing, Mich.:  For its statewide non-freeway rumble strip initiative to install rumble strips on all non-freeway high-speed and rural roads from 2008-2010.

• Montana Department of Transportation, Statewide, Headquartered in Helena, Mont.:  For its roadway departure study and safety information management system developed to analyze areas of concern contributing to Montana's 70 percent rate of fatal crashes due to lane departure. 

• Orange County Public Works Department, Orange County, Fla.:  For its Texas-Americana road safety small-area study to evaluate a cluster of intersections and roadways with high crash rates. 

• Texas Department of Transportation, San Antonio, Texas:  For the "San Antonio TransGuide Wrong-Way Driver Project" in partnership with the City of San Antonio Police Department to prevent wrong-way crashes. 

• Virginia Department of Transportation, Reston, Va.:  For their "Road Diets in Reston" projects, which were designed to increase safety by reducing the number of lanes on 2-mile segments of Lawyers Road and Soapstone Road.

• Virginia Department of Transportation, Richmond, Va.:  For the deployment of highway safety improvement projects using Virginia-specific Safety Performance Functions. 

• Washington State Department of Transportation, Olympia, Wash.:  For its "2014 County Safety Program," which requires counties to develop data-driven local road safety plans before they can apply for Highway Safety Improvement Program funding. 

For more information, visit www.safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadwaysafetyawards.

CONTACT:  Cathy Gillen
(443) 463-4449
[email protected]

SOURCE The Roadway Safety Foundation; Federal Highway Administration

Related Links

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