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                        Market Analysis of Collecting Fundamental Roadway Data Elements to Support the Highway Safety Improvement Program


            
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                Introduction
Quality data are the foundation for making important decisions regarding the design, operation, and safety of roadways.  By incorporating roadway and traffic data into safety analysis procedures, States can better identify safety problems and prescribe solutions to support their Highway Safety Improvement Programs (HSIPs) and implement their Strategic Highway Safety Plans (SHSPs).  Furthermore, a new generation of safety analysis tools and methods are being developed to help identify safety issues and to provide recommendations for improvements.  These safety analysis tools, such as the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) and related software SafetyAnalyst and Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM), all require quality roadway, traffic, and crash data to achieve the most accurate results. Using roadway and traffic data together with crash data can help agencies to make decisions that are fiscally responsible and to improve the safety of the roadways for all users.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has developed guidance for States on implementing their HSIPs.  While HSIP guidance provides information on how safety data should be used, there is no additional detail on the specific data elements that State and local agencies should be collecting, maintaining, and using to support their HSIPs and SHSPs.  The FHWA Model Inventory of Roadway Elements (MIRE) provides a recommended listing of roadway inventory and traffic elements critical to safety management. The MIRE Version 1.0 report includes over 200 roadway and traffic data elements *(3).* Due to the economic climate, it may not be feasible for States to collect all of the MIRE elements and integrate them into their existing programs.  There remains a need for information on the fundamental roadway and traffic elements that departments of transportation (DOTs) should be collecting to support their HSIPs.

In response to this need, the FHWA held a series of information gathering sessions in 2009 and 2010 and convened a Technical Working Group (TWG) from 2010 through 2011. The purpose of the information gathering sessions and TWG was to determine which set of roadway and traffic data elements States should be collecting, what data States are capable of collecting given the current economic environment, and the importance of using roadway and traffic data to support the States’ HSIPs.

States should have a common statewide location referencing system, such as a geographic information system (GIS) or a linear referencing system, on all public roads.  This will enable States to locate high crash locations on all public roads.  As States expand their inventories, these common statewide systems will enable States to link these locations with additional data systems, such as roadway and traffic data.

States should also be collecting a set of minimum roadway and traffic data elements that are fundamental to support a State’s HSIP on all public roads. This set of elements is herein referred to as the Fundamental Data Elements for HSIP (FDE/HSIP).  The FDE/HSIP include segment, intersection, and ramp data elements and were determined to be the basic set of data elements that an agency would need to conduct enhanced safety analyses to support a State’s HSIP.
      
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                Book:Market Analysis of Collecting Fundamental Roadway Data Elements to Support the Highway Safety Improvement Program
              Executive Summary
                Introduction
                Objective
                Background
                Fundamental Data Elements for HSIP (FDE/HSIP)
                Literature Review
                Methodology
                Results
                Summary
                References
                Appendix A: Literature Matrix U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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