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                Media ContactsMenu FHWA Highway Safety Programs Home
                        HSIP 2017 National Summary Report


            
            In This Section
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                Improvement Categories and Subcategories
Under the HSIP Reporting Guidance, each project should be assigned a general improvement category and a subcategory under that general category. While a single project may consist of multiple project types, FHWA suggests States assign each project to only one category. The category chosen should align with the primary purpose of the project. Figure 11 and Figure 12 show the distribution of the number of projects by general improvement category. Figure 13 and Figure 14 combined show the distribution of the average cost of projects by general improvement category. Projects categorized as "Unknown" indicate that there was no general improvement category assigned by the State. Figure 15 through Figure 19 show the breakdown of the number of projects by subcategory for five general improvement categories: Intersection geometry, Intersection traffic control, Pedestrians and bicyclists, Roadway, and Roadside. More detailed tables with the cost spent in each subcategory are available in Appendix B. For ease of reporting, similar subcategories were grouped together. For example, in Figure 15 below, "Auxiliary lanes – other" combines adding acceleration lanes, adding auxiliary through lanes, adding two way left turn lanes, and several other related subcategories.

Figure 11: This figure illustrates the number of projects in the top 11 improvement categories. Roadway is by far the greatest category with 1357 projects followed by intersection traffic control with 751 projects.**Figure 11. Number of Projects by Improvement Category (Top 11)**

Figure 11 shows the number of projects by improvement category (top 11) as classified in the HSIP Reporting Guidance.  Based on the project information reported by the States, the top five improvement categories are roadway, intersection traffic control, roadside, intersection geometry, and roadway signs and traffic control.  In 2016, the top five improvement categories were the same.  The number of projects classified in each category and the ranking of project categories were similar, also, compared to 2016.

Figure 12: This figure shows the number of projects in the bottom 8 improvement categories as classified in the HSIP Reporting Guidance. The greatest categories in this graph were Alignment and Access Management with 65 and 64 projects, respectively.**Figure 12. Number of Projects by Improvement Category (Bottom 8)**

Figure 12 shows the number of projects by improvement category (bottom 8) as classified in the HSIP Reporting Guidance. Note that in 2017 there were no projects reported for work zone, multiple, or animal-related categories.  The number of speed management and advanced technology and ITS projects nearly doubled, and there were half as many interchange design projects.  The remaining bottom-ranking categories were similar to 2016.

Figure 13: This figure shows the average total cost of projects in the top 11 improvement categories. The interchange design category has by far the highest cost at 8.4 million dollars.**Figure 13. Average Total Cost of Projects by Improvement Category (top 11)**

Figure 13 shows the average total cost of projects by improvement category (top 11). It is important to note that, unlike 2016, the average is based only on the number of projects with costs available (projects with deobligated costs and those reporting $0 cost were excluded).  This makes comparisons across years difficult, however, the notable differences in average project costs are below.

Interchange design – several high-cost projects in 2017 shifted this average up from 2016 (decreased from $1.2M in 2016 to $8.4 in 2017).
	Advanced technology and ITS – remained in the top 11 in 2017, but moved down from the top ranking in 2016 (decreased from $7M in 2016 to $.8M in 2017)
	Access management – moved from the bottom 11 in 2016 to the top 11 in 2017 (increased from $618K in 2016 to $1.2M in 2016)
	Pedestrian and cyclists – moved from the bottom 11 in 2016 to the top 11 in 2017 (however, average cost for this category in 2016 was actually higher, at $866K, compared to an average cost of $666,727 in 2017).Figure 14: This figure shows the average total cost of projects in the bottom 8 improvement categories. The highest category in this graph is Roadway delineation with 666 thousand dollars followed closely by non-infrastructure and roadway signs and traffic control with 638 thousand and 587 thousand respectively.**Figure 14. Average Total Cost of Projects by
Improvement Category (bottom 8)**

Based on project information reported by the States (Figure 14), the lowest average HSIP cost projects are in the following categories:

Intersection traffic control; 751 projects with cost information
	Lighting; 93 projects with cost information
	Railroad grade crossings; 42 projects with cost information
	Speed management; 13 projects with cost information
	Parking; 1 project with cost informationFigure 15: This figure is a pie chart of the number of intersection geometry projects by subcategory. The largest slice is intersection geometrics-other/unknown with 182 projects followed by auxiliary lanes-add left turn lane with 136 projects.**Figure 15: Number of Intersection Geometry Projects by Subcategory**

The report highlights further evaluation of the intersection geometry and intersection traffic control categories because in 2017 (as in previous years) they ranked in the top five in terms of number of projects categorized (Figure 15). FHWA has also identified intersections as one of three focus areas for the Focused Approach to Safety effort.

For the Intersection geometry category, most projects are sub categorized as "Intersection geometrics – other/unknown" (41 percent; 182 of 439 projects) or "Auxiliary lanes – add left-turn lane" (31 percent; 136 of 439 projects). Examples of projects in the "Intersection geometrics – other/unknown" subcategory include modify intersection corner radius and general intersection safety improvement projects.  The "Intersection geometrics – other/unknown" subcategory is predominately used without any project description, therefore, no other information is available for these projects.

Figure 16: This figure is a pie chart of the number of traffic control projects by subcategory. The largest slice is modify traffic signal with 261 projects followed by Intersection traffic control-other/unknown and modify control to roundabout with 175 and 145 projects respectively.**Figure 16: Number of Traffic Control Projects by Subcategory**

For the Intersection traffic control category in Figure 16, most projects are subcategorized as "Modify traffic signal" (35 percent; 261 of 751 projects), "Intersection traffic control – other/unknown" (23 percent; 175 of 751 projects), and "Modify control to roundabout" (19 percent; 145 of 751 projects).  Examples of projects in the "Intersection traffic control – other/unknown" category include projects described as signal and stop controlled systemic improvements and general intersection traffic control improvement projects. Examples of projects in the "Modify traffic signal" category include modernization/replacement of traffic signal and adding flashing yellow arrow signals. The "Intersection traffic control – other/unknown" subcategory is predominately used without any project description, therefore, no other information is available for these projects.

Figure 17: This figure is a pie chart of the number of pedestrian and bicyclist projects by subcategory. The largest slice with nearly half of the projects is miscellaneous pedestrian and bicyclist improvements with 86 projects followed by install or modify crosswalk with 41 projects.**Figure 17: Number of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Projects by Subcategory**

The report highlights further evaluation of the pedestrian and bicycle category because infrastructure improvements in this category are of significant interest to various stakeholders (Figure 17). FHWA has also identified pedestrians and bicyclists as one of three focus areas under the Focused Approach to Safety effort.

For the Pedestrians and bicyclists category, most projects are subcategorized as "Miscellaneous pedestrian and bicyclist improvements" (47 percent; 86 of 182 projects) and "Install or modify crosswalk" (23 percent; 41 of 182 projects).  Many of the projects in the "Miscellaneous pedestrian and bicyclist improvements" subcategory do not have any project description; therefore, no other information is available for these projects.

Figure 18: This figure is a pie chart of the number of roadway projects by subcategory. The largest slice with nearly half of the projects is roadway-other/unknown with 660 projects followed by rumble strips with 449 projects.**Figure 18: Number of Roadway Projects by Subcategory**

The report highlights further evaluation of the roadway category because in 2017 (as in previous years) it ranked as the number one category in terms of number of projects categorized (Figure 18). FHWA has also identified roadway departure as one of three focus areas for the Focused Approach to Safety effort.

For the Roadway category, most projects were subcategorized as "Roadway – other/unknown" (49 percent; 660 of 1357 projects) and "Rumble strips" (33 percent; 449 of 1357 projects). Examples of projects in the "Roadway – other/unknown" subcategory were projects such as "restripe to revise separation between opposing lanes and/or shoulder widths".

Figure 19: This figure is a pie chart of the number of roadway projects by subcategory. The largest slice with over half of the projects is the barrier subcategory with 260 projects. It is followed by roadside-other/unknown and removal of roadside objects with 82 and 77 projects, respectively.**Figure 19: Number of Roadside Projects by Subcategory**

The report highlights further evaluation of the roadside category was selected for further evaluation because in 2017 (as in previous years) it ranked in the top five in terms of number of projects categorized and is of recent national interest (Figure 19). For the Roadside category, most projects were subcategorized as "Barrier" (54 percent; 260 of 485 projects), "Roadside – other/unknown" (17 percent; 82 of 485 projects), and "Removal of roadside objects" (16 percent; 77 of 485 projects). Examples of two projects in the "Roadside – other/unknown" subcategory were "Barrier - removal" and "Fencing".
      
  Book traversal links for Improvement Categories and Subcategories
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                Book:HSIP 2017 National Summary Report
              Executive Summary
                Background
                HSIP Funding Approach
                Data-Driven Safety Decision Making
                HSIP Projects Overview
                Project Cost
                Functional Class and Ownership
                Improvement Categories and Subcategories
                SHSP Emphasis Areas
                2013-2016 Comparison
                Comparison to Previous Years
                Benefit-Cost Analysis of the HSIP
                Summary
                Appendix A: Full Description of HSIP Improvement Categories and Sub Categories for 2013 HSIP Reporting Guidance
                Appendix B. Detailed Tables of Project Costs Summaries U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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