Source: NDDOT

ALL PUBLIC ROADS

The Four Pillars 

of FoRRRwD

FHWA-SA-21-084

Roadway departures (aka lane departures) on 

the rural road network account for one-third 

of all traffic fatalities. The Focus on Reducing 

Rural Roadway Departures (FoRRRwD) 

initiative encourages a systemic application of 

countermeasures that help keep vehicles in their 

travel lanes, reduce the potential for crashes, and 

decrease the severity of crashes that do occur. 

FoRRRwD is supported by four pillars that work 

together to reduce rural roadway departures:

 Proven Countermeasures

 Systemic Approach

 Safety Action Plans

 All Public Roads

The national challenges of deaths on rural roads 

requires going beyond the State network of roads. 

While 50 to 60 percent of fatalities happen on roads 

typically maintained by State DOTs, more than 40 

percent of rural roadway departure fatalities are 

scattered across the other 79 percent of the rural 

road mileage. These roads are under the jurisdiction 

of the more than 3,000 counties, 16,000 towns and 

townships, Tribes, or other jurisdictions. Any strategy 

to reduce rural roadway departure deaths that does 

not address these non-State roads is only working 

on a part of the problem. Many agencies have 

adopted a goal to eliminate fatal and serious injury 

crashes. Reaching this goal will require partnerships 

to address the problem on all public roads.

State, local, and Tribal agencies have been 

successful in partnering to reduce the number 

and severity of rural roadway departures on all 

public roads. Some examples of partnerships 

include:

 Providing State funds or sharing federal 

safety funds. 

 Summarizing data or providing crash 

analysis assistance.

 Developing local and Tribal road safety plans.

 Simplifying project application.

 Providing project development assistance.

 Bundling projects or other innovative 

procurement, contracting, or 

maintenance methods.

30 people will die today from rural 

roadway departure crashes. Let’s save 

the people behind the numbers.

https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/FoRRRwD/
Washington State Provides Funding and 

Data for Local Agencies

Washington State Department of Transportation 

(WSDOT) splits its HSIP funding with local agencies 

in a data-driven manner. The HSIP funds are 

used to address the highest priority infrastructure 

areas in the State’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan 

(SHSP), which includes lane departure crashes. 

The funds are divided based on the jurisdictional 

split of fatal and suspected serious injury crashes, 

so that the State receives 30 percent of HSIP 

funds, and the remaining 70 percent is allocated 

to local agencies. To apply for the HSIP funds, a 

local agency must develop an LRSP that identifies 

the proposed improvement. As of 2021, 37 of 

39 counties and 52 cities in Washington have 

developed their own plan.

To support local 

agencies in diagnosing 

safety issues on their 

roadway network, WSDOT 

provides each county 

with a summary of their 

crash data, including 

a comparison to all 

roads and county roads. 

Counties are responsible 

for collecting roadway 

and volume data that is 

maintained in a statewide 

database. In addition, 

WSDOT has used the HSIP 

funding to assist the local 

agencies develop their 

plans. Since 2013, over 

$1.8 million has been invested to collect geometric, 

roadside, sign inventory, and other data for 

agencies that identified this in their plans. 

The State also uses the summary data to provide 

graphical information, including GIS maps that 

can be used in their plan. Agencies have used this 

information to identify facility types as well as risk 

factors as part of the systemic approach to safety. 

Since 2014, when LRSPs were required, serious 

crashes on county roads have remained stable 

while these crashes have increased on both the 

State and City systems. 

Safer Louisiana Parishes

Beginning in 2006, the Louisiana Department 

of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) 

partnered with the Louisiana Local Technical 

Assistance Program (LTAP) to establish the Local 

Road Safety (LRS) Program, which assists parishes 

and municipalities in eliminating deaths and serious 

injuries on locally owned roadways. The LRS Program 

allocates approximately $3 million annually for local 

road safety improvements. The LRS Program uses 

Section 154/164 penalty funds at 100 percent federal 

funding for construction engineering and inspection 

costs on projects, which alleviates the financial 

burden on the local agency. Louisiana also has 

nine Regional Safety Coalitions 

that cover the entire State and 

Coalition Coordinators are 

tasked with addressing goals 

of the Strategic Highway Safety 

Plan and Destination Zero 

Deaths initiatives. 

The Louisiana LTAP found that 

91 percent of all local road 

crashes occurred in 20 of the 64 

parishes in the State. The State 

then funded development of 

local road safety plans (LRSPs) 

through the Regional Safety 

Coalitions for these 20 parishes. The LTAP conducted 

data analyses and provided crash profiles to the 

parishes, which led to a prioritized list of candidate 

sites for implementation. The State also allocated HSIP 

and research funds over several years to collect and 

process local road inventory data, which in turn allows 

better-informed decisions to support safety initiatives. 

Since 2006, LADOTD has funded 101 LRS Program 

projects in 40 parishes, totaling almost $17 million, 

and approximately 20 projects are in the design 

phase (as of June 2021). LADOTD assists with 

project bundling as well, saving costs to install 

countermeasures over jurisdictional lines. For 

example, plans from St. Landry Parish and St. Martin 

Parish included a total of almost 37 miles of signs 

and pavement markings. The parishes applied for 

these projects separately; however, due to these 

parishes being in close proximity, LADOTD recognized 

an opportunity to bundle these projects resulting 

in lower overall costs as opposed to letting two 

separate contracts.

Noteworthy Practices

The following are examples of how State, local, and Tribal transportation agencies have 

successfully partnered to improve roadway safety in their areas. By combining funding 

opportunities with technical assistance, these agencies were able to target key locations 

and strategically deploy roadway departure countermeasures. The results have led to safer 

roads with fewer fatalities and serious injuries.

Figure 1. Breakdown of 

fatal and serious injury 

crashes by area, which 

is used to determine 

allocation of HSIP funding. 

Source: recreated from 

WSDOT presentation.

Figure 2. 20 parishes in 

Louisiana account for 91% of 

local road crashes. Source: 

recreated from Louisiana 

LTAP presentation.
Figure 4. Screenshot of ICAT displaying fatal and injury 

crashes from 2016-2021. Source: Iowa DOT.

FoRRRwD Thinking in North Dakota

In North Dakota, half of the roadway fatalities occur 

on the locally-owned network. As a Vision Zero 

State, North Dakota Department of Transportation 

(NDDOT) looked at the data and realized that 

they could not achieve zero fatalities if they did 

not include and address the local and Tribal road 

systems. In response, they assisted the agencies to 

develop local road safety plans (LRSPs) for each 

of the counties, major cities, and Tribes. These 

plans were funded with federal Highway Safety 

Improvement Program (HSIP) funds. The State then 

made 50 percent of the HSIP funding available for 

implementation of the plans, which is proportional to 

the split of fatalities between State and local roads. 

Some counties completed LRSP projects using their 

own funds, making the plans even more impactful 

than just HSIP funding would have allowed.

NDDOT simplifies the application process for local 

agencies using an online one-page form, which 

includes information such as crash data, roadway 

characteristics, risk factors, and costs of proposed 

safety improvements. To further simplify the project 

application process, projects that were identified 

in an LRSP are pre-approved with the form already 

filled out as part of the LRSP. Agencies do still need to 

apply so that the funding will be available when the 

local agency is ready to perform or contract the work.

As a result of the program, counties have installed 

roadway departure countermeasures such as curve 

warning signs and rumble strips. Many of these 

improvements were bundled in county-wide and 

multi-county projects. In some cases, work on county 

routes were included in nearby State projects.

Crash records for local rural roads indicated that 

serious injury crashes involving curves and lane 

departures were reduced by 21 percent and 14 

percent, respectively, after implementing the program. 

To learn more about North Dakota’s Safety plan, visit: 

https://visionzero.nd.gov/safety-plans/.

Iowa HSIP-Secondary Program

The Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) 

allocates funding to local agencies through its 

Highway Safety Improvement Program Secondary 

(HSIP-S) program, which swaps $2 million of Federalaid funds with State funds to alleviate burdens on 

counties. HSIP-S promotes the installation of low-cost, 

systemic improvements that are proven to reduce 

fatal and serious injuries for lane departure and 

intersection crashes.

The Iowa LTAP collaborates with Iowa DOT to provide 

access to data (such as crash, roadway inventory, 

traffic volumes), and training for data analysis. The 

State provides crash data to internal and external 

customers through an online, map-based tool 

named the Iowa Crash Analysis Tool (ICAT). ICAT 

includes all crashes and related variables captured 

on crash reports, with the ability to filter desired 

attributes. The LTAP created tutorial videos on how to 

use the tool and trains county personnel on an ad 

hoc basis. Many county personnel have become 

proficient with ICAT and are able to screen their own 

network, diagnose safety issues, and select projects 

to apply for HSIP funding. 

To simplify the HSIP-S application process, the Iowa 

DOT created a one-page online form with prepopulated proven safety countermeasures but 

allows any suitable countermeasures. Iowa DOT 

also funded local road safety plans (LRSPs) for 59 

counties (out of 99 total) that expressed interest. 

LRSPs are not required to receive HSIP funds but 

can simplify the application process by prioritizing 

locations and projects for implementation.

Figure 3. An example from the Cass County LRSP 

shows crash overrepresentation based on curve radius.

Source: NDDOT.
Transferring Funds to Improve Safety 

on Tribal Roads 

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) 

makes federal HSIP funding available to all 

agencies that own and maintain roadways. Access 

to these federal funds is made simpler for Tribal 

agencies through the transfer of HSIP funds from 

the State to the Tribal Transportation Program (TTP), 

which is the normal mechanism for Tribal agencies 

to receive transportation funding. With this transfer, 

ADOT gives responsibility for administering funds to 

the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Federal 

Highway Administration (FHWA).

The Colorado River Indian Tribe applied for and 

received HSIP funding (which was then transferred 

to TTP funds) to address roadway departure 

crashes on Ehrenberg-Parker-Mohave Road, a 39-

mile two-lane rural road with average annual daily 

traffic less than 2,000 vehicles per day. From 2011-

2015, there were five fatal and two serious injury 

roadway departure crashes. To address this issue, 

the Tribe will incorporate center line and shoulder 

rumble strips with restriping, as well as transverse 

rumble strips and pavement markings at two 

intersections, and signage at another intersection 

to help reduce speeds.

ADOT also provides ongoing technical assistance 

to Tribal agencies to improve roadway safety. ADOT 

conducts network screenings, delivers workshops/

trainings on data analysis, and supports HSIP 

applications. Tribal agencies often apply for funds 

to conduct road safety audits (RSAs), which are set 

up by ADOT. 

Indiana HELPERS Support Local 

Road Safety

Over half of Indiana’s roadway departure fatalities 

occur on local roads. The Indiana Department 

of Transportation (INDOT) provides 33 percent of 

the HSIP funds to improve safety on local roads. In 

addition, to support local agencies, especially rural 

counties, staff from INDOT and the LTAP provide 

assistance through the Hazard Elimination Program 

for Existing Roads and Streets (HELPERS) program. 

LTAP’s services through HELPERS include crash data 

analysis, completing HSIP project applications, 

conducting road safety audits, providing on-site 

training, and developing LRSPs.

Although any government agency that 

maintains roadways has access to the statewide 

crash database, many counties do not have 

resources to conduct safety data analyses 

to screen the network, diagnose issues, and 

select countermeasures. The LTAP supports 

these agencies by creating crash data profiles, 

developing crash trees for systemic safety analysis, 

and building heat maps indicating areas with the 

most potential to improve safety.

The LTAP promotes systemic improvements through 

risk factor identification (i.e., roadway characteristics 

overrepresented in crashes, like traffic volume 

or speed limits) and provides assistance with 

completing INDOT HSIP applications. The HSIP 

online application form for systemic safety projects 

is straightforward, easy to complete, and includes 

a list of 25 eligible systemic countermeasures 

(e.g., guardrail, pavement markings, rumble strips, 

signing) that are proven to reduce fatalities and 

serious injuries. If an agency’s project is deemed 

eligible for HSIP funds, they will retain eligibility 

indefinitely until funding is available. 

Figure 5. Mohave Road Study Area between the towns 

of Parker and Ehrenberg. Source: FHWA.

Resources

Roadway Departure Safety https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway_dept/

All Public Roads https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/FoRRRwD/allpublicroads.cfm 

LTAP Center https://nltapa.org/regions/

Figure 6. Before and after curve safety improvements that 

include centerline marking, guardrail, and cutting back 

vegetation to improve sight distance. Source: Indiana LTAP.