Tennessee’s Approach to Transportation Safety Planning 

Project Background 

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Offices of Safety and Planning, in coordination with FHWA Division 

Offices and several Departments of Transportation (DOT), conducted a series of workshops to assist state DOTs, 

regional planning organizations, and local representatives in integrating safety into the transportation planning 

process. The purpose of these events was to discuss the basic elements of transportation planning and strategies to 

integrate safety into this process; learn about national and state-specific tools and resources; share practices and 

identify challenges; and identify key takeaways (strategies) that organizations could use to make improvements and 

help achieve a zero deaths goal. The effort involved a pre-workshop webinar to identify each state’s safety planning 

priorities, workshops, follow-up technical assistance webinars, and finally a peer exchange with all the participating 

states to share successful practices among the states and broaden collaboration. 

In Tennessee, the Department of Transportation (TDOT) was joined by nearly 50 safety stakeholders from the DOT, 

the state highway safety office, and regional planning organizations at a workshop in February 2020 to learn how to 

improve safety through Tennessee’s transportation planning process. The effort, sponsored by FHWA and hosted by 

the FHWA Tennessee Division Office, involved a pre-workshop webinar, an in-person workshop, and a follow-up 

technical assistance webinar. 

Tennessee’s Transportation Safety Planning Highlights 

The Transportation Safety Planning Workshop helped 

focus attention on the safety planning work that is already 

happening in Tennessee. This gave participants 

information about tools being successfully implemented 

in their state, including the following: 

• There are available safety data resources at www.tntrafficsafety.org including crash data dashboards, daily

fatality reports, fatal crash locations, trend analysis, and statistics by county. Tennessee’s Integrated Traffic

Analysis Network (TITAN) includes specific data on crashes including location, environment, roadway, factors,

severity, and demographics.

• A new software, TITAN 2.0, is being used to improve data quality including determining if police departments

are having issues with road names or location data, resulting in a loss of data. All crash reports must now be

submitted electronically as required by a law passed in January of 2015. Officer training on reporting crashes

has improved the crash data.

• An interactive bicycle and pedestrian crash web portal was created by the Knoxville Regional Transportation

Planning Organization (TPO) that details all bicycle and pedestrian crashes, provides heat maps, and includes

information on crash factors. This helps inform when and where safety projects are undertaken. The Pedestrian

Road Safety Initiative also uses Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funds for pedestrian safety

projects.

• The scoring of transportation projects by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency (RPA)

uses crash analysis to develop scores for prioritizing and selecting projects. The effort also includes

countermeasures to address Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) safety emphasis areas including where

improvements are needed to address bicycle and pedestrian crashes.

Source: Tennessee Highway Safety Office 

Source: Getty Images

TRANSPORTATION SAFETY 

PLANNING WORKSHOP 

Communicating, Collaborating, and

Coordinating to Advance TSP in Tennessee
Tennessee’s Notable Practices in Transportation Safety Planning 

Prioritizing Pedestrian Safety 

TDOT recognized that it needed an approach to improve safety and access for people walking, biking, and taking 

transit. One of its first actions was to publish a new Multimodal Project Scoping Manual to help decide priorities and 

ways to include Complete Street elements on projects. TDOT also recognized that just repaving a road could be a 

missed opportunity and urged improving conditions for people walking and biking be part of resurfacing projects. 

The Department also created tools to prioritize pedestrian needs through a Pedestrian Safety Corridor that helps 

with evaluating and prioritizing projects. The evaluation and prioritization are based on the frequency of pedestrian 

and bicycle crashes, equity in terms of the location in relation to populations that may have difficulty accessing 

resources, demand in areas with the potential for higher pedestrian activity, and an evaluation of the road’s existing 

physical and operational characteristics. 

Communicating the Safety Story 

WalknBike Nashville engaged in an active public engagement process to obtain participation and feedback on 

improvements for walking and bicycling in the city that were included in the WalknBike Plan. The public 

engagement, which occurred over several months, resulted in the creation of a project website: WalknBike Nashville; 

two open house events; and two surveys that were conducted in the spring and summer. Some unique techniques to 

communicate safety included the use of interactive maps to see where crashes and near misses were occurring; a 

Mayor’s Transit Triathlon; pop-up events across Davidson County; a social media campaign; and numerous 

community meetings. The goals for the WalknBike plan were to improve access and equity, network connectivity, 

and safety. The implementation of Vision Zero to reduce traffic crashes in Nashville was also a result of the plan. 

Safety Planning, Implementation, and Awareness 

The City of Memphis addressed safety through the implementation of a Pedestrian and School Safety Action Plan 

that focused on increasing awareness about the safety of children walking to and from school. In addition to 

increasing pedestrian safety in and around schools, the plan also addressed pedestrian safety in areas close to parks, 

community centers, and libraries. The development of the plan was conducted by a Transportation Advisory 

Committee made up of stakeholders and key groups from throughout the city who provided direction and feedback 

during the planning process. The project team also conducted stakeholder interviews to identify key issues and 

needs that were incorporated into the plan. The plan utilized a transparent, data-driven prioritization methodology 

to identify the sidewalks and pedestrian crossings serving schools. 

Next Steps for Transportation Safety Planning in Tennessee 

Participants in the Tennessee workshop identified several opportunities to pursue in the future. Following is a list 

of high-level next steps the state is planning on conducting as they work toward greater safety integration into the 

transportation planning process. 

• Engagement: Engage safety experts or individuals with planning process knowledge and improve partnerships 

among government agencies, law enforcement, engineers, planners, etc., on safety planning initiatives. 

• Data: Develop a data warehouse and a standardized method of processing data and disseminate/share the 

information with stakeholders. 

• Training: Provide training on identifying safety issues and needs, network screening and analysis, the project 

prioritization process, and creating quality crash maps. 

• Project Prioritization: Develop a template or standardized approach to identify crash locations and incorporate 

results into project prioritization process and a track, evaluate, and review safety criteria for project 

prioritization methodologies.

FHWA-SA-22-048