Data Drives Pedestrian Safety 

Improvements in Oregon

Oregon Department of Transportation

KEY ELEMENTS:

Dedicated bike/ped funding

Hot spot and systemic analyses

The All Roads Transportation Safety (ARTS) Program 

is the Oregon Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) 

two-pronged data-driven approach to identify locations 

most appropriate for countermeasure implementation, 

including improvements at uncontrolled pedestrian 

crossings. 

PROGRAM STRUCTURE AND METHODOLOGIES

The program uses traffic safety data, 

roadway characteristics, economic analysis, 

and other factors to recommend roadway 

and pedestrian safety improvements. ARTS 

reserves approximately 7 percent of funding 

for bicycle and pedestrian projects. 

The ARTS program incorporates two datadriven methodologies for identifying 

improvement projects: systemic and hot spot 

analyses. The objective of both approaches 

is for each region to identify safety projects 

and create project lists that represent 300 

percent of available ARTS funding.

The systemic approach uses crash 

history and roadway characteristics to 

prioritize locations for countermeasure 

implementation. ODOT first identifies 

corridors that present systemic safety risks 

based on factors such as curves, speeds, 

number of lanes, and access to transit. 

The State’s five regions then use that list to 

create applications for improvements under 

three categories: roadway departures, 

intersections, and bicycle and pedestrian 

projects. ODOT regions work with local 

public agencies to conduct economic 

analyses of the proposed improvement 

projects (either a benefit-cost ratio or a costeffectiveness ratio) using ODOT-approved 

countermeasures. 

The hot spot methodology is informed by 

5 years of crash history. ODOT geocodes 

crash locations and weights the severity of 

crashes, ranging from 1 point (for property 

damage only incidents) to 100 points 

(fatal crashes). Regions, counties, and 

local governments create project ARTS 

applications from these concentrated 

crash locations and prepare submissions. 

Like the systemic approach, the hot spot 

methodology requires a benefit-cost analysis 

of ODOT-approved countermeasures.

Figure 1. ODOT regions.1

For more information, please contact:

Oregon DOT, 503.986.6625, 

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Engineering/Pages/ARTS.aspx

 SAFE TRANSPORTATION FOR EVERY PEDESTRIAN CASE STUDY
Case Study: Data Drives Pedestrian Safety Improvements in Oregon

EDC-4 STEP: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_4/step.cfm

“The ARTS process is about using a data driven 

process to get the best return for the investment. 

The public doesn’t care if they are on a state 

highway, city street or county road, they just want 

safe roads to drive and walk on.” 

–Douglas Bish, ODOT Traffic-Roadway Section 

Engineer

PRIORITIZATION PROCESS FOR IMPROVEMENTS

After each region identifies and submits 

a list of systemic and hot spot projects, 

ODOT works with local agencies to prioritize 

project applications that, when combined, 

require 1.5 times the available funding. The 

review is an iterative process; transportation 

and safety experts conduct multidisciplinary assessments of anticipated 

safety benefits and project costs of each 

project application. Projects are then 

reprioritized and the top ranked projects 

within funding constraints are selected. 

Project funding is determined by a 

combination of factors, including federal 

requirements and ARTS programmatic 

decisions. Local agencies with approved 

ARTS projects must provide a 7.78 percent 

financial match to qualify for federal HSIP 

funding. The State assigns funding for each 

region based on the region's proportion 

of fatal and serious injury crashes. ODOT’s 

available funding for the 2017-2021 

program cycle was $163 million.2

 The State 

divides funds equally between systemic and 

hot spot projects. Systemic project funding 

is further divided into roadway departure 

(50 percent), intersection (36 percent), and 

Bicycle and Pedestrian (14 percent).3 

IMPORTANCE OF LOCAL COORDINATION

Local agency coordination and 

cooperation are essential to the success of 

ARTS. First, local and county governments 

must submit ARTS applications and 

respond to ODOT information requests. 

Second, the local agency is expected 

to provide a financial match (typically 

7.78 percent) for selected improvement 

projects. If these conditions are not met, 

it is unlikely that a community will benefit 

from the ARTS program.

Figure 2. Pedestrian refuge island funded by ARTS Program.4

References

1. Oregon Department of Transportation. http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Regions/Pages/index.aspx

2. Oregon Department of Transportation, “ARTS Program FAQs”, (2015) http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Engineering/TRSDocs/ARTS_FAQ.pdf

3. Oregon Department of Transportation, “ODOT ARTS Program - Hot Spot,” (2015) http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Engineering/TRSDocs/ARTS_Hot%20Spot_FinalReport_Final.pdf 

4. Bish, Doug, Interview, Oregon Department of Transportation, 16 Oct. 2017