PARTNERSHIPS TO USE HIGH RISK RURAL ROAD SPECIAL RULE FUNDS: 

Noteworthy Practice

Successful Collaboration with Federal, State, and local agencies in Colorado 

Also referred to as Cottonwood Pass Road, 

County Road 306 is surrounded mostly by forest, 

with the San Isabel National Forest to the east 

and the Gunnison National Forest to the west.

When Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) learned the State had triggered the High Risk Rural 

Roads (HRRR) Special Rule (SR) in 2017, the agency identified an innovative way to obligate its HRRR funds. 

In 2017, CDOT, Chaffee County, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Central Federal Lands 

Highway Division (CFLHD) joined forces with a common goal of improving safety along County Road 306, 

which is a curvy, high mountain pass road in south-central Colorado. Classified as a rural local road, County 

Road 306 carries less than 2,000 vehicles per day, with portions of the road closed during the winter season.

Chaffee County had received a Federal Lands Access Program grant and was collaborating with FHWACFLHD on a roadway improvement project for County Road 306. Meanwhile, CDOT staff had also been 

working with Chaffee County on ways to fund safety improvements along the county road. When CDOT 

data analysts reviewed the crash history and crash patterns along County Road 306, the results indicated 

roadway departure crashes were common. CDOT analysts confirmed that implementing low cost 

countermeasures and safety strategies (signing, striping, and guardrail improvements) could reduce these 

types of crashes by 20 percent and result in a benefit cost ratio of 1.56, exceeding Colorado’s typical benefit 

cost threshold for safety improvement projects. 

Source: FHWA
HIGH RISK RURAL ROAD SPECIAL RULE FUNDS · COLL ABORATION

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov FHWA-SA-19-035

Initially, CDOT thought Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) 

funds could be the solution; however, in 2017, FHWA notified CDOT 

that the HRRR SR would apply to Colorado in fiscal year 2018, which 

required CDOT to obligate a certain amount of funds to HRRR1 in 

the State. CDOT realized the project on County Road 306 presented 

a perfect opportunity for obligating HRRR funds. CDOT’s regional 

and headquarter staff worked with the FHWA Colorado Division 

Office to transfer HRRR funds to FHWA-CFLHD to fund the safety 

improvements. FHWA-CFLHD administered the project on County 

Road 306 in cooperation with Chaffee County, the U.S. Forest Service, 

Pike National Forest, and San Isabel National Forest. The project was 

completed in the Summer of 2019.

David Swenka, CDOT’s Safety Programs and Analysis Engineer, stated 

that, overall, the project was an example of innovative partnering 

efforts and successful collaboration to improve safety and help reduce crashes along a high risk rural road. 

CDOT plans to evaluate the project’s effect on safety when more years of after-crash data are available. CDOT 

understood the value of matching a problem to a solution and found an innovative way to apply HRRR SR funds 

and save lives.

Project Details

Overseen by FHWA-CFLHD, the project on County Road 306 included roadway rehabilitation and resurfacing funded 

by the Federal Land Access Program grant, as well as safety improvements made possible by HRRR SR funds. 

1 FHWA Office of Safety Programs, Highway Safety Improvement Program, 

High Risk Rural Roads. Available online at: https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/hsip/hrrr/.

In Colorado, high risk rural roads 

(HRRR) are defined as roadways 

with crash rates for fatalities and 

incapacitating injuries exceeding 

the statewide average on rural 

major or minor collectors, or rural 

local roads, or roadways likely to 

have increases in traffic volume 

which are likely to create a crash 

rate above the statewide average 

for the respective roadway 

functional classes.

Source: Colorado Strategic Highway Safety Plan

Chaffey County, Colorado

18.5 miles on County Road 306

Upgraded guardrail systems.

Installed signing and striping.

Applied SafetyEdgeSM technology for asphalt surfacing.

Constucted 6-foot-wide bike lane on portion of roadway to 

connect with existing bike lanes in Buena Vista. 

Safety Improvements included:

Google Maps, 2018

Google Maps, 2018

Source: FHWA

Source: Information provided by David Swenka, Colorado Department of Transportation.