CONTACT: Cathy Gillen

November 16, 2015 (443) 463-4449

cathy@thegillengroup.com

STATES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS HONORED ON CAPITOL HILL FOR 

INNOVATIVE, LIFESAVING ROADWAY SAFETY PROGRAMS

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today on Capitol Hill, the Roadway Safety Foundation (RSF) and the 

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) honored 10 exemplary highway safety projects and 

programs from across the country with National Roadway Safety Awards. 

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motor vehicle crashes are a 

leading cause of death with more than 33,000 fatalities and 2.3 million injuries each year. These 

prestigious award winners are credited for the development of innovative, lifesaving safety 

programs to help lessen the toll of highway fatalities and injuries on our Nation’s roadways 

through excellence and innovation in operations, planning, and design improvements. 

“The roadway safety innovations that we recognize here today address key obstacles facing our 

country as we look to modernize our transportation infrastructure,” said U.S. Transportation 

Deputy Secretary Victor Mendez. “I commend all of today’s winners for their efforts to enhance 

safety and save lives on our nation’s roadways.” 

The National Roadway Safety Award recipients were evaluated on three criteria: 1) 

Effectiveness, 2) Innovation, and 3) Efficient Use of Resources. There were two award 

categories: 1) Infrastructure and Operational Improvements and 2) Program Planning, 

Development, and Evaluation.

"The innovative highway safety projects honored today are vital because deficiencies in the 

roadway environment contribute to nearly one-third of all traffic deaths," said Roadway Safety 

Foundation Executive Director Gregory M. Cohen. "The National Roadway Safety Awards are 

an opportunity to recognize the unsung heroes who plan, engineer and implement creative 

measures to help save lives on a daily basis and rarely receive credit for doing so." 
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The following are the 2015 National Roadway Safety Award Honorees: 

 Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department, Clark County, Ark.: In 

recognition for improving interstate safety with pavement surface treatments to reduce 

deaths and injuries in wet weather conditions. In four years, the improved pavement 

texture lowered wet weather crashes from 70 to five, a 93 percent reduction on a 4-mile 

segment of Arkansas’ Interstate 30.

 Florida Department of Transportation, Tampa Bay, Fla.: In recognition for its

vehicle-mounted Advanced Lighting Measurement System, which has revolutionized 

how the state collects road lighting data and allowed the agency to collect 250 miles of 

roadway lighting data in just a few months, rather than a few years. This data can 

identify areas of risk when comparing low-light conditions to the number of crashes in a 

particular area. 

 Florida Department of Transportation, Statewide, Headquartered in Tallahassee, 

Fla.: In recognition for its “Safe Mobility for Life Coalition,” an alliance of agencies, 

universities, and interest groups that identifies both engineering and behavioral solutions 

to improve the safety, access, and mobility for Florida’s aging population. The coalition 

addresses infrastructure modifications, increased visibility, pedestrian-friendly 

intersections, advanced signing, human factors, education and training.

 Michigan Department of Transportation, Statewide, Headquartered in Lansing, 

Mich.: In recognition for its statewide non-freeway rumble strip initiative to install 

rumble strips on all non-freeway high-speed and rural roads from 2008-2010. This 

initiative is credited with reducing total target crashes by 47 percent and fatal crashes by 

51 percent, as shown by a comparison of crash data from the three years post installation 

to that from the three years prior to rumble strips installation. 

 Montana Department of Transportation, Statewide, Headquartered in Helena, 

Mont.: In recognition for its roadway departure study and safety information 

management system developed to analyze areas of concern contributing to Montana’s 70 

percent rate of fatal crashes due to lane departure. The tool can be used for more in-depth 

safety reviews and increase safety in Montana’s planning, maintenance and operation 

procedures.

 Orange County Public Works Department, Orange County, Fla.: In recognition for 

its Texas-Americana road safety small-area study to evaluate a cluster of intersections 

and roadways with high crash rates. The road safety audit revealed infrastructure issues 

and behavioral needs resulting in a bicycle helmet promotion and giveaway where 

children were fitted for free helmets, a community forum to present the findings to the 
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public and the identification of low-cost maintenance activities such as sidewalk repair 

and vegetation management to improve the safety of the area.

 Texas Department of Transportation, San Antonio, Texas: In recognition for the 

“San Antonio TransGuide Wrong-Way Driver Project” in partnership with the City of 

San Antonio Police Department to prevent wrong-way crashes. Working with Texas 

A&M Transportation Institute, the partners identified a 15-mile segment as the highest 

occurrence for wrong-way crashes on US 281. To address this issue, the agencies 

installed illuminated warning signs and used radar-based sensors that detect the direction, 

speed and location of wrong-way drivers to issue real-time alerts to law enforcement. 

The project decreased the number of wrong-way events by 31 percent.

 Virginia Department of Transportation, Reston, Va.: In recognition for the agency’s

“Road Diets in Reston” projects, which were designed to increase safety by reducing the 

number of lanes on a 2-mile segment of both Lawyers Road and Soapstone Road. The 

two roads each carry 10,000 vehicles per day and were prone to excessive speeding. 

After project completion, crashes decreased by 69 percent on Lawyers Road and 67 

percent on Soapstone Drive.

 Virginia Department of Transportation, Richmond, Va.: In recognition for the 

deployment of highway safety improvement projects using Virginia-specific Safety 

Performance Functions (SPF). Safety performance functions are developed by engineers 

who use a tool that can determine the expected performance level of a roadway. Those 

expected levels are then compared to the observed performance of the roadway to 

identify the Potential for Safety Improvement (PSI). Locations with the greatest PSI 

generally have the highest priority for treatment, facilitating the deployment of safety 

projects in locations where they will do the most good. 

 Washington State Department of Transportation, Olympia, Wash.: In recognition 

for its “2014 County Safety Program,” which requires counties to develop data-driven 

local road safety plans before they can apply for Highway Safety Improvement Program

funding. The agency provided the counties with training and a summary of data that 

prioritized crash types, roadway characteristics and conditions in comparison to other 

counties. Nearly 80 percent of Washington’s 39 counties submitted safety plans,

resulting in increased local engagement and funding for high-priority locations around 

the State.

This year’s Blue Ribbon Panel Judges included: Gregory M. Cohen, executive director, 

Roadway Safety Foundation; King W. Gee, director of engineering and technical services, 

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; Mike Griffith, director, 

Office of Safety Technologies, FHWA Office of Safety, Federal Highway Administration 

(FHWA); Peter Kissinger, president & CEO, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety; Bernardo 
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Kleiner, senior program officer and transportation safety specialist, Transportation Research 

Board; Jennifer Smith, director, Image and Brands, Michelin; Marie B. Walsh, PhD, director, 

Louisiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP); Terecia Wilson, senior fellow, Clemson 

University Institute for Global Road Safety and Security.

For complete details on each of the winners, and for more information on the national awards 

program, visit http://www.safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadwaysafetyawards/.

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