THE HIGHWAY SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (HSIP) 2021

HSIP in 2021

FHWA’s PSCs—many of which are low cost—have the potential to dramatically improve safety at a given location or 

across a wide area. HSIP helped fund hundreds of projects dedicated to proven safety countermeasures in 2021.1 

Here are just a few:

1 Project number comes from the 2021 State HSIP reports. Potential impacts are from FHWA, Making Our Roads Safer: One Countermeasure at a Time (October 2021), https://safety.fhwa.

dot.gov/provencountermeasures/pdf/FHWA-SA-21-071_PSC%20Booklet.pdf.

18 MEDIAN AND REFUGE 

PROJECTS

Projects included median and 

refuge islands with marked 

crossings.

Installing medians with marked 

crosswalks can reduce pedestrian 

crashes by up to 46 percent. 

Installing pedestrian refuge 

islands can reduce pedestrian 

crashes by up to 56 percent.

318 LIGHTING PROJECTS

Projects included lighting along 

roadways, horizontal curves, 

interchanges, intersections, or 

pedestrian crosswalks. 

Installing lighting at intersections 

can reduce nighttime pedestrian 

injury crashes by up to 42 percent.

159

16 REDUCED LEFTTURN CONFLICT

INTERSECTIONS PROJECTS

Projects included median U-turns 

(MUTs) and restricted crossing 

U-turns (RCUTs).

Replacing a two-way stopcontrolled intersection with an 

RCUT can reduce fatal and injury 

crashes by up to 54 percent.

This information comes from 2021 State HSIP reports. The database only counts reported codes specific to a PSC. FHWA estimates the 

number of projects that incorporate PSCs to be much higher. To view individual reports, visit https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/hsip/reports/.To 

view individual reports, visit https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/hsip/reports/.

ROUNDABOUT 

PROJECTS

Projects included roundabouts 

as replacements for stop- and 

signal-controlled intersections. 

Replacing a two-way stopcontrolled intersection with 

a roundabout can reduce 

fatal and injury crashes 

by up to 82 percent.

HSIP Funds Proven Safety Countermeasures

In 2021

HSIP funded 

more than 

1,300 projects 

dedicated to 

Proven Safety 

Countermeasures.

Improvements That Get Results

FHWA has identified and promotes widespread use of 28 Proven Safety Countermeasures 

(PSCs), which can offer significant, measurable impacts as part of any agency’s 

data-driven, systemic approach to improving safety. Most PSCs are eligible for 

HSIP funding and can help State, local, and Tribal agencies take a Safe System 

Approach and achieve significant, measurable safety improvements on their 

roadways. Agencies can widely implement these PSCs across all projects.

These strategies are designed to enhance safety on all kinds of roads—from rural to 

urban, high-volume freeways to less-traveled county roads, signalized crossings to 

horizontal curves, and everything in between. Each PSC addresses at least one of 

four safety focus areas: speed management, intersections, roadway departures, 

or pedestrians and bicyclists. Crosscutting strategies address multiple areas.

For more on PSCs, visit https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/provencountermeasures/.
To find out how HSIP can help 

save lives in your community, 

contact your State DOT:

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/

about/webstate.cfm

Have an HSIP success story? Share your projects on Facebook, 

Twitter, and Instagram with #HSIPSavesLives.

Countermeasures Selection Tool

2 FHWA and the Roadway Safety Foundation, Noteworthy Practices Guide: 2021 National Roadway Safety Awards: Winners (2021), https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadwaysafetyawards/2021_

AwardsNPG_Final.pdf.

Practitioners can use FHWA’s online resource to 

identify which of the 28 PSCs best suit a particular 

safety challenge. This online resource contains 

a booklet that details how each countermeasure 

can be deployed and other considerations for 

practitioners. Additionally, an online selection tool 

helps users evaluate prospective countermeasures 

by roadway area, functional classification, focus 

area, vehicle volume, problem, and crash types.

To use this tool, please visit https://safety.fhwa.dot.

gov/provencountermeasures/PSCFilter.

HSIP in Action

FHWA-SA-22-075 

Serious Crashes

PROBLEM

A Variety of 

Low-Cost 

Systemic Safety 

Improvements

SOLUTION

Community-Wide Roadway Safety Improvements

THE VILLAGE OF WHITEFISH BAY, WISCONSIN

Crash rates in the Village of Whitefish Bay, a small community outside Milwaukee in southeast Wisconsin, had been 

trending upward since 2010. The village experienced many right-angle and run-off-the-road crashes as well as crashes 

involving vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and bicyclists. For example, a woman was killed in 2015 when a rearended car was pushed into a crosswalk.

Using HSIP funding, Whitefish Bay applied many low-cost countermeasures across the community, including dynamic 

speed feedback signs, fine warning plaques, and new yield signs ahead of crosswalks. The Village also installed highfriction surface treatments on curves, leading pedestrian intervals at signals, and rectangular rapid flashing beacons at 

crosswalks near curves. Better street lighting, updated signal equipment and timing, and high-visibility crosswalks also 

helped improve safety for Whitefish Bay’s residents and visitors.

In the 5 years since 2015, Whitefish Bay estimates that the improvements have resulted in a reduction of 8 vehicle 

crashes involving pedestrians or bicyclists, 480 crashes prevented, and 257 fewer law enforcement responses.2

RESULT

39% Crash 

Reduction