The industry-wide opportunity to work together on ways to improve transportation safety for all users proved to be a key benefit for the attendees gathered at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials 2025 Safety Summit and Peer Exchange, held October 28-30 in New Orleans.
[Above photo by AASHTO]
“The Safety Summit has become a major event not just for AASHTO but for the entire transportation community,” noted Jim Tymon, AASHTO’s executive director, during the event’s opening session on October 28.
“There is no higher priority among state departments of transportation and AASHTO than ensuring the safety of all users of the nation’s transportation networks,” he said. “It is critical to use all of the resources at our disposal to ensure everyone travels safely on our transportation system.”
Kristina Boardman, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and chair of the AASHTO Committee on Safety, added that the summit serves to bring together professionals from many transportation disciplines to work collaboratively on the goal of reaching zero fatalities and injuries.
“The emphasis is on the peer exchange portion of the meeting, so we [state DOTs] learn about what researchers and our partners are doing to improve safety,” she said.
Glenn Ledet, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development – which hosted the summit – stressed in his remarks that it is “great to see the entire state DOT network come together” at the annual Safety Summit to work on safety themes related to education, research, and infrastructure design.
He highlighted the construction of a divergent diamond interchange two years ago at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport as example of this safety mindset in action.
“But infrastructure improvements alone aren’t enough – we need to transform how people think about roadway safety by focusing on safer behaviors and accountability,” Ledet said. “I urge that we share ideas at this year’s summit so we can move from plans to progress, visions to reality, and make ‘zero deaths’ not just the goal but the standard” in the transportation industry.
Garrett Eucalitto, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation and AASHTO’s 2024-2025 president, echoed Ledet by noting state DOTs need to take “a hard look” at how infrastructure influences road user decisions – and how state DOTs can nudge them to make safer choices.
“We all say safety is our top priority – and at state DOTs, we really mean it,” he stressed. The Safety Summit serves as a “reaffirmation of our commitment to reduce highway fatalities, endorse the safe system approach, and promote the sharing of tools, resources, and best practices.”
“Ultimately, it takes a multidisciplinary approach to eliminate traffic fatalities and injuries,” Eucalitto said. “That is why this meeting is an opportunity to focus on what matters most in the transportation industry; making travel safe for everyone.”
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