AASHTO Journal - National Roadway Safety Award Applications Due by May 28

The National Roadway Safety Awards is a biennial competition sponsored by Federal Highway Administration and the Roadway Safety Foundation or RSF to recognize roadway safety achievements that move the United States towards zero deaths and serious injuries on the Nation’s roadways.

The deadline to submit an application for the 2021 contest is May 28. To apply, click here.

“These awards honor those who successfully identified dangerous deficiencies in their systems and applied our latest research and technology to implement effective and cost-efficient fixes,” RSF Executive Director Greg Cohen.

RSF said its awards encompass two categories: Infrastructure and Operational Improvements, plus Program Planning, Development and Evaluation.

Only public agencies can participate in the National Roadway Safety Award contest and the award criteria includes effectiveness, innovation, and efficient use of resources. A nominated project or program must also demonstrate evidence of data-supported results, including documentation highlighting why it is successful, RSF added.

In 2019, seven highway projects received National Roadway Safety Awards, including:

Arizona won for installing a first-in-the-nation Wrong-Way Driving Alert System that uses thermal camera technology in addition to illuminated wrong-way signage along a 15-mile segment of Interstate 17 in central Phoenix.
Florida earned two awards. The first for creating the “Alert Today Florida” program to address the state’s pedestrian and bicyclist fatality rate via engineering projects, educational outreach events, paid advertising and high visibility enforcement activities. Analysis indicates that program saved 18 lives while eliminating 324 injuries and 338 bicycle and pedestrian crashes since its initiation. The second award honored its “Design-Build Push-Button Contract” which reduced the “concept-to-completion” period for safety projects by as much as 75 percent.
Missouri won for its “Median U-Turn” program that reduced the overall crash rate by 50 percent along a stretch of roadway in the central part of the state.
South Dakota won for its high friction surface treatment or HFST project in 15 areas of the Blacks Hills region where road departure crashes in winter weather account for 57 percent of fatal crashes. In the two winters following the installations, there was a total crash reduction of 78 percent.
Virginia also earned two awards. The first for its strategic guardrail management program, which also won a President’s Awardfrom the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The agency’s VDOT Guardrail Tracker Tool enables it to “prioritize” guardrail improvements at high-risk locations using data, technology, and business-process enhancements. The second award recognized VDOT for its statewide pedestrian safety action plan, which use an interactive web-based tool to identify high risk areas for pedestrians then quickly fund and install safety improvements at those locations.