Montana: Highway Safety Improvement Program 2021 Annual Report
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Summary
This document is the 2021 Annual Report for Montana’s Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), a federal-aid initiative administered by the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT). The program aims to significantly reduce fatalities and serious injuries on public roads through data-driven infrastructure improvements. The report details the program’s structure, methodology, funding, and project implementation for State Fiscal Year 2021. MDT’s Safety Engineering Section centrally administers the HSIP, utilizing a data-driven approach to identify safety hazards. The methodology relies on the Safety Information Management System (SIMS) and Montana-specific Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) derived from the Highway Safety Manual. Projects are identified through Level of Service of Safety (LOSS) models for intersections and roadway departures, as well as hot-spot analysis. Prioritization is strictly based on benefit-cost ratios, with projects requiring field reviews and engineering studies to determine appropriate countermeasures. The program addresses both state-owned and local/tribal roads, though local road identification often relies on agency requests due to data limitations. In FY 2021, MDT programmed and obligated $63,953,481 in total funds, including $31,184,538 in direct HSIP funds, $9,157,340 in penalty funds, and $23,611,603 in other federal-aid funds. Of this total, $2,622,832 was allocated to local or tribal safety projects. Approximately 36% of HSIP funds addressed systemic improvements, such as curve signing, sinusoidal centerline rumble strips, and median cable barriers. Specific projects included modern roundabouts, shoulder widening, horizontal curve realignments, and advanced technology installations like dynamic message signs. The report notes that two large centerline rumble strip projects in the Missoula District accounted for over 35% of HSIP expenditures. The report highlights an increase in severe injury crashes in 2020, attributed to pandemic-related changes in driving behavior, such as higher speeds and riskier maneuvers. MDT identifies a key impediment to the program: the inability to use HSIP funds for non-infrastructure projects, such as public awareness campaigns addressing human error factors like impairment or distraction. Despite this limitation, MDT continues to upgrade its SIMS software and coordinate with internal and external partners, including law enforcement and local governments, to enhance safety performance and comply with federal reporting requirements.
Key finding
The Montana Department of Transportation implemented a centrally administered, data-driven Highway Safety Improvement Program in 2021 that utilized specific safety performance functions and benefit-cost analyses to prioritize infrastructure projects, while noting a concurrent rise in severe crashes linked to pandemic-era driving behaviors.
Methodology
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- Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation
- Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes
- Methodological Resource: dataset resource