Innovative Tools for Making Safety Investment Decisions

National goals set out by SAFETEA-LU have changed the way we address transportation safety in this country. SAFETEA-LU requires states to take responsibility for their transportation systems to significantly reduce the number of fatal and severe injury crashes. As a result, industry professionals need to identify and implement safety improvements quickly and effectively and be good stewards of the safety dollars so that they are used efficiently to affect severe crashes. This requires the right data, tools and processes for objective programmatic and project level decisions. CH2M HILL has worked with state agencies to develop tools that have assisted with program development and implementation, the Systematic Countermeasure Tool and the Site-Specific Benefit-Cost Tool. The Systematic Countermeasure Tool was developed for and used by Minnesota, Nevada, Mississippi, Nebraska and Illinois. The Benefit-Cost Tool was developed for Illinois to evaluate Highway Safety Improvement Project submittals. This paper reports on the issues addressed, attributes of the tools, and how they have been used for implementation.