Governor Phil Murphy • Lt. Governor Tahesha Way

Department of Transportation

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Local Safety/High Risk Rural Roads

The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) went into effect on October 1, 2012. This Federal Transportation funding legislation doubled New Jersey's annual apportionment of Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funds, which is a core Federal-aid program. The goal of the program is to achieve a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads, including non-National Highway System and non-State-owned public roads, and roads on tribal lands. The HSIP requires a data-driven, strategic approach to improving highway safety on all public roads that focuses on performance.

Local Safety Program
The federally funded Local Safety Program (LSP) is a component of wider safety planning, supporting construction of quick-fix, and high-impact safety improvements on county and local roadway facilities. Projects on State, United States and Interstate highways are not eligible for funding under the LSP. Projects supported by this program have included new and upgraded traffic signals, signage, pedestrian indications, crosswalks, curb ramps, pavement markings and other improvements to increase the safety of drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.
  • Typically addresses New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) derived high priority crash locations on County or Local Roadways.
  • Projects must be quick-fix, supported with detailed crash data analyses (utilizing the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Highway Safety Manual) and have minimal or no environmental or cultural resource impacts (eligible for programmatic Categorical Exclusions or self-certified Categorical Exclusions from the Federal Highway Administration).
  • LSP funding may be used for all phases of a project, including design, right of way acquisition, construction and construction inspection.
High Risk Rural Roads Program
Although Map-21 eliminated the requirement of a State to set-aside funds for the High Risk Rural Roads Program (HRRRP), New Jersey will continue with this program as defined in the previous Federal Transportation funding legislation: Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act - A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). HRRRP under SAFETEA-LU provided federal funds for construction improvements to address safety problems only on roadways that are functionally classified as rural major collector, rural minor collector or rural local roads and have a crash rate that exceeds the statewide average for those functional classes of roadways. Projects supported by this program have included but not limited to skid-resistant surface treatments, guiderail, reflective pavement markings, rumble strips and rumble stripes, safety edge, enhance and advanced warning signs. MAP-21 eliminated HRRRP as a dedicated program, however, the set-aside continued in some states depending on that state's rural road crash data.

  • Projects must be on roadways functionally classified as rural major collector, rural minor collector or rural local roads with a crash rate that exceeds the statewide average for those functional classes of roadways.
  • Projects must have minimal or no environmental or cultural resource impacts (eligible for programmatic or self-certified Categorical Exclusions).
  • Funding may be used for all phases of a project, including design, right of way acquisition, construction and construction inspection.
Federal Highway Administration Proven Safety Countermeasures
In January 2012, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a "Guidance Memorandum on Promoting the Implementation of Proven Safety Countermeasures." This guidance takes into consideration the latest safety research to advance a group of countermeasures that have shown great effectiveness in improving safety. Applicants are encouraged to consider incorporating these improvements in project proposals where crash types relate to these countermeasures. Several have been utilized and/or proposed in previously selected LSP and HRRRP projects, while others should be considered where appropriate. More information about FHWA approved countermeasures is available.

The LSP/HRRRP is run by the three Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO):
Resources

Last updated date: February 27, 2020 11:29 AM