New Guidance for Highway Safety Improvement Program

What happened: The U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has released new guidance to implement changes in its Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), which is designed to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries on the nation’s roads. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) provides $15.5 billion to the program over five years, an increase of $4 billion.

The FHWA guidance outlines additional uses of HSIP funds as allowed in the IIJA, including campaigns aimed at changing unsafe motorist behaviors and provisions to protect vulnerable road users such pedestrians, cyclists, and those who use personal conveyances like scooters. Under IIJA, if these road users are 15 percent or more of a state’s annual roadway fatalities, the state must dedicate at least 15 percent of its HSIP funds to projects that attempt to reduce such deaths. Additionally, the new guidance incorporates legislative changes to permit 100 percent federal funding for certain pedestrian and bicyclist projects.

Why it matters: Traditionally, HSIP focused on infrastructure safety improvements—an approach supported by ARTBA. Under the IIJA, states have new flexibility to use up to 10 percent of their HSIP funds for ‘specified safety projects’ that, according to the FHWA guidance, include non-infrastructure safety projects such as ‘public awareness campaigns, research, automated traffic enforcement systems, emergency services, and efforts to protect children such as Safe Routes to School activities.”

What’s next: ARTBA’s Safety Forum will meet later in February to discuss the HSIP program and review the FHWA guidance. Forum members will determine what actions, if any, should be taken to ensure the HSIP program is properly focused to meet the needs of America’s roadway users and their transportation infrastructure needs.