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DOT 123-08
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Contact: Doug Hecox
Tel.: (202) 366-0660
USDOT Awards $14.7 Million for Rural Roads Safety
‘Rural Safety Innovation Program’ Funding Latest Tool in Effort to Safeguard
Drivers
RAYMOND, Miss. – Fourteen states, three counties and two parishes competed for
and will receive $14.7 million in Rural Safety Innovation Program (RSIP) funds
to improve safety on rural roads, Deputy Secretary Thomas J. Barrett said today.
“Making one road safer is important. But making rural roads around the country
less deadly is absolutely essential,” said U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary
Thomas J. Barrett, who personally presented awards to officials in Mississippi
today. “Thanks to these funds our rural roads are on their way to becoming as
safe as they are beautiful.”
Rural roads carry less than half of America’s traffic but account for more than
half of the nation’s vehicular deaths. Last February, the U.S. Department of
Transportation launched the “Rural Safety Initiative” to address this issue.
Though last year’s fatality rate – 1.37 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled –
is the lowest in the nation’s history, the 41,059 fatalities in 2007 remain
“entirely too high,” said Barrett. “The RSIP program will help us put a national
focus on a local problem.”
The awards, made possible by funds from the USDOT’s Delta Region Transportation
Development Program and Intelligent Transportation Systems Program, are part of
a $287 million effort to help local and state governments reduce crashes on
dangerous rural roads.
The RSIP recipients include:
Project Lead Grant Amount Project______________
Arizona DOT $ 480,000 I-10 Severe Weather Warning System
Arkansas Highway
$1,540,786 Cable median barrier on I-55
and Transportation Dept. in Crittenden
County
California DOT $1,575,175 Coordinated speed management in work zones
California/El Dorado County $ 304,000 Intersection safety using ITS technologies
Colorado DOT
$ 324,390 Speed management on US
160
Wolf Creek Pass Snow Shed
Colorado DOT
$ 140,749 Speed information on approach to curves
on US 50 in Fremont County
Illinois
DOT $ 344,000 Rural curve improvement
strategy on county
and township highway
Illinois DOT $ 40,000 Vehicle actuated advanced warning on curves
Iowa DOT $ 500,000 Traffic and criminal software improvements
Kansas DOT
$ 284,000
Dynamic message signs and road
weather information system
Louisiana/Rapides Parish $1,140,943 Roadway departure crash reduction action plan
Louisiana/Grant Parish $ 597,954 Roadway departure crash reduction action plan
Louisiana DOT $1,925,983 Rural intersection safety implementation plan
Minnesota DOT $ 160,000 Installation of dynamic curve warning systems
Mississippi DOT $1,925,983 Low-cost road departure crash countermeasures
Mississippi/Hinds County $ 303,552 Low-cost road departure crash countermeasures
Missouri
DOT $ 800,000 Dynamic message signs and
closed-circuit TV
on I-57, I-55 and US 60
South Carolina
DOT $ 840,000 Decrease hydroplaning on
US 25 in Greeneville County
Tennessee
DOT $ 650,800 Sign inventory and
Assessment/Management
System Project
Washington/King County
$ 202,400 Advanced curve warning and driver
feedback signs
Wisconsin
DOT $ 609,000 Rural thru-stop intersection
crash prevention
For more information on the USDOT’s Rural Safety Initiative, visit
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/ruralsafety/
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