Strategic Intersection Safety Program Guide

Publication No. FHWA-SA-09-004

FHWA Contact: Lawrence J. Brown, HSSD, 202-366-2214

PDF Version [751 KB]

1. Introduction

Purpose

Figure 1. Distribution of Intersection Fatal Crashes

The purpose of this Strategic Intersection Safety Program Guide is to provide assistance in planning, developing, implementing, and maintaining an intersection safety program for State and local agencies responsible for intersection safety. This guide describes, and lists reference materials for, a strategic process involving:

• Identification of intersection safety improvement needs
• Development of strategic goals for an intersection safety program
• Selection of scope for specific intersection safety action plans
• Development of performance-based goals for intersection safety action plans
• Selection of projects that include effective strategies and countermeasures
• Implementation of projects
• Evaluations of the effectiveness of the projects implemented

This guide can be useful for developing a strategic intersection safety program for any State or local highway agency. In particular, this guide follows a process and framework that can be used to develop and implement a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) and to prioritize projects in a Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) (see side bar). The guide contains specific information for planning intersection safety improvements, which are often included in an Intersection Safety Emphasis Area within an SHSP or local intersection safety program.

This guide is a tool for State or local highway agency personnel who are responsible for improving safety at intersections, such as highway planners and managers involved with traffic operations, safety, and engineering; emergency medical services; law enforcement; and highway safety educators and advocates. It is applicable, and scalable, to any size and type of highway jurisdiction desiring to improve intersection safety.

Scope

The scope of this guide includes intersections in urban, suburban, and rural areas, with or without traffic control signals. The various road user types at intersections, including motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists, are all considered in the guide's strategic process because of their importance to intersection safety.

Photo above is used with permission of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Figure 2. Bicycles and Pedestrians Crossing Intersections

In this guide, the term intersection is used in a general sense to encompass both the area within the curbline limits of the intersecting roads and the intersection approaches. Countermeasures used to improve intersection safety may apply to either or both of these areas. In other safety reports, crashes that occur within the curbline limits of the intersection are often called intersection crashes, while those that occur on the intersection approaches (usually within 250 feet of the intersection) are called intersection-related crashes. Both categories of crashes are critical to determining intersection safety needs and should be considered when prioritizing needs and assessing potential strategies and countermeasures.

Figure 3. Signalized Intersection

Driveways and other access points on a road are essentially small intersections, and many of the intersection countermeasures discussed in this guide may apply to them.The guide does not address interchanges, highway-rail grade crossings, or trail crossings; however, the guide may be applicable to intersections within, adjacent to, and affected by these highway features. Examples include intersections on interchange ramps, traffic signals modified for adjacent highway-rail crossings and/or light-rail crossings, and intersections adjacent to trails and multi-use paths.

An intersection improvement strategy is a treatment or method for improving safety at intersections. Each strategy may address a particular safety need or a particular intersection feature, and typically includes one or more countermeasures that can be implemented to improve safety.An intersection countermeasure is a specific improvement made or action taken at an intersection to reduce the crashes of a target crash type or at a particular type of intersection.

• Engineering countermeasures involve a physical improvement such as a change in intersection type, geometry or traffic control or other physical improvement that may support non-engineering countermeasures.
• Non-engineering countermeasures may include targeted enforcement, educational campaigns, or emergency medical services (EMS) coordination.

• Implement strategies and countermeasures at specific intersections, or across a group of intersections of a certain type or with a common need
• Provide individual or coordinated engineering and/or non-engineering strategies and countermeasures
• Provide the needed resources, such as funding and administrative authority, to implement improvement strategies and countermeasures.

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