Incorporating Safety into Long-Range Transportation Planning (2006)

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Incorporating Safety into Long-Range Transportation-Planning CHAPTER 5. THE TRANSPORTATION-PLANNING PROCESS Before one can identify the types of strategies or investments that can improve safety, the safety challenge must first be understood. This means not only understanding the “big picture” from the perspective of numbers and incidence of road-related fatalities and major injuries, but also becoming knowledgeable about some of the leading contributing factors.[4] Thus, the best examples of safety conscious planning have begun with a comprehensive collection and analysis of data, which often includes conducting research on what factors are most important with respect to fatalities or personal injuries. For example, some states have found through detailed analysis of crash data that a disproportionate number of crashes involve pedestrians and bicyclists, and that a large percentage of these involve elderly individuals who are involved in crashes close to their homes.[5,6,7] This finding has led these agencies to emphasize pedestrian-oriented safety measures in their safety programs. The transportation vision reflects the interaction between desired states of prosperity, environmental quality, and social equity/community quality of life In other cases analysis of crash data showed that in rural areas, run-off-the-road crashes were by far the most significant type of fatality crashes, while in urban areas, side impacts were at the top of the list. In addition, the high incidence of alcohol- related fatal crashes and excessive speeding have led to targeted enforcement measures that have had important impacts. The significance of an initial “fact-finding” effort is that it will guide transportation and safety officials to the kinds of strategies that are most appropriate for the types of safety problems being faced.[see, for example, 8,9,10,11,12] Some of these problems may not be appropriately addressed in the transportation-planning process, and thus are the focus of other agency efforts. Many comprehensive safety- planning efforts, for example, are undertaken by the leadership of the local enforcement agency or the Governor’s Highway Safety Office. In yet other cases, safety problems are addressed by transportation agencies, and thus are incorporated into the transportation-planning process. Once it has been determined what kinds of safety strategies sit squarely in the transportation arena, one can begin the process of integrating safety concerns within the transportation-planning process. As shown in Exhibit 13, transportation systems planning begins with the creation of a vision. The vision reflects the interaction between desired states of prosperity, environmental quality, and social equity/community quality of life. This vision can consist of general statements of desired end-states, or can be as specific as a defined transportation system scenario. For example, most planning visions discuss the need for a safe and secure transportation system that provides mobility and accessibility. Although this sounds rather general, the process of developing the vision relies on extensive public outreach and is often one of the most interactive steps of the systems planning process. Thus, the “visioning process” can be a very important means of raising critical issues, such as safety, as one of the important topics addressed in the planning process as it proceeds through the subsequent steps. Although important for establishing a community’s overall desired direction, visions and vision statements can often be very general and full of statements that are hard to disagree with. More specific information on what the planning process is to accomplish is needed. This is typically accomplished by defining goals and objectives. Goals and objectives serve to direct subsequent planning activities for assessing the relative contribution of different alternatives or strategies in achieving desired outcomes. Importantly, goals also lead later in the planning process to the identification of criteria for evaluating different transportation system options and alternatives. Thus, for example, if safety is to be an important consideration in evaluating different transportation projects, or a specific definition of safety is desired Chapter 5. THE TRANSPORTATION-PLANNING PROCESS 21

Incorporating Safety int Chapter 5. —THE TRANSPORTATION-PLANNING PROCESS o Long-Range Transportation-Planning as part of this evaluation, one needs to start with safety being part of the definition of goals and objectives. Goals and objectives lead to the identification of system performance measures. This is a relatively new concept in transportation-planning, although performance measures are used in other fields (such as enforcement). The primary purpose of these measures is to target key data collection (and resulting information needs) on those aspects of performance that decision makers determine to be important for their state or region. For example, many performance measures have been defined that monitor whether traffic safety, congestion, average speeds, system reliability, and mobility options have changed over time. Presumably, the results of this monitoring--system performance defined along the dimensions as identified by the individual measures--is then used to influence the types and magnitudes of investments that need to be made in the transportation system. Data collection and analysis methodologies are key to any planning process for understanding the underlying phenomena of interest and the challenges likely to be faced in the future. The analysis process focuses on understanding how a transportation system and its components work, and consequently how changes to that system will alter its performance. The analysis step includes the identification of alternative strategies or projects that meet the objectives of the study. Analysis tools, ranging from simple data analysis to more complex simulation models, are used to produce the information that feeds the next step of the process, which is evaluation. Many helpful analysis tools are described in Appendix C of this guidance. Evaluation is the process of synthesizing the information on the benefits, costs, and impacts generated by analysis so that judgments can be made concerning the relative merits of alternative actions. One of the most common ways of making sure that the results of evaluations are linked closely to the needs of decision makers is through the definition of evaluation criteria that reflect important decision-making concerns. These criteria provide important guidance to planners and engineers on what type of data and analysis tools must be available in order to produce the desired information. Transportation-planning, or for that matter any planning process, can result in a variety of products. Planning may produce new policies and regulations, operations strategies, proposed projects, additional studies, efforts to educate and inform key constituencies, new finance strategies, enhanced partnerships with different groups in a state or region, and additional collaborative undertakings. However, federal regulations require that the transportation-planning process produce a plan. The statewide plan can range from simply a statement of investment policies and strategies to a detailed master plan that outlines specific investments to be made over the plan’s life (usually 20 years). For metropolitan transportation-planning, the plan is typically targeted on specific projects or transportation corridors where improvements are necessary. The program of projects that will be constructed in the near term, referred to as the transportation improvement program (TIP) for the metropolitan area, and the state transportation improvement program (STIP) for a state, is connected to the plan through a process called programming. This process of matching desired actions with the available funds requires a priority-setting process. Vital at this stage of the planning process with respect to focusing more attention on transportation safety are the relationships with safety stakeholders in the region. Usually, this priority-setting process is undertaken with contributions from a multitude of stakeholders interested in a wide variety of issues. Safety advocates need to be part of the priority setting process. 22

Incorporating Safety into Long-Range Transportation-P Environmental Quality Prosperity Social equity/ quality of life Vision Goals and objectives Performance measures Implementation of strategies TIP Alternative improvement strategies Data Analysis methods Other sources for project ideas System operations Policies Operations strategies Infrastructure projects Studies Regulations Education and awareness Financing strategies Partnerships Collaborative undertakings Leads to…. Plan Evaluation Evaluation Including as one product… Understanding the Safety Challenge Exhibit 13: The transportation-planning process (Adapted from Meyer and Miller, 2001)

Incorporating Safety into Long-Range Transportation-Planning Once the planning process is complete, recommended projects or actions need to be further refined. For projects that need some form of construction activity, a project development process is followed. The three major steps in project development include developing project concepts, planning the project in finer detail than what would ordinarily occur in systems planning, and preliminary and final engineering. Again, the inclusion of safety stakeholders in the planning of local projects is an important catalyst to make sure safety is appropriately addressed. The final component of the framework is system monitoring. System monitoring provides a feedback loop to goals and objectives and the use of performance measures. Poor system performance leads to further planning analysis so that additional action is taken. Exhibit 13 depicts the different components of a transportation-planning process. In reality, this description is suitable for any type of planning effort. For example, an agency interested in focusing efforts on safety or developing a comprehensive safety plan can use this framework to develop a systematic approach for doing so. The vision focuses on transportation safety; the goals and objectives are oriented toward desired safety targets; safety data and analysis tools assess the relative value of one approach versus another; the different approaches are evaluated on the basis of safety-oriented criteria; a set of strategies or actions are adopted; and finally these strategies are implemented. Given the major components of transportation-planning as shown in Exhibit 13, answering the questions in Exhibit 14 should provide a good point of departure in assessing whether the transportation-planning process currently in place within a state or metropolitan area considers safety in meaningful and substantive ways. If any of the answers to the questions in Exhibit 14 are “no”, then safety issues should be given additional priority and greater emphasis in the transportation- planning process. The following sections will provide the user of this guidebook with strategies for developing a more safety-conscious planning process. It should be noted at the outset, that in some cases, states and metropolitan areas have developed a separate safety comprehensive plan that focuses exclusively on safety improvements to the transportation system. In such cases, the linkages between this planning effort and the development of the comprehensive transportation plan are critical. For example, the safety-related goals and performance measures should be common to both. The strategies identified as being important to the state or region should be consistent if not the same. The monitoring system should feed into both efforts. Having a state or metropolitan comprehensive safety plan in no way diminishes the need to incorporate safety into the transportation-planning process. Indeed, in some cases, transportation-planning could very well be the implementing process for some of the strategies recommended by the safety-planning effort. The development of a comprehensive safety plan should be viewed as complementing the safety-oriented activities of those involved in the transportation-planning process. Chapter 5. —THE TRANSPORTATION-PLANNING PROCESS 24

Incorporating Safety into Long-Range Transportation-Planning Chapter 4 Exhibit 46 Exhibit 46 Exhibit 50 Exhibit 39 Exhibit 35 Exhibit 21 Exhibit 24 Exhibit 17 Exhibit 15 See Assessing The Planning Process….. 1. Does the vision statement for the planning process include safety? 2. Are there at least one planning goal and at least two objectives related to safety? 3. Are safety-related performance measures part of the set being used by the agency? 4. Are safety-related data used in problem identification and for identifying potential solutions? 5. Are safety analysis tools used regularly to analyze the potential impacts of prospective strategies and actions? 6. Are evaluation criteria used for assessing the relative merits of different strategies and projects including safety-related issues? 7. Do the products of the planning process include at least some actions that focus on transportation safety? 8. To the extent that a prioritization scheme is used to develop a program of action for an agency, is safety one of the priority factors? 9. Is there a systematic monitoring process that collects data on the safety-related characteristics of transportation system performance, and feeds this information back into the planning and decision- making process? 10. Are all of the key safety stakeholders involved in the planning process? Exhibit 14: Questions for assessing the planning process Chapter 5. —THE TRANSPORTATION-PLANNING PROCESS 25

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