2020 Regional Transportation Safety Action Plan

This story map offers a preview of the analysis that was carried out, priority crash locations that were identified, and suggestions for safety improvements that were published in SPC's 2020 Regional Transportation Safety Action Plan. The Plan was finalized in Summer 2020. For more information and to view the detailed Appendices included in the Plan, please refer to the final document.

The Regional Transportation Safety Action Plan (SAP) is the essential planning tool to aid in identifying strategies and project locations to achieve the safety goals set forth in the region’s long range transportation plan, SmartMoves for a Changing Region. The Plan also offers guidance for attaining the five federal safety performance measure targets for the region. The SAP is meant to supplement PennDOT’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan by identifying regional safety focus and location specific improvement areas. It serves as a wide-ranging, comprehensive approach to improving transportation safety through meaningful collaboration with key regional transportation safety stakeholders.  

SPC’s current long range transportation plan (LRTP), SmartMoves for a Changing Region, provides us the vision of a “world-class, safe and well maintained integrated transportation system that provides mobility for all, enables resilient communities, and supports a globally competitive economy”. One of the goals outlined in the LRTP to effectuate the vision is to implement “major projects that maintain our existing system while also enhancing safety, accessibility, mobility, and connectivity across the region”. The purpose of this 2020 SAP is to facilitate the identification of safety enhancement strategies and project locations to achieve the vision and goals of the LRTP. 

See the graphic below for the Goals and Objectives of the 2020 Safety Action Plan.

To ensure a wide-ranging, comprehensive approach to improving transportation safety within the SPC region, a multitude of transportation safety stakeholders were identified by SPC to aid in the development of this Plan. Participation was split into two groups: steering committee and key regional stakeholders. The steering committee was essential in establishing the regional goals, objectives and safety focus areas, and the key regional stakeholders aided in identifying district specific safety focus areas and safety hot spots. Both committees were an integral part in developing the suggested safety solutions and strategies within this document.

A regionwide safety analysis was conducted to aid in determining soft-side and programmatic strategies and infrastructure improvements to increase transportation safety. Crash frequency and fatality data from PennDOT’s crash reporting system was used to determine region wide safety trends. Additionally, federal rail and transit databases were queried to examine transit and rail related crashes and fatalities within the region. A total of 33 crash types were analyzed to determine safety focus areas for the region and districts. County level safety data was examined and reported as well. Safety focus areas were determined by identifying disconcerting trends in the total number of crashes or fatalities for a specific crash type. For example, if the crash and/or fatality data was stagnant or increasing, then it was identified as a safety focus area. To ensure regional consensus on the focus areas, all safety focus areas were vetted through the steering and stakeholder committees for confirmation.

It is important to note that all crash types are an area of concern and are monitored throughout the region. The designation of a safety focus area within this plan is to aid practitioners in optimizing resources on the areas where the greatest impact on improving safety can be achieved.

Regional safety focus areas were identified by assessing the cumulative number of crashes and fatalities for each crash type for all 10 counties. The safety analysis determined the majority of the original 2015 SAP safety focus areas were still in need of improvement and should be carried over to the 2020 SAP. Only unbelted and hit fixed object crashes had improved enough to remove from the 2020 safety focus areas. Stagnant or increasing trends were observed in four new areas: intersection, transit-related, heavy truck, and drowsy driver crashes. As a result, these new crash types were added to the 2020 safety focus areas. A total of 13 safety focus areas have been identified, as indicated below. 

District specific safety focus areas were identified to examine more localized safety trends within the SPC region and to aid the districts in targeting safety focus areas more specific to their locale. The district trend analysis was conducted using the cumulative number of crashes and fatalities for each crash type for all of the counties within each district. The chart below summarizes district specific safety focus areas based on input from the districts and the district specific safety and trend analysis completed. It is important to note that all of the previously discussed regional safety focus areas are applicable to each district; the district specific safety focus areas are an addition.

Based on the safety analysis, a comprehensive set of strategies and solutions were developed for inclusion in the 2020 SAP. As part of the safety solution development process, current regional safety initiatives were documented to identify opportunities to bolster current safety programs or establish new programs to meet the ever-changing safety needs of the region. The identified strategies and solutions are broken into 2 categories: 1) Soft-side, Programmatic, and Infrastructure Strategies; and 2) Safety Project Locations.

Soft-side, programmatic, and infrastructure strategies were identified for the region and District specific safety focus areas. The potential solutions identified in this section were developed based on the safety analysis discussed previously and discussions with steering and stakeholder committee members. It is important to consider the safety focus area evaluation was conducted from a macroscopic perspective; therefore, more targeted and detailed analysis should be conducted by the responsible parties to prioritize the solutions identified below.  

Scroll through the following charts to view the safety focus areas and their recommended strategies for improvement.

For the project, non-motorized (pedestrian and bicyclist) safety was investigated as well, from both a high-level network and location specific perspective. Because pedestrian and bicycle crashes tend to be fewer in number and widely dispersed, especially in the outlying areas, and because the infrastructure used to support non-motorized travel is not as complete or mature as the infrastructure used to support vehicular travel, regional and network level analyses were included.

The pedestrian and bicycle crashes for the 2014-2018 crash reporting period were evaluated at three levels: regional, District, and location specific. All non-motorized crashes were plotted geographically using ArcGIS to conduct the safety analysis. Crash clusters were identified by grouping crashes within 500 feet +/- of one another on the same road or roadway type. If two or more crash clusters had the same cumulative crash frequency, crash severity was used to prioritize locations. If crash frequency and crash severity was equal, the total number of pedestrian or bicycle crashes in the immediate area was considered to determine the higher ranking location.

Click through the graphics below to view the bicycle and pedestrian crash priority locations for Districts 10, 11, 12, and the City of Pittsburgh. The City of Pittsburgh was examined separately, to prevent the high levels of pedestrian and bicycle activity in the city from skewing the results in the remainder of District 11. For each District and the City of Pittsburgh, the top 3 to 5 crash cluster locations were plotted on the maps.

The 2012-2016 Highway Safety Manual (HSM) network screening data from PennDOT's Central Office was the primary data set used for the safety hot spot analysis. It contained 100+ screened locations for every county in the state consisting of both roadway segment and intersection safety locations. Specific datum within the data set included location information, roadway characteristics, traffic volumes, and HSM predictive safety values (i.e. observed crashes, expected crashes, predicted crashes, and excess crashes). Per PennDOT policy, the excess value shall be utilized to initially rank locations in need of safety improvements. The top 40 HSM network screened locations and top 40 crash cluster data locations for each district were mapped and distributed to the appropriate district for concurrence. The map below displays the combination of each District's top hot spots. Click on the points and line segments to view each location's excess value and rank.

During the outreach phase of this plan, there was discussion among the steering committee regarding the continuing underutilization of allotted HSIP funds within the SPC region. This is particularly problematic on the local road network where approximately 20% of all crashes are occurring. In most situations, local municipalities are unaware of the availability/requirements for HSIP funding and/or do not have the 10% match that is required for the obligation of HSIP funds. During brainstorming sessions, the steering committee members agreed a new safety-related program is needed to educate, administer, evaluate, and aid local municipalities in developing and delivering safety projects. SPC, PennDOT, and Allegheny County agreed to work with PennDOT Central Office to explore the possibility of either developing a new local roads safety program, expanding existing programs such as Green Light Go or SPC’s Regional Traffic Signal Program, or at minimum, identifying potential funding mechanisms for the local match to aid in delivering HSIP projects on the local road network within the region.

Follow the link below to view the entire final report for the 2020 Regional Transportation Safety Action Plan.