PL 31: Safety Analysis for SHIFT Implementation

KYTC recently adopted the SHIFT (Strategic Highway Investment Formula for Tomorrow) model for prioritizing transportation projects. SHIFT is a data driven process to analyze and compare project needs across the state. Safety is a primary measure in the identification, evaluation and ranking/prioritization of projects. Projects are ranked, in part, using a statewide formula based on quantitative data, such as crashes and average daily traffic. The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) is the nationally accepted (FHWA and state DOTs) resource that provides knowledge and tools in a useful form to allow improved decision making based on safety performance. The HSM documents data-driven and statistically verified methods for evaluating roadways in terms of crash frequency and severity. In the past, KYTC has used rankings of roadway segments based on Critical Rate Factor (CRF), which is a measure of a roadway’s variance from the average crash rate. KYTC has recognized the need to employ the more statistically robust approaches presented in the HSM to rank highway projects as part of SHIFT. Moreover, KYTC planners desire robust safety methods to support both network screening (project identification) and project prioritization (bottom up) components of SHIFT.