The purpose of this effort was to conduct a market analysis of the development of a statewide common location referencing system and the collection of the FDE/HSIP on all public roads.  The primary theory is that collecting additional roadway and traffic data, and integrating those data into the safety analysis process, will improve an agency’s ability to locate problem areas and apply appropriate countermeasures, hence improving safety.

A literature review was conducted to identify resources to help develop a methodology for analysis of the cost and benefits of collecting additional roadway data to improve highway safety.  The literature review showed there were no established methodologies to estimate the benefit of collecting roadway data elements for safety.  An alternate approach was developed to conduct the market analysis.  The costs for data collection were gathered from vendors and State DOT.  For benefits, an estimate of how many fatalities and injuries would need to be reduced in order exceed the costs (for a 1:1 and 2:1 ratio) were developed.  That is, this analysis identified the benefit required to obtain cost effectiveness.

The additional costs identified include the following three sets of data elements:

• A common relational location referencing system on all public roads.
  • Additional costs would only be incurred on all non-Federal-aid roadways, since HPMS currently requires this for Federal-aid highways.
• The 22 FDE/HSIP that are not required under HPMS on all public roads.
  • Additional costs would only be incurred on Federal-aid roadways since 16 of the total FDE/HSIP are already required for HPMS on Federal-aid highways.
• The complete 38 FDE/HSIP on all public roads.
  • Additional costs would be incurred on all non-Federal-aid highways, since HPMS does not require data collection of these elements on non-Federal-aid roadways.

The costs were collected from a variety of vendors and a State DOT, and were broken down into per mile (for segments), per intersection, and per ramp costs.

When the costs were aggregated out to the State level, the estimated reduction in fatalities and injuries were determined based on the costs for each Scenario.   Table 8 shows the range of data collection costs and estimated required benefits for the average State for both scenarios.  For Scenario 1, the total cost of data collection for an average State (based on HPMS mileage) is $6.3 million for initial collection, and $3.4 million for maintenance over the analysis period of 2012 – 2031 (in 2010 U.S. dollars).  A reduction of 0.6 fatalities and 41.0 injuries is required to achieve a greater than 1:1 benefit to cost ratio.  This increases in Scenario 2, which also includes collecting the FDE/HSIP on all non-Federal-aid roads.  For Scenario 2, 2.5 fatalities and 163.7 injuries are needed to achieve greater than a 1:1 benefit.

Table 8. Summary of Market Analysis for Average State.
Analysis Period 2012–2031
Average Annual Costs and Needed Benefits
(Millions of 2010 U.S. Dollars)

Note - Costs are accumulated throughout the entire analysis period; benefits are realized after the data collection is complete.

The work conducted for this project was a preliminary attempt to quantify the costs and benefits of collecting roadway and traffic data for safety.  The primary theory driving the analysis is that collecting additional roadway and traffic data and integrating those data into the safety analysis process will improve an agency’s ability to locate problem areas and apply appropriate countermeasures, hence improving safety.  Based on the work conducted for this effort, including a thorough literature review, it was determined that there are no established methodologies for quantifying the benefits of investing in safety data improvements.  Additional research needs to be conducted to build upon the analysis provided in this report to work towards filling that knowledge gap by developing guidance on the methodologies that can be applied to determine the benefits of investing in data systems and processes for achieving a data-driven safety program.  Developing such methodologies would be the crucial next step to help the FHWA Office of Safety achieve its goal to reduce highway fatalities by providing decision makers the tools they need to make informed decisions through an evidenced-based approach to safety implementation.