Safety data are the key to making sound decisions on the design and operation of roadways. The need for improved and more robust safety data is increasing due to the development of a new generation of safety data analysis tools and methods. The ability to link roadway and traffic data with other safety data sources allows States to better identify where the problems are, what those problems are, how best to treat them, and how to evaluate the treatments. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed the Model Inventory of Roadway Elements (MIRE) as a listing and data dictionary of the roadway and traffic data elements critical to safety management (1). A critical step toward acceptance and implementation of MIRE is the conversion of MIRE, which is now a listing of variables, into a management information system (MIS). FHWA has undertaken the MIRE MIS project to assist States in developing and integrating the MIRE into an MIS structure that will provide greater utility in collecting, maintaining, and using MIRE data. The MIS project includes the exploration, development, and documentation of the following objectives:

• Mechanisms for data collection.
• The identification of performance metrics to assess and assure MIRE data quality and MIS performance.
• An efficient process for data handling and storage.
• Details of database structure.
• Methods to assure the integration of MIRE data with crash data and other data types, and that access to these data can be accomplished through the MIRE MIS.

The purpose of this report is to address the last three objectives. The first two objectives are covered in other reports under the MIRE MIS effort. This report provides a detailed overview of the MIRE MIS effort which involved developing a conceptual structure of a MIRE MIS, developing a prototype based on the conceptual structure, testing the prototype using data from one of the Lead Agency Program States, and identifying the lessons learned and implications for further development and implementation.

The key lessons learned from this effort are that in order for the MIRE MIS to be most functional, the data in the system needs to be of a high quality (better data = better analysis). In addition, while developing the MIRE MIS prototype, two issues became clear. One was that the structure of the State's data did not match the MIRE structure (i.e., the specific attributes), so data needed to be transformed to the MIRE structure on import. A second issue was that the structure and referencing system of the data collected by the States changed from year to year. One of the keys to the success of an MIS is the ability to correlate data from disparate systems to the relevant roadway elements. A full MIRE MIS implementation will contain data collected over time and will need a way to compare data from different collection periods. This way the system can provide analysis of conditions before and after improvements are made, and allow comparative analysis of data quality. This underscores the importance of a consistent data structure and referencing system that can be used in the collection of safety data.

The MIRE MIS conceptual design includes several aspects of the system that could tie into a geographic information system (GIS) to aid in data entry, querying, and spatial analysis. A GIS can also be used to address some of the key concerns of data structure and spatial references changing over time. A GIS can apply an absolute spatial reference and provide spatial analysis tools as an alternate way to match data points from different systems, whether these represent the same data collected at different times (e.g., roadway segments from different years), or they represent different data with independent referencing systems (e.g., crash data and bridge data). Adding a GIS component does introduce platform dependencies that may differ from State to State; however, regardless of the platform, tying the data into a GIS is an important part of the MIRE MIS.

The results of this effort show that the MIRE MIS concept offers many potential benefits to agencies' safety programs. The MIS brings together data from many sources. Each of these sources pertain to safety issues and can provide valuable information in determining where safety can be improved and what measures may be most effective.

Integrating quality roadway and traffic data with crash data helps agencies make better decisions and more effective use of limited funds to improve safety. The overall MIRE MIS effort provides lessons on how to collect, integrate, manage, and measure data for improved safety decision-making. This effort to develop and test an MIS helps bring State and local agencies one step closer to realizing the benefits of establishing an MIS to support their own safety programs.