New Jersey and Kentucky

Description

The identification, development, design, and construction of HSIP projects is a multi-year undertaking. In any particular year, agencies analyze the latest crash data to identify potential HSIP projects, while at the same time advancing previous projects to construction. This cyclical process requires careful project planning and thoughtful fiscal planning to ensure the availability of resources at each stage of the HSIP process. Fiscal planning also assures that agencies direct HSIP funds at priority safety needs, rather than leaving them on the table.

New Jersey recognized these needs and initiated a process to develop a HSIP investment strategy that would look at least five years into the future at the State's safety needs, as well as the resources that would likely be available to address them. By taking a longer-range view of the safety program, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) can better prioritize its HSIP investments and the use of their limited resources. This type of advanced planning and programming is standard for the State's large-scale capital projects, which require obligating millions of dollars over many years. And while HSIP projects are typically much smaller in scale, they are numerous, presenting a challenge in terms of tracking individual project development and funding activities.

A second element of the New Jersey HSIP fiscal plan is a one-year obligation plan, which focuses on specific planned HSIP investments in the coming year. NJDOT timed the development of the one-year obligation plan to accompany or shortly follow the submission of New Jersey's Annual HSIP Report.

NJDOT provides both the five-year investment strategy and the one-year obligation plan to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) New Jersey Division Office for concurrence. Updates to New Jersey's Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) also reflect the elements of the investment strategy and obligation plan to the extent possible, though it's understood that fiscal constraints may impact programming.

The development of Kentucky's HSIP Investment Plan focused not only on better management of the program's fiscal resources, but also went further, leading to improvements in the way the State administers HSIP projects. The requirements in the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and increased funding were the impetus leading the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to utilize the State's Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) to develop an HSIP investment plan guiding the state's transportation safety obligations and spending. Once the investment plan was completed and shared with the FHWA Kentucky Division, Kentucky implemented the plan. The Kentucky HSIP investment plan includes emphasis area goals for the obligation of HSIP funding for upcoming fiscal years and also lays out strategies to program and invest unobligated funds from previous fiscal years.

Key Accomplishments

• New Jersey and Kentucky developed long-term HSIP investment plans to maximize the use of their HSIP funds.
• The NJDOT plan includes a five-year investment strategy and a one-year obligation plan, reflected in the State's Annual HSIP Report.
• Kentucky's plan is SHSP-based and focuses on making full use of both current and future HSIP allocations.

Results

States are finding that with the growth of the HSIP, a greater need exists for advanced project and fiscal planning. Developing a longer-term investment plan can help states steer their HSIP funding in the direction that it can do the greatest good in reducing fatalities and serious injuries. Planning also focuses attention on opportunities for making process improvements that benefit all projects. Taking these actions make HSIP projects more visible both within the State DOT and in communication with external audiences, including FHWA.

Contacts

David Kuhn
Assistant Commissioner Capital Investment Planning & Grant Administration
New Jersey Department of Transportation
1035 Parkway Avenue
Trenton, NJ 08625
(609) 530-3855

Jarrod Stanley
Safety Engineer - HSIP
Central Office Traffic Operations
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
Frankfort, KY
(502) 782-5539