Foreword

To further promote a safer transportation system, the Federal Highway Administration would like to share this new resource, "Integrating Road Safety into NEPA Analysis: A Primer for Safety and Environmental Professionals."

This primer presents an introduction to the topic of addressing safety as a part of the environmental analysis process, as directed by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). It presents practitioners with basic concepts for including meaningful, quantitative analysis of project safety issues and for taking advantage of the latest tools, research, and techniques for improving road safety within a project scope. The primer highlights the opportunity and benefits of linking safety planning to the environmental analysis at every stage of the NEPA process.

To provide the reader a better understanding of what is discussed in this primer, several case studies have been included in the document. The case studies highlight noteworthy practices in integrating safety in to the NEPA process.

This primer will be of interest to the planners, environmental specialists, and transportation safety practitioners who are interested in learning more about how to incorporate scientific safety analysis into the environmental documents, in particular those in state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations, and other organizations involved in the NEPA process.

Thank you for your efforts to integrate safety considerations into the comprehensive transportation planning and environmental process. Together we are saving lives and reducing injuries and crashes.

Sincerely yours,

/* Signature of Anthony T. Furst */

Anthony T. Furst
Acting Associate Administrator for Safety
Federal Highway Administration

/* Signature of Gloria M. Shepard */

Gloria M. Shepard
Associate Administrator for Planning, Environment, and Realty
Federal Highway Administration

Notice

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.

The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names may appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.

Quality Assurance Statement

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.

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