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Section 2: State Highway Safety Performance Plan

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Influencing Factors

Each fiscal year at the beginning of the Highway Safety Performance Plan (HSPP) development process, traffic safety planners consider a number of factors in determining project priorities and areas of emphasis. These factors are:

  • federal legislation
  • state statutes
  • federal and national priorities and goals
  • state and local problems.

Other influences can be federal and state legislative bodies, community-based organizations, local and national interest groups, and local governments. Projects can be proposed by members of any of these organizations, directly or indirectly. The key goal is to assure that all projects in the Texas HSPP are data driven, and not solely responses to political or community pressures.

From time to time, Congress designates or earmarks federal highway safety funds for specific purposes and uses. Projects developed in response to these earmarked funds must be data driven as well, with the earmarked funds dedicated to the areas of the state with the greatest threat to public safety.

The HSPP is intergovernmental in nature, functioning either directly or indirectly, through grant agreements, contracts, service purchase orders, requisitions, and work orders. State and local sources analyze data to identify traffic safety problems by identifying specific causes of vehicular traffic crashes (see “Problem Identification and Community Assessment” in Section 3 of this chapter). They then submit proposals to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Traffic Operations Division’s Traffic Safety Section (TRF-TS) for grants to address the problems (see Chapter 3 of this manual for more information on Traffic Safety Project Proposals).

TRF-TS processes grant agreements and contracts for local jurisdictions, other state agencies, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and private contractors. TRF-TS develops the HSPP using those proposals approved for funding. TRF-TS then submits the proposed funding amounts for the annual HSPP to the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) for approval. After TTC approval, an approved project list is issued.

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Highway Safety Program Areas

National priority areas are established in 23 CFR, Chapter 11, Section 1204.3. The national priority areas are also state priority areas and are included in the Texas HSPP which typically addresses 14 program areas. These 14 program areas then form the framework for providing detailed descriptions of the selected traffic safety projects. For a complete listing of the HSPP program areas with their respective and applicable federal two-letter alpha character accounting code designators, see the table below.

The HSPP is divided into 14 program areas, as follows:

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Program Area # / Title (NHTSA Accounting Code)

01

Planning and Administration (PA)

02

Alcohol (AL)

03

Emergency Medical Services (EM)

04

Motorcycle Safety (MC)

05

Occupant Protection (OP)

06

Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety (PS)

07

Police Traffic Services (PT)

08

Speed Control (SC)

09

Traffic Records (TR)

10

Driver Education (DE)

11

Railroad-Highway Crossings (RH)

12

Roadway Safety (RS)

13

Safe Communities (SA)

14

School Bus Safety (SB)


NOTE: Several of the program areas have been designated as “priority program areas” by federal regulation. TxDOT has designated additional priority program areas as eligible for funding, based on needs assessments and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) approval. Proposed projects must support the goals and strategies for the program areas in the HSPP. Grant agreements implement the HSPP.

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Program Funding

Funding of the project within the 14 program areas comes from state and federal (NHTSA) sources, and from local cost sharing by subgrantees.

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Development Process

The highway safety planning process consists of six stages:

  1. Planning to select or review program strategies and performance goals and measures
  2. Problem Identification
  3. Issuance of Request for Proposals
  4. Internal Coordination
  5. Review, Comment, and Approval
  6. Implementation

Explanations of each of these stages follow under separate subheadings.

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Planning, Problem Identification, and Request for Proposals (Stages 1, 2, & 3)

Planning, Problem Identification, and Request for Proposals, the first three stages of the HSPP process, include the steps shown in the following table.

NOTE: Dates shown are approximate, and deadlines may vary from year to year.

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Step

Responsible Party

Action

Approx. Date

1

TRF

Hosts a strategic planning meeting every two to three years to review performance goals and strategies for the HSPP.

June–July

2

TxDOT

Develops and submits the annual Performance Plan, HS-217, and Certifications and Assurances to the NHTSA.

August

3

TRF-TS and districts

Perform statewide and local problem identification.

Oct.–Dec.

4

TRF-TS and districts

Contact state and local government agencies regarding project ideas and proposals for the Texas Traffic Safety Program.

Oct.–Dec.

5

TRF-TS

Announces Highway Safety Planning Process, posts it on the TxDOT website, and publishes it in the Texas Register.

Dec.–Jan.


See Section 3 of this chapter for more information on “Problem Identification.”

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Internal Coordination (Stage 4)

Internal Coordination, the fourth stage of the HSPP process, includes the steps shown in the following table.

NOTE: Dates shown are approximate, and deadlines may vary from year to year.

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Step

Responsible Party

Action

Approx. Date

1

Local & state agencies

Submit project proposals to TxDOT through eGrants.