The Connecticut Department of Transportation partnered with the Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center (CTSRC) at the University of Connecticut to develop a data-driven roadway safety management system for the state. The system, developed under a $10-million 5-year project, is a web-based, customized application that implements the best practices in the Highway Safety Manual. The developed system has attracted much attention nationwide. The project won the ATSIP Best Practice at the 2019 Traffic Records Forum. As the crash data and roadway inventory data becoming more standardized with MMUCC 5 and MIRE 2.0, and more states becoming interested in developing their own roadway safety management tools, there is an urgent need to share the products of the Connecticut project with other interested state DOTs and to maximize the benefits of such a big project through the pooled fund study at a much reduced price. All participating states including Connecticut will benefit from the communication, information sharing and technology exchange among the member states. The Connecticut Roadway Management System (CRSMS) is composed of a Data Management Module and six Safety Analysis Modules. The Data Management Module is used to prepare the homogeneous roadway segments and intersections, import or update the Safety Performance Functions, as well as update other analysis parameters. The six analysis modules are the Network Screening, Diagnosis, Countermeasure Selection, Economic Appraisal, Project Prioritization, and Safety Effectiveness Evaluation modules. The Network Screening Module integrates maps and allows for identifying locations with the highest potential for safety improvements. It incorporates multiple safety performance measures and screening methods and allows for screening at different geographical levels. The Diagnosis Module includes a variety of tools - crash map, tabular data, summary statistics, crash tree, collision diagram, and site condition view - for users to identify crash patterns and factors that contribute to such patterns. The Countermeasure Selection Module lets users select and compare engineering countermeasures that can potentially reduce crash frequency or severity. The tool has integrated thousands of the latest Crash Modification Factors (CMFs) from the CMF Clearinghouse. The Economic Appraisal Module allows users to compare the safety benefits of countermeasures with their costs and thus identify the most cost-effective treatments. The tool enables creating comprehensive engineering solutions by allowing combing individual countermeasures. Incremental benefit-cost ratios are used to compare solutions. The Project Prioritization Module implements the integer programming optimization for prioritizing competing projects with limited budgets, making the decision process more data-driven and less biased. The Safety Effectiveness Evaluation Module allows users to evaluate the change in crashes from the implemented safety solutions. It leads to a self-assessment of how effective funds or resources have been allocated for safety improvements. The tool provides users with the maximum flexibility for conducting different levels of safety effectiveness evaluations, i.e. program-level, project-level and site-level. For a closer review of the system, please register at https://crsms.uconn.edu/login and find the introductory video tutorials to the six analysis modules in the attachment of this solicitation.

This project has three main objectives. First, it will evaluate the participating states’ safety data and identify data gaps. Second, it will establish a customized roadway management system for participating states based on the Connecticut model. Third, it will form a user community for all participating states to share information and exchange knowledge, and allow continuous improvements on the tools as well as innovations on methodologies to benefit all user states.

The project is comprised of two phases and four major tasks: Phase I (Year 1) 1. Establish a technical advisory panel. Each participating state will nominate a representative to serve on the technical advisory panel. The panel will review the project’s implementation, methodology, progress and provide guidance on critical decisions that need to be made, to ensure the product of the project will be useful for all states. 2. Collect and evaluate safety data from individual states. This task will form a dedicated team to work with individual participating state to collect the roadway, traffic, and crash data from the state that are needed for developing a roadway management system. The team will evaluate the completeness of the data and identify data gaps. Phase II: (Year 2 to Year 5) 3. Establish a roadway management system for each participating state. This task will build a customized roadway management system for each participating state, based on the Connecticut model and the available data from the state. The system will be built to fit the top priority of the state based on the availability of the data. Due to the complexity of this task, it will be implemented in subphases to assure continuous deliverables. (Year 2 and Year 3) 4. Transfer knowledge and maintain the systems. This task involves developing fundamental documentation for knowledge transfer and system maintenance. Additional enhancements benefiting all participating states will take place during this task. Depending on participating state’s decision on long-term maintenance, a second project may or may not needed beyond this subject project. (Year 4 and Year 5) Deliverables: The primary deliverables will be the customized roadway management systems (i.e., web applications) built for participating states based on the Connecticut model and participating states’ data.

The minimum commitment needed for each partner state is listed below Phase I - $90,000 per state for year 1 Phase II - $110,000 per state for year 2 and 3; $70,000 per state for year 4 and 5 Partner states can choose to participate in or opt out of Phase II depending on the evaluation results of the data readiness in Phase I. The total commitments per state for 5 years are $450,000. The commitment includes assessments of individual states’ data, customization of the safety analysis system, hosting and maintenance of the application during the project period if desired, and knowledge transfer.