The Unpaved Road Safety Pooled Fund is proposed to be a collaborative research program through the Transportation Pooled Fund Program. Reductions in serious injury and fatal crashes throughout a State’s entire transportation system are a primary goal of Departments of Transportation (DOTs). Achieving these reductions requires a consideration of safety improvements on the local roadway system and in many states a large percentage, if not a majority, of the roadway mileage on the local roadway system have an unpaved surface. In 2012 there were 1,357,430 miles of unpaved road in the United States, accounting for almost 35 percent of the more than 4 million miles of roadway in the Nation. However, unpaved roads only account for approximately 2.4 percent of fatalities nationally. Although the percentage of fatalities and serious injuries are low nationally, in some states these roadways account for up to 20 percent of the fatalities. All but 4 states in the US reported fatal crashes on unpaved roads in 2012. Several trends are likely impacting the number of crashes recorded along unpaved roadways. These trends include, but are not limited to, lack of maintenance, ex-urban development (semi-rural region lying adjacent to a city’s suburbs), larger agricultural equipment, and the conversion of paved roadways to unpaved roadways. Several safety improvements proven to address safety on paved roadways may also be appropriate for unpaved roadways however, many improvements are not appropriate. This has left large gaps in addressing safety on unpaved roadways.

The objectives of the pooled fund effort are: a) Conduct traffic safety research for unpaved roads with an ultimate goal of producing findings that will assist agencies in reducing fatalities and serious injuries on these roads. This will include: • Research focused on the effectiveness of existing and promising innovative safety countermeasures for unpaved road safety, which could lead to the development of crash modification factors • Research driving behaviors on unpaved roads that could lead to crashes and development strategies to reduce those crashes • Identify through research, environmental, maintenance, and infrastructural elements that contribute to traffic safety issues prevalent on unpaved roadways b) Create a venue for federal, state, tribal and local practitioners to share information, stay informed of current safety-related research, and collaborate to initiate new research of importance on unpaved roads.

The Federal Highway Administration will serve as the lead for the pooled fund and manage the Pooled Fund activities. A designated representative from each of the Pooled Fund member agencies will meet periodically to identify research topics, select projects, and stay informed of safety-related research. The scope will include research in the identification and dissemination of safety issues, safety countermeasures, and research that will reduce the number and severity of unpaved roadway crashes. Key elements of this scope include: 1. Identifying the contributing factors in fatal and serious injury crashes on unpaved roadways, 2. Identification and research on countermeasures addressing recognized safety issues on unpaved roadways, and 3. Developing a venue for dissemination of research results and findings.

Participants requested to contribute $15,000/year for four years, or a total of $60,000