WASHINGTON, D.C. - At a Capitol Hill awards ceremony, the Roadway Safety Foundation (RSF) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) today recognized 12 exemplary highway projects and programs from across the country as winners of the biennial National Roadway Safety Awards.  Recipients of awards included State and local departments of transportation, a State department of public safety, university programs, and a private firm.  The award winners are credited for reducing fatalities and injuries on our Nation’s roadways through excellence and innovation in operations, planning, and design.

“All government levels are making effective use of shrinking budgets,” said Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez. “The National Roadway Safety Awards winners developed innovative ideas to design, build and maintain roads that are safer and provide greater mobility for all Americans.”

“Many people don’t realize that deficiencies in the roadway environment contribute to roughly one-third of all traffic deaths,” said Greg Cohen, Executive Director of the Roadway Safety Foundation.  “The nation’s safety professionals who plan, engineer, and implement innovative solutions to correct these deficiencies work tirelessly every day but receive little public recognition. That’s why we’re very proud today to recognize their efforts to help make America’s roads as safe as they can be for all who use them.”

National Roadway Safety Award recipients were evaluated on three criteria – innovation, effectiveness, and efficient use of resources.  Program categories included infrastructure improvements, operational improvements, and program planning, development, and evaluation.

This year's honorees include:

• Connecticut Department of Transportation for proactively converting a rotary to a roundabout, resulting in a 50% reduction in the number of crashes at that site.
• Cornell Local Roads Program (NY) for developing inspection kits to improve rural sign safety.
• Genesee County, MI Road Commission for its proactive Safety Improvement Plan for County Roads.
• Idaho Transportation Department for its Highway Safety Corridor Analysis Project.
• Idaho Transportation Department for its use of innovative technology in developing a Winter Performance Measure System.
• Interstate Road Management, Inc., a wholly-owned company of DBi Services, for a Kentucky roads project.
• Mobile County, AL Engineer’s Office for its efforts to decrease “run-off-the-road” crashes on 10 roadways.
• Rutgers’ Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (NJ) for their free road safety audit program.
• South Central Planning & Development Commission (LA) for its proactive data-driven action plan, the South Central Regional Transportation Safety Plan.
• Tennessee Department of Transportation for its efforts to improve safety at dangerous intersections by implementing new J-Turn designs.
• Washington State Patrol and the Washington State Department of Transportation for their joint project developing an infrared commercial truck brake screening system.
• (Honorable Mention) Safe Roads Alliance (MA) for its efforts to educate parents about teen driving laws and keeping their teens safe on the road.

The Federal Highway Administration and the Roadway Safety Foundation present these biennial awards to agencies and organizations across the country that exhibit excellence in roadway design, operations, planning, and safety.

Blue Ribbon Panel Judges included:  Philip J. Caruso, Deputy Executive Director for Technical Programs, Institute of Transportation Engineers; Gregory M. Cohen, P.E., Executive Director, Roadway Safety Foundation; William A. Crank, Senior Community Relations Manager, Michelin North America; Anthony Giancola, P.E., Consultant, formerly of the National Association of County Engineers; Michael Griffith, Director, FHWA Office of Safety Technologies; Tony Kane, Consultant, formerly of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and Richard Pain, Transportation Safety Coordinator, Transportation Research Board.

For additional information on RSF, please visit www.roadwaysafety.org; on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/roadwaysafetyfoundation; and on Twitter at @roadway_safety, #RoadwaySafetyAwards.

For additional information on FHWA safety programs, please visit http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov; on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/pages/Federal-Highway-Administration; and on Twitter at @USDOTFHWA, #RoadwaySafetyAwards.

ATTENTION EDITORS – Digital photographs of the award winners at the luncheon in Washington, DC will be available. Detailed information on the award winning programs can be found at www.roadwaysafety.org.