Analyzing data and coordinating with municipalities and the CTDOT to make our roads safer.

Road Safety Program

Safety permeates all elements of the transportation planning process at the NVCOG. Each of our planning documents and funding programs contain elements to improve safety. In addition, there are specific programs administered by the NVCOG with the sole goal of reducing accidents on our local roads. This page will discuss some of the statewide and regional roadway safety programs and how they are influenced by federal regulations

Crash data was downloaded from the Connecticut Crash Data Repository in November 2019. Click on the blue arrows for more information; select map points for details.

Safety Funding Opportunities

Local Road Accident Reduction Program

The Local Road Accident Reduction Program (LRARP) is a program administered by CTDOT to provide safety-related improvements on municipality-owned roads. At present, the NVCOG may submit two projects per year. Current LRARP-funded transportation projects in the NVCOG region are:

  • Waterbury: Walnut Street at East Farm Street
  • Naugatuck: Rubber Avenue at Hoadley and Melbourne Streets
  • Shelton: Huntington Street at Buddington Road

The NVCOG is responsible for soliciting LRARP applications, conducting initial screening, and identifying two projects to forward to the state. The CTDOT will then look at all submitted projects and determine which provide the greatest benefit for their cost.

Federal Requirements

Performance Measures and Target Setting

Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) integrated performance measures into many federal transportation programs, including highway safety-related measures. These performance measures have continued to be included in the subsequent Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. FHWA implementation requires five data-driven safety-related performance measures:

  • Total number of serious injuries
  • Rate of serious injuries
  • Total number of fatalities
  • Rate of fatalities
  • Total number of non-motorized serious injuries and fatalities

The CTDOT, in coordination and consultation with NVCOG, per federal regulation, establishes annual targets in each of these safety performance measures. The NVCOG has the authority to either accept the state-targets or develop region specific ones. The NVCOG endorsed the CTDOT safety performance measures on September 13, 2019. The table below documents the the current targets.

Measure
2018 Target
2019 Target
2020 Target
Number of fatalities
257 fatalities/year
274 fatalities/year
277 fatalities/year
Rate of fatalities
.823 fatalities/100 Million VMT
.873 fatalities/100 Million VMT
.883 fatalities/100 Million VMT
Number of serious injuries
1,571 serious injuries/year
1,574 serious injuries/year
1,547 serious injuries/year
Rate of serious injuries
5.033 serious injuries/100 Million VMT
5.02 serious injuries/100 Million VMT
4.93 serious injuries/100 Million VMT
Number of non-motorized fatalities and non-motorized serious injuries
280 fatalities and serious injuries/year
290 fatalities and serious injuries/year
307 fatalities and serious injuries/year

CTDOT Highway Safety Activity & Planning

The CTDOT has an active and effective highway safety program. Key elements of the State’s program are detailed below.

VN Engineers was selected by the CTDOT to prepare a Regional Transportation Safety Plan for the Naugatuck Valley planning region. The plan will serve as a companion document to the SHSP and focus on local and state roads. The interstate network will be excluded because the system is fully assessed in the SHSP.

The purpose of the plan is to provide data driven countermeasures combined with public outreach to identify high risk locations and reduce the number of fatal and injury crashes. A draft scope of work has been developed and the planning study is expected to begin in the Summer of 2019 and take one year to complete.
Draft scope.

State Strategic Highway Safety Plan

Connecticut develops a long-term Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) every five years. The newest SHSP was released in July 2017, and will provide guidance for state-assisted highway safety initiatives through 2021.
2017 Connecticut Strategic Highway Safety Plan

State Highway Safety Plans & Annual Reports

Connecticut is required to develop an annual Highway Safety Plan identifying highway safety issues for the upcoming year and strategies to improve outcomes, tied with an annual report that analyzes the actual crash data to identify whether the state is on target. For a full list of the these annual plans and reports please visit the CTDOT website.

Traffic Records Coordinating Committee

The Traffic Records Coordinating Committee (TRCC) was formed in 2015 to review Connecticut’s highway safety data and traffic records system for potential improvements and coordination opportunities. This committee was instrumental in updating the state’s highway safety data into a consistent and federally-recognized standard. The committee consists of representatives from state departments, police departments, research agencies, and other highway safety stakeholders, and meets monthly.

Staff Contact:  

Mark Nielsen
Director of Planning/Assistant Director
mnielsen@nvcogct.gov