Fourteen states, three counties and two parishes competed for and will receive $14.7 million in Rural Safety Innovation Program (RSIP) funds to improve safety on rural roads, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday, Aug. 27.
“Making one road safer is important, but making rural roads around the country less deadly is absolutely essential,” said U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Thomas Barrett, who presented awards to officials in Raymond, Miss. “Thanks to these funds, our rural roads are on their way to becoming as safe as they are beautiful.”
Rural roads carry less than half of America’s traffic but account for more than half of the nation’s vehicular deaths. Last February, DOT launched the “Rural Safety Initiative” to address this issue. Though last year’s fatality rate – 1.37 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled – is the lowest in the nation’s history, the 41,059 fatalities in 2007 remain “entirely too high,” Barrett said. “The RSIP program will help us put a national focus on a local problem.”
The awards, made possible by funds from DOT’s Delta Region Transportation Development Program and Intelligent Transportation Systems Program, are part of a $287 million effort to help local and state governments reduce crashes on dangerous rural roads.
