Coordination of Highway Safety Improvement Program and Highway Safety Office Activities (2026)
Chapter: 1 Introduction
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Background
The Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and State Highway Safety Program are federal initiatives to improve highway safety and reduce fatal and serious injuries on the nationʼs roadways through the implementation of education, emergency services, enforcement, and engineering safety countermeasures. States administer these programs to select and implement projects and programs in accordance with their Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP). HSIPs are typically administered by state departments of transportation (DOTs) and may have different structures (e.g., centralized versus decentralized) within each DOT. The State Highway Safety Program is managed by Highway Safety Offices (HSOs) in each state, which may be housed under the DOT or another state agency. State practices for coordinating HSIPs and HSOs need to be reviewed.
Objectives and Scope
The objective of this synthesis is to review and document DOT practices for coordinating HSIP and HSO management, practices, and associated funding in both their program structures and their processes for planning, implementation, data sharing, evaluation, and reporting. The synthesis addresses the following topics:
- Organizational and management structures of HSIPs and HSOs;
- Identification of the custodian of the SHSP;
- Coordination and execution of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law/Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act special rules [sub-program project selection processes: Safe Routes to School, railroad at-grade crossings, High Risk Rural Roads (HRRR), Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment (VRUSA), and NHTSA penalty funds];
- General coordination between the HSIP and HSO as well as specific coordination in planning and project selection;
- Processes used by safety stakeholders (primarily the HSIP and HSO) to share public feedback obtained from public participation and engagement (PP&E) efforts;
- HSIP and HSO evaluation metrics, data, tools, and influence on other project delivery methods;
- Dashboards and publicly shared data; and
- Data collection practices, including innovative data sources [e.g., crowdsourced and artificial intelligence (AI) analyses].
Overview of HSIP and HSO
The HSIP is a core Federal-aid program that seeks significant reductions in traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads, including roads under the jurisdiction of state DOTs, local agencies, and tribal communities (FHWA 2025b). The HSIP emphasizes safety performance
using a data-driven, strategic approach. HSIP includes three major components: the SHSP, State HSIP or program of highway safety improvement projects, and the Railway-Highway Crossing Program. Some states also have an HRRR program triggered by increasing fatality rates on rural roads having a functional classification of major collector, minor collector, or local road. HSIPs were established in 2005 under SAFETEA-LU (FHWA 2025c).
The HSOs administer the State Highway Safety Program (also known as Section 402) at the local level (FHWA 2023, GHSA n.d.). The State Highway Safety Program (administered at the federal level by NHTSA) was created by the Highway Safety Act of 1966 and has been reauthorized and amended several times. The Act required governors to appoint a Governorʼs Highway Safety Representative to oversee the State Highway Safety Program. The program provides states with funding for highway safety purposes. To receive the funds, a state is required to have an approved Highway Safety Plan (HSP). States use the Section 402 funds based on their HSPs and in accordance with national guidelines for highway safety programs.
Method
The synthesis effort included a literature review, a survey, and case examples. Existing literature from different sources (e.g., guidance documents—both general and DOT-specific, research reports, SHSPs, HSIP reports, HSPs, HSO annual reports, and HSO annual grant applications) were reviewed. An online survey of state DOTs was distributed to the DOTs for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The survey questions were developed based on project scope and were reviewed and approved by NCHRP. Responses were received from 46 DOTs—a 90% response rate. Follow-up interviews were conducted with representatives from six selected DOTs to develop case examples of experiences of DOTs with HSIP and HSO coordination. The six DOTs were selected from the 15 DOTs willing to participate in a case example and reflected diversity with respect to organizational structure, geography, and whether the HSIP and HSO are in the same agency.
Organization
The rest of this synthesis is organized as follows:
- Chapter 2 describes the comprehensive literature review for HSIP and HSO coordination, including guidance documents, DOT reports and plans (e.g., SHSPs, HSIP reports, HSPs), and other resources.
- Chapter 3 provides information on DOT practices based on the survey results.
- Chapter 4 contains case examples for the selected six DOTs.
- Chapter 5 presents a summary of synthesis findings and recommendations for future research.
- Appendix A presents the survey questionnaire.
- Appendix B provides a list of responding DOTs and individual survey responses from DOTs.
- Appendix C presents typical case example interview questions.
Appendix D: Summary of Existing State Resources for HSIP/HSO Coordination can be found at nationalacademies.org/publications by searching for NCHRP Synthesis 661: Coordination of Highway Safety Improvement Program and Highway Safety Office Activities.
