Municipalities and parishes encouraged to develop Local Road Safety Plans
While local roads are less traveled than state highways, about 24% of Louisiana’s 708 fatal traffic crashes (that led to 773 deaths) in 2017 occurred on locally owned roads. So, how can municipalities and parishes help Louisiana bring these numbers down?
The answer is through a data-driven and collaborative approach of developing and implementing Local Road Safety Plans. According to Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), a Local Road Safety Plan serves as a map to safer roadways. In Louisiana, the LTAP Center works closely with the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) to ensure local stakeholder involvement among municipalities and parishes. Local road agencies are encouraged to consider developing a Local Road Safety Plan to be used as a tool for reducing roadway fatalities, injuries and crashes.
View FHWA’s video on Local Road Safety Plans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzdm798MoI8
Louisiana LTAP takes this approach a notch higher by working with parishes and municipalities, particularly those that emerged in the “Top 20 Parishes” list (and municipalities within this list) that have had overrepresentation in traffic fatalities and serious injuries as a result of roadway departures or crashes at intersections. Training and technical assistance are offered by LTAP to help local agencies analyze the crash data, identify the local issues, and recommend possible solutions that are aimed at eliminating deaths and serious injuries on all roads, including locally owned roads.
Developing Local Road Safety Plans is a proven countermeasure that provides a framework for local governments to identify, analyze and prioritize road safety improvements on local and rural roads. The goal is to fully engage parishes and municipalities in producing a customized plan that reflects the complexity of their local road safety issues, and eventually implementing projects that impact their respective communities. This effort promotes the statewide implementation of the Local Road Safety Program (LRSP) in support for the Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) toward reaching Destination Zero Deaths on Louisiana’s roadways.
Contact the LRSP Manager Leo Marretta leo.marretta@la.gov or 225-767-9122 for more information.
Read more about Local Road Safety Plans as a proven safety countermeasure: https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/provencountermeasures/local_road/
Local Road Safety Plans: Your Map to Safer Roads: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_4/ddsa_resources/lrsp.pdf
