Initiative Overview

Goals

There are two primary goals of the safety initiative.

First and foremost is to ultimately reduce the fatal and major injury crash rates to zero.  The Strategic Highway Safety Plan lays out specific strategies to help guide efforts toward this end goal.  Within safety corridors, the interim goal is to bring enough focus and resources to improving safety that crash rates would be significantly reduced, and the Safety Corridor designations ultimately eliminated.

The second goal is to improve and expand the 511 Travel Information System to provide more real-time reports to ensure information is available around the clock to travelers, DOT&PF personnel, law enforcement, emergency medical services and other agencies. This is consistent with the program goals and strategies specified in the Alaska IWAYs Architecture.

Safety Enhancement Categories

Address the 5 E’s

Traditionally, highway safety improvement measures fell within three primary categories, also called the “Three E’s” of highway safety – Enforcement, Education and Engineering.  Following the creation of Alaska’s highway safety corridors, public comment toward highway safety suggested the creation of two additional “E’s” – namely, Emergency Services and E-Information.  

The Highway Safety Initiative directs attention to each of the “5 E’s of Highway Safety”.  A coordinated effort amongst all of the 5-E’s is the best way to bring improved highway safety benefits to the traveling public.    

• Enforcement – Effective enforcement of Alaska’s traffic laws is one of the foundations of highway safety.  DOT&PF and DPS have a strong partnership.  The Departments work together to create, enforce, and analyze the performance of Alaska’s Highway Safety Corridors. 

  The DOT&PF’s Alaska Highway Safety Office (ASHO) and the Alaska State Troopers Bureau of Highway Patrol (BHP) also work together to secure funds to provide enhanced  enforcement services targeted to highway segments with higher accident rates, including the designated Highway Safety Corridors.

• Education – Driver education and awareness is another of the original “3E’s” and remains an integral part of promoting highway safety. 

  The ASHO is coordinating with the DPS, the Alaska Injury Prevention Center, the Department of Motor Vehicles and other agencies/organizations to promote highway safety awareness through media campaigns, training, and outreach programs.  In 2015, regular public service announcements will be displayed on existing Changeable Message Signs with messages concerning safety reminders and stepped-up enforcement activity.

• Engineering – Engineering is, put simply, the physical improvement of our highway system.  DOT&PF is the agency responsible for the design, construction and maintenance of highway improvement projects. 

  The DOT&PF expects it will receive increased funding from the Federal Highway Administration specifically designated for safety improvements. Under the provisions of DOT&PF’s Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), highway traffic and safety engineers identify high accident locations, evaluate corrective measures, and fund the most cost effective solutions.

• Emergency Services – Efficient delivery of emergency medical services is a critical link to the reduction of highway fatalities. 

  The DOT&PF is working with cell providers to improve cellular coverage, thus allowing faster and more reliable contact with emergency services.  Also, additional emergency call boxes are being considered in cell phone dark areas.

• e-Information – In this “Information Age” the availability of real time road and traffic condition reporting is an extremely valuable tool in the promotion of highway safety.  Better information, delivered timely, will help inform the driver of prevailing conditions that might impact trip planning.  Better information will lead to better decision-making and less accidents.

  The Highway Safety Initiative calls for a coordinated effort between multiple agencies (ADOT&PF, DPS, EMS, ATA, etc.) to update information systems in place, such as the 511 Travel Information System.  The initiation of work toward the establishment of a Traffic Operations Center is another step toward improving highway safety through the delivery of real time road and weather condition information to the general public and involved agencies of government.

Establish a Centralized Traffic Operations Center

The Traffic Operations Center (TOC) would integrate such Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) elements as real time travel speed sensors, cameras, weather sensors, message boards, avalanche detection systems, etc. to communicate and relay information to travelers, highway maintenance, law enforcement, and emergency response personnel. The intent is to acquire more real time information and to ensure it is made available in a reliable and timely manner around the clock, 365 days a year. 

Better information delivered more timely will help the traveler make informed decisions – especially important during the long Alaskan winters.

An initial “Needs Assessment” study, completed in November of 2014, concluded that while Alaska could benefit from the creation of a TOC, it also cautioned that significant concerns and constraints exist – the costs of building and staffing a physical TOC being chief among them.  Further efforts will be undertaken in 2015 to develop reasonable short-, medium-, and long-range expectations for a TOC, with likely emphasis placed on the initial creation of a “Virtual TOC” model that is both affordable and achievable as a near-term goal.    

Update 511 Travel Information

The DOT&PF is working to improve the existing 511 Travel Information System ( Dial 511 or 511.alaska.gov ). Efforts include partnering with law enforcement to report incidents to the 511, more frequent reporting from maintenance & operations staff, and automatic “push” notifications that would alert travelers via smartphone, RSS feed, email, tweet, or Facebook of immediate hazards, risks, and severe weather conditions.