Highway Safety Improvement Program
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With the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, there were new and significant changes to the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), which include increased overall funding, as well as a new reform for biking and pedestrian safety. This new policy mandates that certain states are now required to spend 15% or more of their HSIP funds to address safety improvement for vulnerable road users (e.g., pedestrians, bicyclists and wheelchair users) if 15% or more of the community’s annual crash fatalities are biking or pedestrian fatalities. This change will impact dozens of states and could account for hundreds of millions of dollars of HSIP funds dedicated to pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements. States that are not mandated can still spend funds on safety projects for pedestrians and bicyclists but are not required to do so.
The following states are required to abide by the new 15% spending mandate:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Washington
Resources
HIGHWAY SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (HSIP): https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bipartisan-infrastructure-law/docs/hsip.pdf
Highway Safety Improvement Program Special Rules Guidance:
https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/hsip/rulemaking/docs/Section148_SpecialRule_Guidance.pdf
State DOT Best Practices in Implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: https://www.railstotrails.org/media/1344248/dot_best_pracitice_ohio_case_study_112822.pdf
Computations for FY 2023 HSIP Funds Set-Aside for Vulnerable Road Users: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bipartisan-infrastructure-law/comptables/table5p3.cfm

