Implementation of Safety in the Project Development Process

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The live event has ended. Recording is now available to view on-demand.

This webinar is led by ITE Safety Council.

To learn how to register and see more information about the webinar including PDH credit certificate fees, please view the webinar course page here.

Webinar Description:
This webinar explores recent developments in the implementation of safety in the project development process. FHWA has updated its informational guidance on design exceptions with the publication of “Design Decision Documentation and Mitigation Strategies for Design Exceptions”. This updated guide and the design flexibilities as described in FHWA’s Memo dated November 16, 2023 (regarding provisions contained in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) will be examined.

During the project development process, agencies can design their highway projects using low-cost systemic safety improvements. Systemic safety improvements is a approach to safety that allows agencies to address particular crash types by implementing widespread safety countermeasures to roadways with high-risk features. This webinar will also present two examples of systemic safety improvements implemented in a county and a city setting. The first example shows how systemic safety and data-driven safety analysis principles were applied during the scoping and design process within a national forest in Shoshone County, Idaho. The second example presents how the city of Colorado Springs evaluated, prioritized, and implemented new school zones and other safety improvements in school zones city wide.

Learning Objectives:

Discuss FHWA’s updated guide on documenting and mitigating design exceptions and FHWA’s recent Memo on project design flexibilities.
Describe how systemic safety goals can be applied at the project level
Identify how to create a systematic approach to implementing and prioritizing new school zones city wide.

Policies: The webinar recording will be made available on-demand it will have a shelf life of 60 days to register before it is archived. Participants are able to purchase and retrieve their PDH credit certificate until their access to the content expires. After the content expires and goes into archive, the PDH credit certificate opportunity is forfeited.

Contributors

Moderator: Yanira Rivera, RSP, Safety and Transportation Operations Team Lead | Federal Highway Administration Eastern Federal Lands | Ashburn, VA, United States

Yanira obtained her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia and Master of Science in Civil Engineering from University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez. Her interest in transportation peaked from her years working in consulting firms in New Jersey, and most importantly, her interest in safety came about from her coursework in the UPRM. She currently works at Eastern Federal Lands where she advocates safety for projects for Federal Land Management Agencies.
Todd Frisbie, P.E., City Traffic Engineer | Colorado Springs | Colorado Springs, CO, United States

Todd Frisbie is the Public Works Traffic Engineering Division Manager for the City of Colorado Springs, Colorado. He has 27 years of professional traffic engineering experience and has served as the City of Colorado Spring’s Traffic Engineer for five years. As City Traffic Engineer, Todd oversees the operations and maintenance of a transportation system that consists of 640 traffic signals, 180 school flasher units and a traffic incident management system consisting of nearly 100 VMS boards and over 120 PTZ cameras. In his role as City Traffic Engineer, Todd leads and works with staff to advance non‐motorized infrastructure projects, to implement the city’s intersection and systemic safety improvements, to manage the city’s e‐scooter system, and to address neighborhood traffic concerns.
Sean Kilmartin, P.E., Civil Engineer (Highway) Safety | Federal Highway Administration Western Federal Lands | Vancouver, WA, United States

Sean graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Civil Engineering. He has previously worked in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Transportation, and Fish & Boat Commission with a mixture of duties focused on flood protection, dam safety, environmental engineering, boating and pedestrian facility design, and roadway design. He joined Western Federal Lands in 2019 as a safety engineer for both project delivery and organizational objectives.
Michael Matzke, Program Manager | Federal Highway Administration | Washington, DC, United States

Since 2017, Michael “Mick” Matzke has served on the Safety Design Team in Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Office of Safety where he manages the development and deployment of safety countermeasures. Prior to that Mr. Matzke managed the national design program where he provided technical services in the areas of geometric design of highways and freeways, interchange design, and Interstate change-in-access requests. Prior to joining FHWA HQ in 2007, Mr. Matzke spent time as a designer and project manager at FHWA’s Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division and as a safety and ITS engineer in the FHWA Vermont Division. Mr. Matzke graduated from Montana State University with a BS in Civil Engineering.

Thank you

Contributors

Moderator: Yanira Rivera, RSP, Safety and Transportation Operations Team Lead | Federal Highway Administration Eastern Federal Lands | Ashburn, VA, United States

Todd Frisbie, P.E., City Traffic Engineer | Colorado Springs | Colorado Springs, CO, United States

Sean Kilmartin, P.E., Civil Engineer (Highway) Safety | Federal Highway Administration Western Federal Lands | Vancouver, WA, United States

Michael Matzke, Program Manager | Federal Highway Administration | Washington, DC, United States