USDOT's Awards $14.7 Million for Rural Roads Safety
'Rural Safety Innovation Program' Funding Latest Tool in Effort to Safeguard Drivers

RAYMOND, Miss. - Fourteen states, three counties and two parishes competed for and will receive $14.7 million in Rural Safety Innovation Program (RSIP) funds to improve safety on rural roads, Deputy Secretary Thomas J. Barrett said today.

"Making one road safer is important. But making rural roads around the country less deadly is absolutely essential," said U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Thomas J. Barrett, who personally presented awards to officials in Mississippi today. "Thanks to these funds our rural roads are on their way to becoming as safe as they are beautiful."

Rural roads carry less than half of America's traffic but account for more than half of the nation's vehicular deaths. Last February, the U.S. Department of Transportation launched the "Rural Safety Initiative" to address this issue.

Though last year's fatality rate - 1.37 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled - is the lowest in the nation's history, the 41,059 fatalities in 2007 remain "entirely too high," said Barrett. "The RSIP program will help us put a national focus on a local problem."

The awards, made possible by funds from the USDOT's Delta Region Transportation Development Program and Intelligent Transportation Systems Program, are part of a $287 million effort to help local and state governments reduce crashes on dangerous rural roads.

The RSIP recipients include:

For more information on the USDOT's Rural Safety Initiative, visit http://www.dot.gov/affairs/ruralsafety/

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