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	Fact Sheet
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HIGHWAY SAFETY INFRASTRUCTURE

Program Purpose

The Highway Safety Infrastructure program funds activities for safety improvement projects to correct hazardous locations, sections and elements and to eliminate hazards at rail/highway grade crossings.

Program Elements

STP Safety Set Aside:

The Hazard Elimination Program [23USC152] funds activities to resolve safety problems at hazardous locations and sections, and roadway elements which may constitute a danger to motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists.

The Railway/Highway Crossings Program [23USC130] is designed to fund safety improvements to reduce the number of fatalities, injuries, and crashes at public grade crossings.

Operation Lifesaver (OL) is a public information and education program designed to eliminate collisions, deaths and injuries at public and private grade crossings and on railroad rights-of-way. OL also promotes continued engineering research into ways to improve crossing safety. Operation Lifesaver programs are sponsored cooperatively by Federal, State and local governments, highway safety organizations, and the nation’s railroads.

Railway-Highway Crossing Hazard Elimination in High-Speed Rail Corridors is a grade crossing safety program for certain elements of specified high speed rail corridors. (See separate Fact Sheet under Rail Programs)

Funding

STP Safety Set Aside

Retains 10% set aside from STP. [23USC133(d)(1)]

Operation Lifesaver [1103 (c)(1)]

Funding increased from $300,000 to $500,000 /year.

Now derived from STP setaside (under ISTEA was funded from administrative takedown).

Railway-Highway Crossing Hazard Elimination in High Speed Rail Corridors [1103(c)(2)]

Authorizes $5.25 M/year setaside from STP and an additional $15 M/year authorized to be appropriated from General Funds.

Earmark of not less than $250,000 per fiscal year of the setaside is to go for Minneapolis/St. Paul-Chicago segment of the Midwest High Speed Rail Corridor.

Transferability

STP safety setaside funds equivalent to the funds made available for FY 1991 for the Hazard Elimination and Railway-Highway Crossing Programs (23 USC 130 and 152) may not be transferred.

Up to 25 percent of the difference between the remainder of the safety setaside for the fiscal year—the "optional safety" funds—and the comparable amount for FY 1997 may be transferred to IM, CMAQ, NHS and/or the Bridge Program. [1310]

Eligibility

STP safety setaside eligibilities are modified as follows:

Hazard elimination program [1401]

• opened to Interstates (previously excluded), any public transportation surface facility , and any public bicycle or pedestrian pathway or trail

• explicitly mentions traffic calming (previously eligible ) as eligible activity

Danger to bicyclists now included in survey of hazardous locations.

State may, at its discretion—

• identify, through a survey, hazards to motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians, and users of highway facilities

• develop and implement projects and programs to address the hazards

Railway/highway grade crossings program

Eligibility unchanged except States must now consider bicycle safety in carrying out projects. [1202(d)]

September 14, 1998