Debbie S. Shinstine

Indian Reservation Safety Improvement Program: A Methodology and Case Study

The need to reduce fatal and injury crashes on tribal lands has been recognized for years. The United States has realized a decline in fatal crashes over the past several years, but fatal crashes continue to increase on tribal lands. Little progress has been made in improving safety on tribal lands. Limited resources, lack of coordination across jurisdictions, the rural nature of many of the roadways, and lack of crash data have made it difficult for tribes to implement an effective safety improvement program. A methodology that can address these challenges is presented in this paper. The proposed methodology has been implemented successfully in the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Collaboration among safety stakeholders—state departments of transportation, tribal leadership, the Local Technical Assistance Program, the Tribal Technical Assistance Program, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and local and tribal law enforcement—is key to the success of such a process.

Effects of truck traffic on crash injury severity on rural highways in Wyoming using Bayesian binary logit models

Roadway safety is an integral part of a functioning infrastructure. A major use of the highway system is the transport of goods. The United States has experienced constant growth in the amount of freight transported by truck in the last few years. Wyoming is experiencing a large increase in truck traffic on its local and county roads due to an increase in oil and gas production. This study explores the involvement of heavy trucks in crashes and their significance as a predictor of crash severity and addresses the effect that large truck traffic is having on the safety of roadways for various road classifications. Studies have been done on the factors involved in and the causation of heavy truck crashes, but none address the causation and effect of roadway classifications on truck crashes. Binary Logit Models (BLM) with Bayesian inferences were utilized to classify heavy truck involvement in severe and non-severe crashes using ten years (2002-2011) of historical crash data in the State of Wyoming. From the final main effects model, various interactions proved to be significant in predicting the severity of crashes and varied depending on the roadway classification. The results indicated the odds of a severe crash increase to 2.3 and 4.5 times when a heavy truck is involved on state and interstate highways respectively. The severity of crashes is significantly increased when road conditions were not clear, icy, and during snowy weather conditions.

Implementation of Wyoming rural road safety program

Recent transportation legislation contains language indicating that state departments of transportation (DOTs) will be required to address safety on local and rural roads. It is important for state, county, and city officials to cooperate in developing a comprehensive plan to improve roadway safety. This legislation provides an opportunity to implement a more cohesive and comprehensive approach to local road safety in Wyoming. The Wyoming Technology Transfer Center–Local Technical Assistance Program coordinated an effort in cooperation with the Wyoming DOT, the Wyoming Division of FHWA, as well as Wyoming counties and cities to identify low-cost safety improvements on high-risk rural roads in the state. In the past few years, low-cost safety projects were implemented in several Wyoming counties. These projects included pavement markings, advance warning signs, guardrails, and shoulder widening. The Wyoming DOT approved the Wyoming Rural Road Safety Program (WRRSP) and recommended statewide implementation in 2008. In addition, the Wyoming DOT and the FHWA division office approved the WRRSP for eligibility to receive funding from the High Risk Rural Road Program. Implementation of the WRRSP has resulted in better cooperation between local governments, the Wyoming DOT, and FHWA to address safety on rural roadways in Wyoming. Before the WRRSP was approved, no counties in Wyoming were applying for safety funding. Now more than half of the counties have received road safety improvement money. The WRRSP has developed a step-by-step procedure to receive funding and expertise in roadway safety. The Wind River Indian Reservation has implemented a similar program, which has led to the funding of low-cost safety improvements on the Indian reservation road network.

Strategic safety management plan for Wind River Indian Reservation

For years fatal and injury crashes have been documented as being higher for Native Americans than for any other groups across the United States. Studies have been performed to determine the trends and to identify ways to assist tribes in improving their traffic safety. Tribal transportation stakeholders recognize the many factors that contribute to this problem, including lack of resources, lack of crash data, and crash data accuracy. Tribal sovereignty presents a challenge in working across jurisdictional lines with state and local agencies. Strategic highway safety plans are required for states and also provide an opportunity for tribes to accomplish their goals in reducing fatal and serious-injury crashes. Communication and collaboration across jurisdictional lines are vital to the success of a strategic highway safety plan for a tribal government. The Wind River Indian Reservation (WRIR) was selected for one of three pilot tribal transportation safety management plans, a program instituted by FHWA to assist tribes in developing their own strategic plan. The WRIR has had great success in establishing cooperation among stakeholders and, with the support of committed tribal leadership, is working toward the goal of reducing fatal and serious-injury crashes. Key to the success of the safety management plan is collaboration among safety stakeholders, namely, the state departments of transportation, tribal leadership, local technical assistance program, Tribal Technical Assistance Program, Bureau of Indian Affairs, local and tribal law enforcement, Indian Health Services, and others.

Modeling the Impact of Energy Traffic on Local Unpaved Roads

Laramie County, Wyoming, was selected in accordance with legislative directive as part of a project to determine the impact of the oil and gas industry on county roads. This paper takes into account the impact on gravel roads. Lacking a road and bridge budget, Laramie County is only just keeping up with this impact. To receive additional funding from the state legislature, actual impact needs to be assessed. The different distresses and ride qualities of all the county gravel roads showed that, on average, the roads were in good condition, no matter the level of impact. However, keeping the affected roads in this condition has been costly. The characteristics of the gravel roads in Laramie County were modeled to gain a better understanding of the degradation taking place and to examine the main causes. This effort was undertaken in the hope that the information from the model would be used for more efficient maintenance strategies and would promote a more cost-effective use of the countys budget, so that the county might continue to keep up with the energy impact. The process developed in this study is expected to be useful for other local agencies affected by energy development.

Road Safety Improvement Program on Indian Reservations in North Dakota and South Dakota

Tribal communities recognize the need to improve roadway safety. A five-step methodology was developed by the Wyoming Technology Transfer Center, Local Technical Assistance Program (WYT2/LTAP), to improve roadway safety on Indian reservations. This methodology was implemented initially on the Wind River Indian Reservation (WRIR); the success of this implementation was the impetus for the Wyoming Department of Transportation, Cheyenne, to fund three systemwide, low-cost safety improvement projects. Given the success of the program on the WRIR, tribes across the country became interested in the program. WYT2/LTAP and the Northern Plains Tribal Technical Assistance Program (NPTTAP) assist tribes to implement this program on their reservations in the Great Plains region and developed criteria to identify tribes to participate. Reservations in North Dakota and South Dakota applied to NPTTAP, and three tribes were accepted to participate: the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (SRST), the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe, and the Yankton Sioux Tribe. Although work had begun on all three reservations, this study focused on the implementation on the roadway safety program by the SRST. Members of the SRST were located in North Dakota and South Dakota, and crash data were collected from each state separately. Because the reporting and years of data differed, several analyses were performed to identify trends in crashes on the SRST. The South Dakota portion of the reservation was compared with statewide rural roads and with the WRIR because the two reservations were of similar size and character. Many challenges and differences were identified through the analysis, which demonstrated that a single procedure would not work for all reservations. Through extensive coordination and collaboration with the tribes and government agencies, WYT2/LTAP and the technical assistance program centers could provide the technical assistance that the tribes would need to develop their own road safety improvement programs.