Sneak Preview: Triennial Plans Sought for Highway Safety Program

(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants Compliance Expert article.) The Department of Transportation (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has proposed to revise its state highway safety grant program administrative regulations to comply with requirements mandated under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (Pub. L. 117-58), as well as amend procedures under other programs. One of the key facets of the proposed rule is the requirement for a three-year highway safety plan (HSP).

The IIJA provided significant highway safety funding to NHTSA to make available to states, and amended the requirements under the agency’s State and Community Highway Safety Grant program (i.e., Section 402 program) and the National Priority Safety Program grants (i.e., Section 405 grants). In a proposed rule in the Sept. 15 Federal Register, NHTSA aims to amend its regulations at 23 C.F.R. Part 1300 to implement the IIJA requirements.

The amendments seek to address concerns about the number of U.S. deaths in motor vehicle crashes annually, as NHTSA estimates that an estimated 42,915 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2021. “Now, more than ever, we all must seize the opportunity to deliver accountable, efficient and data-driven highway safety programs to save lives and reverse the deadly trend on our nation’s roads,” the agency explains in the proposed rule.

To meet requirements established by IIJA for the Section 402 program, NHTSA is proposing that each state must submit for NHTSA approval a triennial HSP, which would replace the current annual HSP. The HSP identifies highway safety problems, establishes performance measures and targets, describes the state’s countermeasure strategies for programming funds to achieve its performance targets, and reports on the state’s progress in achieving the targets set in the prior HSP.

Each state also must submit an annual report that assesses the progress made by the state in achieving the performance targets set out in the triennial HSP and describes how that progress aligns with the triennial HSP, including any plans to adjust the state’s countermeasure strategy for using program funds to meet those targets.

(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
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