Safe Transportation Research & Education Center

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) identified bicycle and pedestrian crashes as a key safety focus area within Oregon’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan and sought to develop a plan to reduce frequency and severity of those crashes on all roadways throughout Oregon. Kittelson & Associates, Inc. (KAI) worked with ODOT to develop a Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Implementation Plan that identified systemic, low-cost countermeasures and prioritized locations for implementation of the countermeasures. Priority implementation locations were developed using two complementary systemic safety analysis methods: one targeted at locations with a history of fatal and severe crashes, and the other focused on locations with high risk of pedestrian and bicycle crashes. The risk-based systemic safety methodology, promoted by FHWA, was applied due to the low frequency of pedestrian and bicycle crashes. The Implementation Plan will inform the allocation of approximately $4 million in funding for pedestrian and bicycle projects on all roads throughout the state and presents a repeatable process that can be adopted and customized by other state agencies.