High-Risk Rural Roads Program

General Information

Authorizing legislation and funding levels

The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), established the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). A portion of the HSIP funds are allocated to the High-Risk Rural Roads (HRRR) Program. For Iowa, the HRRR Program provides approximately $1.15 million per year.

Eligibility requirements

These funds are designated for safety improvements on high-risk rural roads. In Iowa, these roads are defined as paved roads, or unpaved roads with an average daily traffic (ADT) greater than or equal to 100, classified as rural major collectors, rural minor collectors or rural local roads, with a fatal and major injury crash rate above the statewide average; or are likely to experience an increase in traffic volume that will lead to a crash rate in excess of the statewide average. The crash rate may be measured either by crashes per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (100M VMT) or crashes per mile. However, segments of roads within an urban area boundary will not be qualified, as they are not rural in nature.

• View a PDF map of all roads eligible for the HRRR program.
• View a Google map of all roads eligible for the HRRR program

Project Selection Method

Each year's apportionment, in addition to any unused apportionments from the previous years, will be available to counties for construction or operational improvements on eligible roads. Funds will be awarded on a competitive application basis, up to a maximum of $500,000 of HRRR funds per project. Each county will be limited to one project per year. The federal share of project costs will be 90 percent, with a 10 percent match required from non-federal sources. Similar to other types of federal-aid projects, approved HRRR projects shall follow the procedures and requirements outlined in the Federal-aid Project Development Guide and associated Instructional Memorandums (I.M.s).

Applications will be scored and ranked on the basis of the following point system. Eligible projects will be awarded funds in descending order, until the available funds are exhausted. The point system has a maximum of 50 points and is based on three criteria.

1. Benefit cost (B/C) ratio
   • B/C > 1.5 = 20 points
   • B/C 1.5 or less and more than 1.2 = 15 points
   • B/C 1.2 or less and 1 or more = 10 points
   • B/C < 1 = 0 points
2. Annual fatal and major injury crashes per mile (five-year average)
   • Density > 0.16 (colored black on the crash density map) = 15 points
   • Density 0.098 – 0.16 (colored red on the crash density map) = 10 points
   • Density < 0.098 = 0 points
     • View the PDF crash density map.
     • View the Google crash density map.
3. Fatal and major injury crashes per 100M VMT (five-year average)
   • Rate > 87.77 (colored black on the crash rate map) = 15 points
   • Rate 47.37 - 87.77 (colored red on the crash rate map) = 10 points
   • Rate < 47.37 = 0 points
     • View the PDF crash rate map.
     • View the Google crash rate map.

By using both the crash rates and crash density, the program will provide all counties (rural and urban) with an opportunity to use the funds for safety improvements. The B/C ratio component will help prioritize the projects that give the best return on investment. The crash density and crash rate components give more weight to projects located on road segments that are among the top 15 percent of either crash density or crash rate, based on the total mileage of eligible roads. In case of a tie, the B/C ratio will be used as the tie-breaker.

Applications

Download the HRRR application form.

Download the HRRR application instructions.

Questions regarding the HRRR Program or its implementation may be directed to Nicole Fox at 515-239-1506 or nicole.fox@dot.iowa.gov