AUSTIN, TX — The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has selected Woolpert to provide traffic engineering and intelligent transportation systems services under a five-year, $3 million contract supporting its Austin, Beaumont, and Fort Worth districts.

Woolpert will provide services supporting safety-related projects, including speed zone studies, traffic signal studies, traffic impact studies, safety analysis, traffic signal design, and ITS planning studies, design, and specifications development.

This contract will support TxDOT’s Road to Zero goal of reducing the number of deaths on Texas roadways by half by the year 2035 and to zero by 2050. According to TxDOT’s annual crash statistics reports, the Austin, Beaumont, and Fort Worth districts saw over 2,000 traffic-related fatalities between 2019 and 2021.

Woolpert Project Manager John Brigham, who is a member of TxDOT’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, said crashes at intersections account for a large number of serious injuries and fatalities in Texas.

Brigham said that solutions can include converting four-way intersections to roundabouts; designing wrong-way driver detection systems; enhancing crosswalk visibility, lighting, and traffic signals; and utilizing the Multimodal Intersection Severity Score, a new tool designed to assess the potential severity of intersection-related incidents and identify targeted interventions to mitigate potential collisions.

“Controlling and consolidating access points, cross-traffic movements, and conflict points can all help lead to fewer accidents, injuries, and fatalities on our roads,” Brigham said. “We are proud to help the Texas Department of Transportation achieve its Road to Zero goal and look forward to helping make our state’s roads safer for all drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists.”