GARFIELD COUNTY, WA — The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Roadway Safety Foundation honored seven highway safety projects in five states with National Roadway Safety Awards as part of a biennial program to highlight successful approaches to improving roadway safety at the state and local level.

“While our roads and vehicles have gotten safer over the years, clearly motor vehicle crashes still take a tremendous toll,” said RSF Executive Director Greg Cohen in a statement.

“These awards honor those who successfully identified dangerous deficiencies in their systems and applied our latest research and technology to implement effective and cost-efficient fixes,” he added. “We salute these winners — the unsung heroes who planned, engineered and implemented these innovative solutions — and urge DOTs across the nation to consider these projects and apply them wherever possible.”

FHWA Executive Director Tom Everett noted that the seven award winners were commended “not only in saving lives on our nation’s roads, but also for maximizing the cost effectiveness of federal, state and local funds that were used.”

Applicants were encouraged to nominate successful programs that were “innovative, cost-effective and could be replicated elsewhere.” Altogether, seven winners and one honorable mention were selected. The following project won in the Western Builder area:

South Dakota won for its High Friction Surface Treatment project in 15 areas of the Blacks Hills region where road departure crashes in winter weather account for 57 percent of fatal crashes. In the two winters following the installations, there was a total crash reduction of 78 percent.