The manual provides guidance to State and local agencies for developing and implementing a highway safety improvement program which best suits their capabilities and needs. The manual should be beneficial to Federal, State, and local highway engineers and other professionals involved in a highway safety improvement program. The manual describes how to: 1. Implement a highway safety improvement program which complies with Federal-Aid Highway Program Manual 8-2-3 and which contains the following components and processes: Planning (collect and maintain data, identify hazardous locations and elements, conduct engineering studies and establish project priorities) Implementation (schedule and implement projects) Evaluation (determine the effect of safety improvements) 2. Select the most appropriate procedures based on an agency's particular goals, objectives, resources, and highway system. 3. Utilize current information concerning reporting requirements, funding sources, and practices of other highway agencies.

"TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 546 examines where and how safety can be effectively addressed and integrated into long-range transportation planning at the state and metropolitan levels. The report includes guidance for practitioners in identifying and evaluating alternative ways to incorporate and integrate safety considerations in long-range statewide and metropolitan transportation planning and decision-making processes"--Publisher's description.

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 321: Roadway Safety Tools for Local Agencies examines the safety tools and procedures that are practical and relatively easy to apply, and that can be implemented by agencies with limited financial support and personnel. Recognizing the wide variation in the operations and responsibilities of local agencies, the report acknowledges that the level of expertise in transportation safety analysis also varies greatly.