Federal guidance requires that a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), as part of carrying out the “3-C”, Continuing, Comprehensive and Cooperative transportation planning process, prepare and update a Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP). The MTP must provide for consideration and implementation of projects, strategies and services that will address each of the eight planning factors identified in 23 U.S.C. 134. One of those planning factors is to increase the safety of the transportation system for motorized and nonmotorized users. The first step in improving safety on the transportation system is determining the causes of crashes. The MPO, in the development of the 2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan for the Jackson Urbanized Area, gathered and analyzed available safety data to determine the causes of crashes, identified general hazardous areas with high automobile crash frequencies and provided recommendations for various countermeasures that if implemented may reduce the total amount of crashes in the MPO planning area. The safety component of the 2040 MTP is included in Volume II of the plan, the Roadways and Bridges element.
In addition to the federal guidance discussed above, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) established eight (8) national performance goals that must also be considered in planning for the future of the transportation system. One of those goals is to achieve a significant reduction in traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads. The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) act continues the performance goals established in MAP-21, including the safety goal. The Safety Analysis Report, developed by the Jackson Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), was designed to provide an analysis of the available crash data for the Jackson Urbanized Area (JUA). Crash data used by the Jackson MPO to develop the report was obtained from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and from data provided to the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (MDPS). This report does not identify specific high priority crash locations, but rather was developed to provide local leaders with an overview of the crash trends affecting the Jackson MPO planning area over a five year period. The Jackson MPO’s Safety Analysis Report in no way should be construed to take the place of the findings identified in the 2040 MTP, but rather to serve as a supplement to that plan.
For more information about the Safety Analysis Report or the Safety Component of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan please contact Jackson MPO Staff, by email at mpo@cmpdd.org or by phone at (601)-981-1511.
Click on the link below to view the Safety Analysis Report for the Jackson MPO.
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