Traffic and Safety engineers focus on improving the safety and operations of highway infrastructure. They coordinate with other safety experts who work on education, enforcement, and emergency response. Traffic and Safety teams work at a statewide office in Juneau and three regional offices in the Northern Region, Central Region, and Southcoast Region.

Traffic and Safety staff manage the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). This is primarily a federally funded program focused on reducing and eliminating serious and fatal crashes on all public roads.  Staff use this program to monitor and identify statewide problem areas. They plan for projects and project features to solve existing crashes and prevent future crashes.       

Some examples of the HSIP efforts in Central Region include:

• Interstate Highway Systemic Passing Lanes
• Safety Corridor Left Turn Lanes and Center Left Turn Lane Widening
• New Traffic Signals and Roundabouts at high crash locations
• Areawide Pedestrian Signal Countdown Timers, Flashing Yellow Left-Turn Arrows
• Areawide School Zone Upgrades
• Areawide Guardrail Upgrades
• Railroad Crossing Gates, Flashers, and Grade Separations

Traffic and Safety Staff provide monitoring and support for traffic signals, lighting, and other electronic control systems through Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Programming. This is another federally funded program focused on keeping all transportation users moving through improved communications and controls, or smarter traffic devices. 

Some examples of traffic control system operations and upgrades in Central Region include:

• Interconnecting and progressing signal timing controls
• Coordinating railroad and highway signals
• LED lighting retrofits with remote monitoring
• Coordinating with the Municipality of Anchorage as they operate city signals, school zones, and lighting for the State
• System upgrades on State arterials in Homer, Seward, Soldotna, Kenai, Palmer, and Wasilla

Based on years of experience, Traffic and Safety engineers develop and implement Alaska policies to supplement national guidance on traffic safety, operation, and traffic control devices. They produce and maintain the Alaska Traffic Manual, the Alaska Sign Design Specifications Manual, the Alaska Highway Safety Improvement Program Handbook, and traffic-related standard drawings.

Traffic and Safety offices provide traffic engineering support to other regional groups and complete special projects for headquarters management. This also includes supporting all divisions of DOT&PF as well as to Boroughs and Cities. They provide technical expertise from start to finish including Planning, Design, Construction, and Maintenance & Operations.

Traffic and Safety engineers check for compliance with applicable traffic control device standards. They recommend consistent use of safety devices including traffic signals, signing, striping, lighting, school zones, speed limits, guardrail, work zone traffic control, capacity analysis, and railroad crossings.

For more information, contacts, and other resources, go to the Statewide Traffic and Safety website: http://www.dot.state.ak.us/stwddes/dcstraffic/index.shtml