AUSTIN (KXAN) — Amid a nearly $200 billion national backlog in funding to improve rural roads across the U.S., a new report outlines just how dangerous Texas’ rural roads are compared to all other ones in the state.
The national transportation research nonprofit TRIP’s latest report released this week found Texas is ranked No. 11 in the country for fatalities along rural roads. In Texas, the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled on rural, non-interstate roads is 2.52, surpassing the U.S. average of a 2.01 fatality rate.
When looking at all other roads statewide, that fatality rate rang in at 1.26 in Texas, still higher than the national average rate of 1.12.
Citing data from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, TRIP’s analysis reported there were nearly 1,500 traffic fatalities on rural, non-interstate roads in Texas back in 2022. That figure was the highest reported by any state in the country that year.
Analyzing state data, TRIP’s findings revealed seven urban areas in Texas (with populations surpassing 50,000 people) don’t have direct access to interstates. Those areas included Brownsville, College Station-Bryan, Harlingen, McAllen, San Angelo, Sherman and Victoria.
The report also reviewed pavement conditions on rural Texas roads, as well as rural bridges across the state. Texas ranked No. 19 in the country for its rural road pavement conditions, with that analysis broken down as follows:
12% of rural pavement in poor condition
27% of rural pavement in mediocre condition
22% of rural pavement in fair condition
39% of rural pavement in good condition
While revisiting more than 32,000 rural bridges in Texas, the report found 2% of those bridges — or 551 of them — were classified as poor or structurally deficient. Meanwhile, 50% of bridges — 16,019 of them — were marked in fair condition and 15,507 bridges (48%) classified in good condition.
“The Texas Department of Transportation continues to make investments in rural roadways to address safety,” said Lance Simmons, P.E., chief engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation, in the report. “Improvements such as adding ‘Super 2’ passing lanes, widening 2-lane to 4-lane divided roadways, wider edge-lines, increased center-line buffer, center-line rumble strips, and center median cable barriers are expected to reduce crashes and fatalities on our roads. We also developed and implemented Safety Scoring Tools for designers to optimize safety before the project is constructed. The department has also dedicated safety funds for implementation of safety projects in addition to the federally funded Highway Safety Improvement Program. Additionally, TxDOT has implemented a four-year pavement plan process, which has resulted in Texas pavement conditions at their highest levels ever. For 2023, Texas saw a 3% reduction in the fatality rate per VMT on both urban and rural roadways.”
TRIP’s research also cited the November 2021 signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which outlined $454 billion in funding across a five-year period between 2022 and 2026. Those dollars will go toward investments made in highway and transit infrastructure across the country.
Among that funding, the funding act allocated $2 billion to the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program to assist with rural surface roadway improvements, with the goal to improve connectivity, safety and reliability of those roadways.
More details on the report and its findings are available online.
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