Statewide Initiative with Specific Emphasis on Highway Safety Corridors

Welcome to the 2013 Highway Safety Initiative homepage.  Here you can learn about the initiative and its primary objectives and review the progress made since its launch toward meeting initiative goals.

In February of 2013, the Alaska Departments of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) and Public Safety (DPS) joined with the Governor’s Office to announce an initiative to improve safety on Alaska’s Highways. This statewide initiative was crafted with a particular emphasis placed on Alaska’s Highway Safety Corridors.  Highway Safety Corridors were created to bring focused attention to reducing fatal and serious injury accidents within designated segments of our highway system with the highest accident rates.

The safety initiative strongly supports the implementation of strategies included in the Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) while additionally providing intermediate measures to improve safety as new highway improvement projects are built. These intermediate measures include such strategies as securing funding for additional enforcement, media campaigns targeting specific driver behaviors, and improving real time road and weather condition reporting through the 511 Traveler Information System.

In support of the 511 system improvements, the initiative calls for the further development of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) components such as integrated real-time speed sensors, weather sensors, cameras, message boards, and avalanche detection systems.  

The initiative also calls for steps to be taken toward the development of a Traffic Operations Center (TOC).  In the near-term, the primary purpose to be served by a TOC is to consolidate and better integrate enhanced ITS data feeds through an improved 511 Traveler Information System.  This would provide improved real-time highway condition and traffic status reports around the clock to travelers, law enforcement, emergency medical services, DOT&PF personnel and other agencies.