Caltrans Receives $1.4 Million Grant to Improve Highway Safety

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Sacramento - Caltrans announced today that it received approximately $1.4 million in grant funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to help expand and improve traffic data collection that will help improve safety on the state highway system.

Caltrans analyzes a wide variety of data sets to help evaluate road safety, including lane conditions, intersection and shoulder types, traffic controls, speed limits and traffic volumes. The fiscal year 2026 funding for the program will help streamline the collection and is provided by a grant from OTS through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"Strengthening California's roadway data helps us better understand crash patterns and make smarter safety investments. This grant will boost our ability to improve safety statewide and advance our goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries.

The funds will:

• Support data collection of average annual daily traffic (AADT) on non-Federal Aid System (NFAS) roads, which include rural roads, collector roads that feed into the state highway system, and urban local roads.

• Inventory intersection type and design of NFAS roads.

• Statewide outreach and coordination with local and regional agencies, including Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), Regional Transportation Planning Agencies (RTPAs), cities, counties and tribal agencies.

Caltrans is aligning departmental operations with the Safe System approach, which identifies several interconnected elements to achieve a vision of zero fatalities and serious injuries - safe road users, safe roads, safe speeds, safe vehicles, and post-crash care. As part of this policy, Caltrans commits to:

• Prioritizing "safety first" in highway planning, operation, construction and maintenance.
• Focusing on eliminating the most serious crashes.
• Eliminating race, age, ability and transportation mode-based disparities in road safety outcomes by addressing historic and current barriers to transportation access and safety.

Safety is also one of the key pillars of the Caltrans 2024-2028 Strategic Plan. Caltrans is committed to maintaining and improving the state's transportation network to make it safer, more reliable and climate resilient.

For more information about transportation and other infrastructure projects funded with state and federal investments, visit build.ca.gov.