These earlier rules did not quantify or set standards for determining when these factors become a safety concern. This was problematic for members of the general public who had no way of knowing how ODOT would make its determination. Senate Bill (SB) 264, which became law in January 2012, amended ORS 374 and established six explicit safety and operations criteria that ODOT can consider in its permitting decisions. This bulletin addresses Safety Priority Index System locations set forth in OAR 734-051-4020(3)(d) of the rule:
“(3) Safety and Operations Concerns. The department has the burden of proving safety and highway operations concerns that it relies upon in requiring mitigation or in denying an application based on those concerns. The department may deny an application where the applicant is unable to provide adequate improvements to mitigate documented safety or highway operations concerns; safety and highway operations concerns that the department may consider are limited to (a) through (f), below:
(d) Location of the proposed approach within a highway segment listed in the top five percent of locations identified by the Safety Priority Index System developed by the department.”
The SPIS evaluates 0.10 mile sections of highway. The SPIS score is based on three years of crash data and considers crash frequency, crash rate and crash severity. A highway segment becomes a SPIS site if a location has one fatal or one serious injury crash or three or more injury crashes over the three-year period.
The department generates reports on the top 15 percent and investigates the top 5 percent SPIS sites each year. This information is available to ODOT employees from the Traffic-Roadway Website at:
https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Engineering/Pages/SPIS-Reports-On-State.aspx
Additional information regarding SPIS is available at the following website:
https://www.oregon.gov/odot/Engineering/Docs_AccessMngt/SPIS_Brochure.pdf
To evaluate a connection or proposed approach as a potential safety concern under OAR 734-051-4020(3)(d), the reviewer needs to determine whether the approach location is on a highway segment listed as one of the top 5 percent of SPIS locations. The detailed SPIS listing is in the SPIS Reports section available to ODOT staff at the following link:
https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Engineering/Pages/SPIS-Reports-On-State.aspx
Using the specific highway number and location, the reviewer can check the latest annual SPIS report to determine if the proposed location is identified. On the latest report website (by Region), select the report type labeled “ Top Sites Grouped, sorted by HWY and MP.” Find the highway segment that includes the subject connection or proposed approach. Record the segment length and the percentile group. In the table, the 95th percentile equates to a top 5 percent SPIS site.
For example, for a proposed approach at mile point 7.50 on OR Rte. 22 (Salem Highway No. 072), the 2019 SPIS reports show the following data (see Attachment A):
2019 Report – MP segment 7.48-7.57 – 95 percentile
This shows that the proposed approach is within an area with a SPIS rating in the top 5 percent and may have potential safety concerns that need to be evaluated further.
A connection or proposed approach within a top 5 percent SPIS segment triggers a secondary review by the Region Access Management Engineer or other qualified staff to determine if safety is a concern at the approach location and what action (if any) is appropriate. This secondary review would include reviewing suggestions from the appropriate SPIS investigation done annually by region staff and considering information about the use of the connection or proposed approach.