“Wow. We got the grant,” said Mojave County Public Works Commissioner Steve Latsky, who applied for the grant last year. “This is incredible given that we competed at the national level for federal funding subject to competition and discretion.”

Funding for this grant is provided by the bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which requires a matching amount of $250,000 from the county’s Road User Revenue Fund contributions. The funding will be used to install at least 50 advanced smart signs that will provide a mobile inter-vehicle communication system, enabling in-vehicle driver warnings and violation warnings of impending stops, curves and road deviations.

The Mojave County Board of Supervisors approved the grant application as part of the consent agenda at its Nov. 7 meeting. The U.S. Department of Transportation made an official announcement Thursday that it will provide $52 million in subsidies nationwide.

“We help provide state-of-the-art transportation systems designed to reach and work for everyone, especially in communities without access to efficient transportation. It applies to people,” said Federal Highway Administration Director Shailene Butt. “Arizona is making rural roads safer with advanced technology grants to Mojave County.”

Mojave County has over 13,000 square miles of unincorporated land and 1,338 miles of maintained paved roads.

“The county’s two-lane highway network primarily traverses sparsely populated areas, where emergency services are limited and response times are long, leading to crashes,” Latsky said in a description of the grant application. It will be considered,” he said. “Mojave County recognizes a new road feature class, the ‘smart highway’. These facilities will use technology-enabled resources and processes to facilitate active management and control across instrumented and connected roadways. The current move involves road administrators, third-party service providers and in-vehicle computing platforms working independently and collaboratively to provide road users with safety, travel efficiency and reliability. . ”

The Western Arizona State Council’s Strategic Traffic Safety Plan revealed 10,625 crashes on county-managed roads between 2006 and 2015. There were over 4,000 fatalities and 275 reported fatalities during the study period, citing lane departure. as the main cause. Speeding was the second most common cause.

“Lane departures are addressed by vehicle-to-infrastructure curve warnings and speed signs, representing both local and Arizona crash focus areas,” Ratsky said. “This project will reduce the frequency and severity of traffic accidents, increase safety for drivers, passengers and pedestrians, reduce delays, improve system performance and throughput, and improve the safety of people, property and vehicles. It aims to bring economic benefits by providing efficient, reliable transportation.” Services.

“This will further accelerate the adoption of advanced technology in rural areas such as Mojave County. is.”

Latsky said smart sign deployment locations will be determined using a WACOG study that is part of the Arizona Strategic Highway Safety Plan.

“The final location will reflect engineering assessments and recommendations at project delivery during the abbreviated project design phase,” he said.

The Arizona Department of Transportation controls the use of funds through intergovernmental agreements with counties. County public works departments are responsible for post-construction monitoring, evaluation, and reporting to the Federal Highway Administration. In his grant application, Latsky anticipated a completion date of September 30, 2024.