Get ready for enactment of the new Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) guidelines by attending ATSSA’s free virtual Town Hall on Sept. 7.

Speakers will address questions on the recently released guidance for the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA).

The virtual Town Hall panel will include ATSSA Director of Federal Government Relations Cameron Greene and Kathy Ruffalo, president of Ruffalo & Associates, a Washington-based advocacy and consulting firm. Ruffalo has significant transportation and infrastructure experience at both the federal and state levels.

Registration is now open.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Wednesday published the final guideline for the Build America, Buy America Act, starting a 60-day countdown to its enactment.

Included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), this expansion of the Buy America program led to the inclusion of a number of materials and products used and manufactured by ATSSA members.

ATSSA’s Government Relations Team provides a summary of the most important sections of the 162-page guidance and will continue to update ATSSA members as more information becomes available. ATSSA also will be holding a virtual town hall on this topic on Sept. 7.

Traffic deaths showed a 3% decrease for the first six months of this year compared to the same period for 2022, according to National Safety Council (NSC) estimates announced today.

NSC estimated 21,150 people died in motor vehicle crashes between January and June, a report of preliminary estimates shows. The nonprofit conducts semiannual estimates on a regular basis. NSC compares its estimates to those of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) as a means of assessing the validity of its estimates. NCHS’s final estimate of motor vehicle deaths for the first six months of 2021 was 1% below the NSC final estimate—21,771 compared to 21,450.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released the final guidance related to the Build America, Buy America Act provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). 

This final guidance includes comparisons to the initial guidance from OMB from April of 2022 and responses to comments submitted to the OMB Request for Information from earlier this year. The IIJA expanded current Buy America requirements for infrastructure projects, including the addition of construction materials as a covered category.  

The final OMB guidance directly responds to specific concerns raised by ATSSA.

The National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD) passed a resolution today recommending the final rule on the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) not be delayed to address this week’s issuance of a final rule for pedestrian accessibility issues.

The U.S. Access Board on Tuesday issued its final rule providing minimum guidelines for accessibility of pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way, known as PROWAG.

On May 2, ATSSA President & CEO Stacy Tetschner sent a letter to Federal Highway Administration Administrator Shailen P. Bhatt urging the FHWA to publish the updated Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) by the deadline set forth in the U.S. Code, which was May 15.

ATSSA voted in favor of today’s resolution passed by the NCUTCD.

With elk, mule deer and pronghorn antelope among the many animals trekking across Wyoming, the state’s Department of Transportation knows the importance of being attuned to their daily movements and seasonal migrations. That information is factored into new road projects to help save the lives of both humans and animals.

The Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program included as part of the Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) is a new source of funding available to aid such mitigation efforts. The Summer issue of ATSSA’s Roadway Safety magazine, now available online, lays out the cost of human-animal collisions across the nation and examines the details of the program to help members understand how they can become involved.

Check out this article and more in the latest issue of Roadway Safety magazine.

The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) today issued its final rule providing minimum guidelines for accessibility of pedestrian facilities in the public right-of-way, known as PROWAG.

These final guidelines have been long awaited, in particular by state and local governments that have sought them for more than 30 years.

The final rule for PROWAG was published in the Federal Register and is effective Sept. 7. Once adopted, the guidelines “would ensure that facilities used by pedestrians, such as sidewalks and crosswalks, constructed or altered in the public right-of-way by federal, state, and local governments are readily accessible to and usable by pedestrians with disabilities,” according to the posting.

The National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD) summer meeting addressed a variety of topics including traffic signals and vulnerable road users and provided an indication that work is progressing on the updated Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

In May, ATSSA President & CEO Stacy Tetschner sent a letter to Federal Highway Administration Administrator Shailen P. Bhatt urging the FHWA to publish the updated MUTCD by the May 15 deadline set forth in the U.S. Code. Tetschner acknowledged the "tremendous amount of work” needed to update the MUTCD but said he wanted to “stress how vital it is that this statutory deadline is met.”

Toward the end of the summer meeting of the NCUTCD, also referred to as “the National Committee,” federal officials made reference to August, suggesting work on the final rule is moving forward. However, there was no commitment that it would be published that month.

TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit, has released updated statistics for its latest report on traffic fatalities and serious injury crashes nationwide.

The new information provides the latest statistics for each state to accompany its June report, “Addressing America’s Traffic Safety Crisis: Examining the Causes of Increasing U.S. Traffic Fatalities and Identifying Solutions to Improve Road User Safety.”

The updated information is available in the form of downloadable fact sheets for each state and includes information about each state’s surface transportation system and federal funding.

Apply by Nov. 1 to participate in ATSSA’s New Products Rollout (NPRO) to discover the future of roadway safety innovations. NPRO will be held during ATSSA’s 54th Annual Convention & Traffic Expo in San Diego, Feb. 2-6.

Exhibitors who introduced products after Jan. 1, 2021, are eligible to apply. This year’s earlier deadline is due to the Convention’s earlier date.

Entries accepted for NPRO will be included in the New Products Listing, which showcases the products to more than 3,700 roadway safety professionals who attend ATSSA’s Annual Convention & Traffic Expo, including listing on the Convention website and mobile app.