Roadway departures (aka lane departures) on the rural road network account for one-third of traffic fatalities. Systemic application of proven roadway departure countermeasures, such as rumble strips, friction treatments, and clear zones, helps keep vehicles in their travel lanes, reduce the potential for crashes, and reduce the severity of those crashes that do occur.  This initiative encourages agencies to address lane departures on all public roads.

The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Reducing Rural Roadway Departures (FoRRRwD) Program is supported by four pillars.  The pillars work together to address lane departures.

• Addressing Rural Roadway Departures on All Public Roads - States must work with local agencies to reduce rural roadway departures (aka lane departures) on all roads. Roadway ownership isn't always clear in the national crash data. Ownership of roads varies throughout the country, but arterials are typically under the jurisdiction of State DOTs, while collectors and roads functionally classified as local are more likely to be under the jurisdiction of others. It is estimated that more than 40 percent of traffic fatalities occur on locally-owned roads.
• Proven Countermeasures - FoRRRwD has three objectives for reducing the number or severity of rural lane departures – keep vehicles in the lane, reduce the potential for crashes if vehicles do leave their lane, and minimize severity if a crash does happen. There are specific countermeasures that apply to each objective.
• Systemic Approach to Rural Roadway Departures - A fundamental challenge on rural roads is that roadway departure (aka lane departure) crash locations are random and tend to change from year to year. It is not cost-effective to apply countermeasures where crashes already happened when they are unlikely to happen again at the same location in the near future.
• Safety Action Plans - Reducing rural roadway departure crashes requires an integrated, disciplined approach. A safety action plan is a powerful way to prioritize safety improvements and justify investment decisions. A formal plan will also help to communicate more clearly with stakeholders and access funding opportunities.

The FHWA Research & Technology (R&T) evaluation program was initiated in 2013 to assess and communicate the value and effectiveness of FHWA R&T investment. The objective of the R&T evaluation program is to document the impact of the projects, demonstrate accountability to funders and policymakers, and identify lessons learned and best practices that can be applied to future projects/programs, thus completing the innovation lifecycle.  The Transportation Research Board (TRB), in collaboration with the FHWA, is overseeing the TRB/FHWA Program Evaluation (TFPE) to evaluate such programs. 

The objective of this research is to develop and execute an evaluation plan for the FHWA’s FoRRRwD Program to answer these fundamental questions:

• Efficiency: Are the FoRRRwD Program activities conducted with an appropriate use of resources, such as budget and staff time (e.g., research and implementation approach, funding level)?
• Implementation: Is the FoRRRwD Program being applied and/or adopted by the users? If yes, how is it being applied or adopted?
• Effectiveness: Is FoRRRwD Program achieving the goals and objectives it was intended to accomplish (e.g., impact)? What data sets will be used to measure effectiveness?
• Cost-effectiveness: Does the value or benefit of achieving the FoRRRwD Program goals and objectives exceed the cost of producing them (e.g., return on investment and cost-benefit ratio)?
• Attribution: Is the FoRRRwD Program addressing FHWA’s strategic goals?