Auburn Engineering expands road safety planning across West Alabama
Published: Sep 28, 2026 3:00 PM
By Dustin Duncan
Rod Turochy, associate director for outreach at the Auburn University Transportation Research Institute, points out roadway conditions during a site visit with community partners in West Alabama.
The Auburn University Transportation Research Institute (AUTRI) is helping communities across western Alabama turn crash data and local knowledge into plans to make roads safer and position themselves to pursue funding for safety-related improvements.
Rod Turochy, associate director for outreach at AUTRI, is helping lead the effort to develop safety action plans for communities across the region.
The work is part of the two-year, $930,000 West Alabama Regional Safety Action Planning Initiative, led by the West Alabama Regional Commission (WARC) and funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All program. Auburn’s portion of the project is $581,227. The initiative will support the development of safety action plans throughout WARC’s seven-county region and in the City of Tuscaloosa.
Auburn helps analyze crash data, identify local safety priorities and develop safety action plans in coordination with WARC, local communities and engineering consultants.
Turochy said safety action plans give communities a framework for improving transportation safety. The planning process, he said, combines analysis of several years of crash data with input from residents, elected officials, law enforcement, emergency responders and other local stakeholders. Together, that information helps communities identify priorities and develop strategies ranging from infrastructure improvements to education and enforcement.
“We’re going to help you figure out what your safety picture is, and then come up with strategies that we can use to make travel safer for your residents,” said Turochy, the James M. Hunnicutt Professor of Traffic Engineering. “That’s really what safety action planning is about.”
Turochy previously led the development of safety action plans for Hale County and the cities of Troy and Selma. During those projects, participants identified areas of concern on interactive maps, while local leaders helped shape recommendations and committed to supporting their implementation. The community engagement efforts in these localities were led by The Fifty Fund, a non-profit whose mission includes working with communities to improve safety. This partnership will continue in the West Alabama Regional Safety Action Planning Initiative
The completed plans can guide future safety investments and strengthen applications for competitive state and federal funding. Turochy said local officials generally know where transportation safety problems exist in their communities, but Auburn can help them analyze the crash data and build those findings into a formal plan.
An eligible safety action plan is required before a community can apply for a Safe Streets and Roads for All Implementation Grant to carry out projects identified in the plan.
Turochy said the work extends Auburn’s transportation expertise to communities across Alabama.
“How can we better serve Alabamians and, in this case, make their lives safer and make their travel safer?” Turochy said. “It’s very much part of the university’s land-grant mission.”
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