Accidents

The Massachusetts Highway Department Traffic Engineering Section is responsible for overseeing the traffic engineering activities for MassHighway to ensure that the roadway and bridge construction and maintenance program comply with the Federal Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts General Laws. This includes preparing and reviewing various traffic engineering documents such as:

• Traffic Signal Permits
  
• Speed Limit Regulations
  
• Traffic Control Agreements
  
• Highway Sign Policy
  
• Traffic Management Plan Manual
  
• Traffic Impact Studies and Functional Design Reports
  
• Highway Safety Improvement Program
  
• Traffic Engineering provides technical review services for all construction and maintenance projects prepared for
• MassHighway, including private development mitigation and municipal construction projects. Staff provides regulatory guidance and technical expertise to support compliance with current State and Federal standards. In addition Traffic Engineering staff are also engaged in numerous field activities to support Department policy, including: traffic signal inspection, road safety audits, work zone inspections, right-of-way investigations, speed zoning, sign & pavement marking inspection and fatal crash investigations.
• The Safety Management group of Traffic Engineering maintains a database of (accident) crash data in support of the records collected by the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Staff uses the crash data to identify locations for safety improvement projects and works with the Regional Planning Agencies to produce a priority listing of safety project needs under the Highway Safety Improvement Program. In addition, the Safety Management Staff participates in numerous statewide safety initiatives aimed at reducing fatal and severe injury crashes and increasing safety belt usage.

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