The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) is excited to introduce Partners In Safety, a new outreach program designed to foster collaboration and gather invaluable community insights to enhance road safety across Alaska. We recognize that traditional data sources, reliant on crash reports, only tell part of the story. To truly understand and improve road safety, we need to hear from you – the people who experience our roadways every day. Your perspectives are crucial as we implement the Safe Systems Approach, moving beyond conventional metrics to understand how safety is perceived and experienced on the ground.
Two key programs within DOT&PF are dedicated to making Alaskan roads safer for everyone: the Alaska Highway Safety Office (AHSO) and the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). AHSO focuses on critical aspects of driver behavior, offering resources and initiatives to promote safe practices such as proper child car seat installation and consistent seat belt use. HSIP, on the other hand, dedicates funding to engineering projects aimed at physically improving road safety through infrastructure enhancements like guardrail installations and the creation of pedestrian crosswalks.
To kick off Partners in Safety, we held our first community event in Anchorage on September 18, 2024. Looking ahead, we are planning our next event in Juneau on February 27, 2025. Our commitment extends across Alaska, and we aim to visit communities like Bethel, Delta Junction, Sitka, and Utqiagvik throughout 2025. Our goal is ambitious yet vital: to engage with every metropolitan area and as many regional hubs as possible, ensuring that diverse voices from across Alaska contribute to shaping safer roadways.
We invite you to become a partner in safety by sharing your local knowledge. Please take a few moments to complete our community survey and provide feedback specific to your area. Your input on local road safety concerns and suggestions is incredibly valuable and will directly inform our efforts to create safer transportation networks throughout Alaska. New survey links for different communities will be regularly posted as our outreach program progresses across the state, ensuring everyone has an opportunity to contribute.
Join Us in Juneau: Community Survey and Open House
We are excited to announce that Partners in Safety is coming to Juneau! We will be hosting a community open house on Thursday, February 27, 2025, from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM at the University of Alaska Southeast Rec Center. This open house is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the Partners in Safety program and, most importantly, to share your direct experiences and concerns regarding road safety in Juneau. We want to hear from you about the specific roads and intersections that cause you concern and gather your ideas on how we can collaboratively address these safety challenges.
In advance of the open house, we encourage all Juneau residents to take our dedicated Juneau road safety survey! This is your platform to voice your perspective on how safe you feel while traveling in and around Juneau. Your feedback will be instrumental in understanding community-specific safety needs and will be shared at the public open house on February 27, fostering an open and informed discussion.
Take Our Juneau Road Safety Survey
For any questions or further information about the Partners in Safety program or our community engagement initiatives, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected]. We look forward to partnering with you to build a safer Alaska, together.
