FDOT presents high-friction pavement pilot, data to Hernando-Citrus MPO

Emeth Duran, Florida Department of Transportation District 7 traffic safety program engineer, told the Hernando-Citrus Metropolitan Planning Organization Board on June 5 that a high-friction surface treatment uses a coarse aggregate and a special binder "to increase the friction of [the] pavement," and that pilot sites in District 7 have shown measurable safety benefits.

Duran said the program is intended to shorten stopping distance and reduce improper stopping behavior at intersections and curves, and he cited pilot results showing reductions in encroachment onto crosswalks and a range of 26 percent to 43 percent improvement in improper stopping behavior at treated locations. He described the treatment as "a strategy to increase the friction or almost double the friction" at targeted approaches and said the method has been added to the Federal Highway Administration's list of proven safety countermeasures.

The presentation placed the pilot in the context of District 7 crash trends. Duran said District 7 saw a decrease in fatalities from 505 to 476 between the two most recent annual tallies presented to the board, and that shifts at the county level were mixed: Citrus County experienced an increase in fatalities while Hernando County recorded an increase in serious injuries and a decrease in fatalities. Pedestrians accounted for about 20 percent of fatalities in the district, he said. Duran emphasized those figures are preliminary and subject to revision when crash reporting is closed later in the year.

Duran described the equipment and data collection used to identify candidate locations, including a mobile friction-collection vehicle that logged more than 2,100 miles for a District 7 pilot. He said locations with poor friction in critical mid-curve or approach spots were prioritized, and showed a graphical example where friction readings dropped substantially in the middle of a curve.

Board members and county commissioners pressed several technical and operational questions. Commissioner Longo asked for clarification on the numeric tables; Commissioner Lasso and others contrasted Pinellas County's declines in some crash categories with local trends and asked what interventions had changed outcomes there. Duran said education and enforcement campaigns coordinated with the State Motorcycle Safety Coalition and local law enforcement are part of the strategy, and that improved signal detection for motorcycles is an active research area in partnership with the University of South Florida.

The FDOT engineer described application constraints: pavements must be milled or resurfaced to a suitable condition before treatment, and the treatment is not a "silver bullet" — other factors such as signal visibility, enforcement and education must be addressed alongside engineering changes. He said DOT has not observed a need for special cleaning schedules at treated intersections since the District 7 installations beginning in 2019 and that the treatment uses a different binder intended to retain the aggregate under traffic.

Duran identified several local and regional locations where the treatment has been or could be applied, including Hillsborough Avenue near Sheldon Road and approaches to the Veterans Expressway in Tampa, and he noted an application on rigid (concrete) pavement by Port Tampa. MPO staff suggested the widening project at SR 50 and Barclay/Cortez in Hernando County as a candidate for the treatment.

Duran also described complementary programs: the Community Traffic Safety Team (CTST) work in Citrus and Hernando counties, helmet-fitting training with health departments, and an Enhanced Law Enforcement Engagement program that exchanges donated enforcement hours for traffic-safety equipment. He said Citrus County received about $60,000 in equipment through the enforcement program.

The presentation closed with an appeal for local partnership on enforcement and education: "This is your county. This is your community," Duran said, urging board support for combining engineering, enforcement and education measures and reminding the board that crash data remain preliminary until officially closed.

Members asked for the FDOT presentation slide packet; MPO staff said a copy would be provided.