RESURFACING SAFETY RESOURCE ALLOCATION PROGRAM (RSRAP)

The Resurfacing Safety Resource Allocation Program (RSRAP) software has been developed to allow highway agencies to implement a process that selects a program of safety improvements, to be made in conjunction with resurfacing projects, that maximizes traffic safety and operational benefits resulting from the program. RSRAP selects this optimal safety improvement program within a user-specified budget constraint representing the agency's available improvement budget. RSRAP uses an optimization process based on integer programming to determine the most cost-effective set of safety enhancements that achieve the optimal benefits for a specified set of candidate resurfacing projects. In this way, RSRAP can maximize the systemwide safety benefits for a given set of resurfacing projects as a whole, rather than maximizing the benefits at any particular site. RSRAP incorporates the best available estimates of the safety effectiveness of specific geometric design and safety improvements.
RSRAP consists of a Microsoft Access database application that utilizes Microsoft Excel's Solver add-in for execution of the optimization process. The RSRAP software and some related materials can be downloaded from this website. Also available for download are software installation instructions, a user guide to the software, and a research report explaining the development of RSRAP (NCHRP Report 486, Systemwide Impact of Safety and Traffic Operations Design Decisions for 3R Projects).
RSRAP was developed by Midwest Research Institute (MRI) in Project 3-56 of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). NCHRP is sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration and is managed by the Transportation Research Board.
As part of an ongoing NCHRP project, MRI engineers and computer specialists are available to provide technical support to users or potential users of RSRAP. Technical assistance with both highway engineering and computer applications issues is available. While anyone is welcome to download and use the program, technical support is available only to U.S. public highway agencies. Before requesting technical support, we recommend that you download and review the user's guide, the software, and the software installation instructions. If you then need technical support, contact MRI by sending an e-mail to

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