The Ray and Abley are Redefining Resilient Rural Road Safety for the USDOT
Our mission is to reimagine infrastructure to be safer, cleaner, and more productive. We partner with all levels of government to drive innovation in energy and mobility, improving capacity, production, and longevity. As the only nonprofit in the United States using geospatial analysis for right-of-way utilization, research-based practices, and cutting-edge safety systems, we aim to move faster than the status quo.
Recently, we took a major step toward that goal by submitting a joint response with our partners at Abley to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) Initiative Request for Information (RFI). Our response isn't just a set of recommendations—it’s a roadmap for a systemic culture shift in how we protect the people traveling on our nation’s most vulnerable roads.
The Visionary Partners: Driving Innovation with Abley
By pairing The Ray’s commitment to advancing transportation technologies with Abley’s world-class safety software, we’ve created a partnership that turns theory into immediate action. This isn’t future-tech—it’s an innovative methodology that has already been recognized by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and was recently showcased by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) at the 2025 AASHTO Safety Summit. Together, we are helping the USDOT adapt policy in real-time, ensuring that 2026 becomes a turning point for rural safety and resilient infrastructure.
The End of Wait-and-See Safety
For too long, transportation safety has been reactive. In the old model, road improvements often occurred only after a tragedy. At The Ray, we believe waiting for a disaster to justify a budget is no longer acceptable.
Our response calls for a Safe System Approach—a proactive shift that identifies risk before the first crash happens. We are specifically asking the USDOT to prioritize funding for low-cost, high-impact systemic treatments, such as rumble strips and enhanced signage, that can be deployed across an entire network at once to improve corridor longevity and safety.
Eliminating the Data Deserts
One of the biggest hurdles for rural counties, Indian reservations, and national parks is that they are often data deserts. When crash reports are fragmented or non-existent, these communities find it nearly impossible to win the federal grants they desperately need to improve their infrastructure.
We’ve already proven there’s a better way. Using our methodology in Georgia, we demonstrated that a rural county can identify its most dangerous road segments in weeks, not years, by utilizing available infrastructure data and geospatial analysis. We are offering the USDOT a way to eliminate these data deserts once and for all.
Equity, Economy, and 387 Lives
The why behind our submission is simple: Safety shouldn't depend on a county’s zip code or the size of its data science team.
The Human Toll: If we apply these systemic improvements across Georgia’s rural network alone, we can save 387 lives and prevent serious injuries every single year.
The Economic Case: Rural corridors are the lifelines for our nation’s freight, agriculture, and tourism. Resilient roads ensure these economic engines keep running with increased capacity and reliability.
The Chicken and Egg Problem: Small towns often can't get grants without data, but they can't get data without money. The Ray and Abley are providing the bridge—using AI-driven infrastructure analysis to break that cycle and give small communities the same level of grant readiness as major cities.
A Proactive Shift in Risk Assessment
The Ray and Abley advocate for a shift in how the USDOT views risk. By looking at the physical characteristics of a road, rather than just its crash history, we can predict where accidents are likely to happen. In our work with GDOT, we found that just 6% of the rural network accounted for 20% of fatalities. By proactively targeting that 6%, we maximize the life-saving potential of every federal dollar through adaptive, risk-based planning.
AI-driven Vision Models for Rural Decision-Making
We are encouraging the USDOT to embrace AI-driven vision models to automatically generate high-fidelity digital inventories of road assets. This removes the technical burden from overworked rural staff and ensures that high-quality safety data is accessible to everyone, from the most remote Tribal Nation to the largest state DOT.
From Barriers to Benefits: Streamlining the Path to Funding
To level the playing field, we need to simplify the application process. The Ray and Abley are championing "Whole-of-Network" analysis tools. These innovative tools allow rural practitioners to simulate the benefits of safety measures, providing the quantifiable proof of impact required to secure competitive federal funding and build long-term infrastructure resilience.
With this submission, The Ray isn't just suggesting new tools; we are calling for a new mindset—moving USDOT from a death-mapping culture to a risk-prevention culture.
