Coming-up at the 2026 Safe Mobility Conference in Seattle, the PacTrans Workforce Development Institute (WDI) is hosting the free workshop Rural Safe Mobility Workforce Crisis: Building Capacity for Rural Agencies.

Rural roads experience a disproportionate share of traffic fatalities, while the agencies responsible for them face a critical workforce shortage. Limited staffing, recruitment challenges, and gaps in training make it difficult to implement modern Safe System approaches—turning workforce capacity into a major safety risk.

This 4-hour interactive workshop explores the link between workforce capacity and rural road safety. Grounded in the Washington State Engineering Pathway Study, the session highlights key challenges such as difficulty recruiting engineers to rural areas, impending retirements, and limited access to training.

Register to Attend