TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of roadside culvert treatments
AU - de Albuquerque, Francisco Daniel B.
AU - Sicking, Dean L.
AU - Faller, Ronald K.
AU - Lechtenberg, Karla A.
PY - 2012/1/13
Y1 - 2012/1/13
N2 - Roadside cross-drainage culverts have been found to affect vehicle accident injury levels. As a result, highway designers have commonly used three safety treatments to protect errant motorists from striking culvert openings. These safety treatments have included: culvert extension, guardrail installation, and the application of safety grating. However, the identification of the most appropriate safety treatment for roadside culverts may be challenging; accident costs may dramatically change under different road and traffic characteristics. The purpose of this study was to estimate accident costs for a wide range of road and traffic scenarios and then define the safest treatment (i.e., treatment with lowest accident cost) for a variety of traffic, roadway, and roadside characteristics. Over 3,000 highway scenarios were modeled using the Roadside Safety Analysis Program (RSAP). This study showed that the selection of culvert safety treatments should be flexible when considering different road and traffic characteristics. The findings demonstrated that culvert extension and grating were found to produce the lowest accident costs for all highway scenarios that were modeled, and guardrail protection was not recommended for any of the scenarios. Therefore, it is believed that the expanded adoption of culvert extension and culvert grates can improve overall highway safety.
AB - Roadside cross-drainage culverts have been found to affect vehicle accident injury levels. As a result, highway designers have commonly used three safety treatments to protect errant motorists from striking culvert openings. These safety treatments have included: culvert extension, guardrail installation, and the application of safety grating. However, the identification of the most appropriate safety treatment for roadside culverts may be challenging; accident costs may dramatically change under different road and traffic characteristics. The purpose of this study was to estimate accident costs for a wide range of road and traffic scenarios and then define the safest treatment (i.e., treatment with lowest accident cost) for a variety of traffic, roadway, and roadside characteristics. Over 3,000 highway scenarios were modeled using the Roadside Safety Analysis Program (RSAP). This study showed that the selection of culvert safety treatments should be flexible when considering different road and traffic characteristics. The findings demonstrated that culvert extension and grating were found to produce the lowest accident costs for all highway scenarios that were modeled, and guardrail protection was not recommended for any of the scenarios. Therefore, it is believed that the expanded adoption of culvert extension and culvert grates can improve overall highway safety.
KW - Accidents
KW - Culverts
KW - Highway engineering
KW - Roadside safety
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84855921931&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1061/(ASCE)TE.1943-5436.0000266
DO - 10.1061/(ASCE)TE.1943-5436.0000266
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84855921931
VL - 137
SP - 918
EP - 925
JO - Transportation engineering journal of ASCE
JF - Transportation engineering journal of ASCE
SN - 0733-947X
IS - 12
ER -