Safety Management Practices on Low-volume Roads: A Survey
Author(s): Al-Kaisy, Huda
Poster Presentation:
Abstract:
Background:
Low-volume roads (LVRs) constitute an integral part of the roadway system in the United States providing critical access to remote rural areas including agricultural land uses and tourist attractions. Many of these roads are owned and operated by local governments, have lower functional classes, and higher crash and fatality rates like other rural roads. The Highway Safety Improvement Programs managed by state highway agencies aim at reducing the number and severity of crashes on the roadway network owned and operated by state and other local agencies. However, these programs have primarily focused on major road networks with little attention to local and low-volume roads. Despite its significance, little information exists regarding safety management practices for LVRs and local roads, especially those owned and operated by local agencies, are mostly unavailable.
Aims:
The objective of the current study is to investigate state practices in managing safety on LVRs including local roads that are owned and operated by non-state highway agencies.
Methods:
An online questionnaire survey targeting state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) was used to obtain the required information. The survey was sent via email to safety personnel at state DOTs in all the 50 states. Thirty-two (32) agencies responded to the survey resulting in a response rate of 64 percent.
Results:
Some of the important findings are
- Around 90 percent of state DOTs involve local agencies (counties, townships, etc.) in identifying safety improvement sites on non-state-owned local roads, and that crash experience at sporadic sites was the most frequently reported method for identifying safety improvement sites on these roads.
- Most of the responding agencies (70 percent) also reported not allocating a set amount of funds for safety projects on non-state-owned local roads.
- More than half of the responding agencies (55 percent) reported using one process for identifying safety improvement sites on state-owned and nonstate-owned local roads.
Discussion:
The survey findings generally confirm the limited focus on rural low-volume road safety compared to the safety of major highways and primary routes. This is a concern to safety professionals who work relentlessly towards achieving the Vision Zero initiative objectives. The concern identified by the results and discussions can be addressed by improving the processes of implementing the highway safety improvement programs run by different states DOTs with the support and guidance of the Federal Highway Administration and other federal agencies.
Conclusions:
(Merged with the discussion section)
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