Citation

Hauer E, Terry D, Griffith MS. Transp. Res. Rec. 1994; 1467: 30-37.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the early 1980s, two kinds of resurfacing projects were undertaken in New York State: Fast track projects involving only resurfacing, and reconditioning and preservation (R&P) projects in which roadside and roadway safety improvements have been incorporated with resurfacing. The question was whether following resurfacing the fast track projects [226.7 mi (364.8 km)] perform less well, from a safety viewpoint, than the R&P projects [137.2 mi (220.8 km)].

FINDINGS indicated that in fast track projects safety initially declined, but in R&P projects safety improved. Another conclusion that emerges from this work is that, within the first 6 to 7 years of pavement life, safety improves as the pavement ages. The Empirical Bayes approach to the study of the safety effect has been used. Two methodological innovations may be of interest. First, because the safety effect of resurfacing changes as the pavement ages, it was necessary to find a way to examine changes in safety as a function of time. Second, the accuracy of studies of this kind is often limited by the sparsity of accident data. The method used here allows the use of a long "before" accident history to enhance estimation accuracy.

Language: en

Keywords

Accident prevention; Highway accidents; Intersections; Rural areas; Pavements; Improvement; Project management; Maintenance; Estimation; Roads and streets; Statistical methods; Guard rails; Roadsides