Use of Guardrail on Low-volume Roads According to Safety and Cost Effectiveness

Use of Guardrail on Low-volume Roads According to Safety and Cost Effectiveness
Author: Margaret Joanna Rys
Publisher:
Total Pages: 188
Release: 1999
Genre: Low-volume roads
ISBN:

The objective of this study was to develop guidelines for the use of guardrail on low-volume roads (LVR) in Kansas according to safety and cost effectiveness. A comprehensive review of the research literature was conducted to explore and gather information on the use of guardrail on LVR according to safety and cost effectiveness. The purpose of this information search was to identify the general elements used to determine the need for guardrail on LVR and to review any specific guidelines already in use by other states. The principle findings from this literature review are presented in this report.

Roadside Design Guide

Roadside Design Guide
Author: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Task Force for Roadside Safety
Publisher:
Total Pages: 560
Release: 1989
Genre: Roads
ISBN:

Evaluation of Safety Treatments for Roadside Culverts

Evaluation of Safety Treatments for Roadside Culverts
Author: Francisco Daniel B. Albuquerque
Publisher:
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2009
Genre: Roads
ISBN:

Roadside cross-drainage culverts have been found to impact vehicle accident injury levels. Designers have commonly used three safety treatments to protect errant drivers from culvert accidents. These treatments have included: culvert extension, guardrail installation and grating. In order to define which safety treatment is the most appropriate, benefit-cost analysis has used accident cost reduction to estimate societal gains earned by using any safety treatment. The purpose of this study was to estimate accident costs for a wide range of roadway and roadside characteristics so that designers can calculate benefit/cost ratios for culvert safety treatment options under any particular scenario. This study began with conducting a parametric study in order to find variables which have significant impact on accident cost changes. The study proceeded with highway scenario modeling which included scenarios with different values for combinations of roadway and roadside variables. These variables were chosen based upon findings from the parametric study and their values were assigned based upon highway classification. This study shows that the use of different culvert safety treatments should be flexible to roadway and roadside characteristics. It also shows that culvert extension and grating were the safety treatments found to produce the lowest accident costs for all highway scenarios modeled. Therefore, it is believed that the expanded adoption of culvert extension and culvert grates can improve overall highway safety.

Roadside Design Guide

Roadside Design Guide
Author: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Task Force for Roadside Safety
Publisher: AASHTO
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2011
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1560515090

"The Roadside Design Guide presents a synthesis of current information and operating practices related to roadside safety and is written in dual units-metric and U.S. Customary. This book is a guide. It is not a standard, nor is it a design policy. It is intended to use as a resource document from which individual highway agencies can develop standards and policies. Although much of the material in the guide can be considered universal in its application, several recommendations are subjective in nature and may need modification to fit local conditions. However, it is important that significant deviations from the guide be based on operational experience and objective analysis. The 2011 edition of the AASHTO Roadside Design Guide has been updated to include hardware that has met the evaluation criteria contained in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350: Recommended Procedures for the Safety Performance Evaluation of Highway Features and begins to detail the most current evaluation criteria contained under the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware, 2009 (MASH). For the most part, roadside hardware tested and accepted under older guidelines that are no longer applicable has not been excluded in this edition." -- AASHTO website.