Safety and mobility considerations in asset management
Abstract
The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) selects projects for implementation by taking into account several criteria related to cross-section, alignment and safety to evaluate various geometry improvements to be carried out as a part of projects. The existing practice uses an intuitive point allocation method to score these individual categories. The current study proposes a methodology to evaluate these projects considering the safety and mobility impacts of the improvements which lie in the scope of each project. This methodology is also used to screen roads based on existing geometry deficiencies with respect to a desirable design standard. The road screening process and the project evaluation process form two steps that support the asset management process. The road screening process helps in filtering road segments based on geometry deficiencies and identifies the least adequate road segments. Projects may be further developed with estimated improvements to be carried out on such segments using detailed information regarding these improvements. The asset management components discussed here rely on the evaluation of safety and mobility benefits corresponding to geometry changes. To develop an up-to-date method, the safety performance functions used in this method have been calibrated based on the latest crash data available for 2009-2011. Safety performance functions have been developed for rural two-lane, rural multi-lane, urban two-lane and urban multi-lane roads in the state of Indiana. The crash modification factors derived from these safety performance functions and speed adjustments from earlier studies, supplemented with data available in Highway Capacity Manual are used to calculate the safety and mobility benefits.
Degree
M.S.C.E.
Advisors
Tarko, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Civil engineering|Transportation planning|Urban planning
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