Improving Safety at Unsignalized Rural Intersections in Kansas

Construction of the bypass lanes at rural intersections has usually been considered as a low cost way to improve safety. Crash Modification Factor (CMF) is an acceptable measure for evaluating the safety effectiveness of a countermeasure, which is defined as the expected number of crashes with a countermeasure divided by the number of crashes expected without the countermeasure. This study evaluates the use of a case-control method to estimate CMF for safety effectiveness of the construction of bypass lanes at unsignalized rural intersections in the state of Kansas. In addition to looking at a number of crashes at each intersection, this study evaluates the changes in crash rate and crash severity at intersections with the bypass lane versus intersections without it. Crash data were obtained for more than 700 rural unsignalized intersections from the Kansas Crash Database which is maintained by the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) for the years 2009 to 2011. The paper concludes that the expected number of crashes is lower at intersections with bypass lanes in comparison to intersections without bypass lanes, while it has no significant effect on reducing crash severity.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784413586.034
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780784413586
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Civil Engineers

  1801 Alexander Bell Drive
  Reston, VA  United States  20191-4400
• Authors:
  • Shams, Alireza
  • Dissanayake, Sunanda
• Conference:
  • Second Transportation & Development Congress 2014
  • Location: Orlando Florida, United States
  • Date: 2014-6-8 to 2014-6-11
• Publication Date: 2014-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 356-365
• Monograph Title: T&DI Congress 2014: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bypasses; Countermeasures; Crash modification factors; Crash rates; Crash severity; Highway safety; Rural highways; Unsignalized intersections
• Geographic Terms: Kansas
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01531689
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780784413586
• Files: TRIS, ASCE
• Created Date: Jul 25 2014 4:20PM