OPERATIONAL AND SAFETY EFFECTS OF DRIVING ON PAVED SHOULDERS IN TEXAS. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In Texas, paved shoulders are used by many drivers for a large variety of traffic maneuvers and for satisfying numerous driving task demands. Unfortunately, there is little information as to the types and frequency of this usage and the impacts and conditions under which they occur. The objective of this report is to provide answers to some of these questions. In order to quantify the benefits and/or disbenefits of paved shoulder usage, both operational and safety studies were made on three types of Texas highways: two-lane highways without paved shoulders, two-lane highways with paved shoulders, and undivided four-lane highways without paved shoulders. As a result of this investigation, it was recommended that priority for adding shoulders to two-lane highways without them should be given to those highways carrying one-way traffic volumes in excess of 200 vehicles per hour.

• Corporate Authors:

  Texas Transportation Institute

  Texas A&M University System, 1600 E Lamar Boulevard
  Arlington, TX  United States  76011

  Texas State Department of Highways & Public Transp

  P.O. Box 5051
  Austin, TX  United States  78763

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Fambro, D B
• Publication Date: 1982-9

Media Info

• Pagination: 31 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefits; Four lane highways; Highway operations; Operations; Paved shoulders; Traffic; Traffic safety; Two lane highways
• Uncontrolled Terms: Operational analysis
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00472206
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/TX-83/11-265-1, TTI-2-18-79-265-1
• Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jul 31 1987 12:00AM