GIS-Based Study of the Impacts of Air Pollutants on Traffic Sign Deterioration

Recently, significant efforts have been made to safeguard human health and the environment from air pollutants. Despite this, little has been done to study the effects of air pollutants on the deterioration of traffic sign material. It is important to note that air pollutants are among the potential contributing factors to traffic sign deterioration. Importantly, unsafe driving behaviors can increase because of deteriorated traffic signs. This paper assessed the effects of air pollutants on traffic sign deterioration. To accomplish the goal of assessing and monitoring sign deterioration, an equipped vehicle digitally collected data on over 97,000 traffic signs across the state of Utah. Utah’s Division of Air Quality measures air pollutants at 317 stations across the state. The pollutants measured include: carbon monoxide, ammonia hydroxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, coarse particulate matter, and volatile organic compound. The air pollutants values for each individual sign were extracted from the raster data. The raster data were created employing interpolation capabilities provided by ArcGIS. The association between air pollutants and deterioration rates was tested using the chi-square test. The results revealed that air pollutants dirty traffic signs and contribute to traffic sign deterioration, particularly faded and delaminated forms.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHD55 Standing Committee on Signing and Marking Materials. Alternate title: GIS-Based Study of Impacts of Air Pollutants on Traffic Sign Deterioration
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Khalilikhah, Majid
  • Heaslip, Kevin
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2016-1-10 to 2016-1-14
• Date: 2016

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: TRB 95th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air pollution; Deterioration; Environmental impacts; Geographic information systems; Highway safety; Maintenance; Traffic signs
• Geographic Terms: Utah
• Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I15: Environment; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01587918
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 16-3843
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 27 2016 5:12PM