SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS ON HORIZONTAL CURVES FOR TWO-LANE RURAL ROADS - INFORMATIONAL GUIDE

This guide provides guidance for the design of horizontal curves on new highway sections and for the reconstruction and upgrading of existing curves on two-lane rural roads. Information is also provided in this guide for computing the expected benefits and costs for a variety of curve improvements, such as curve flattening, roadway widening, providing spiral transitions to curves, improving superelevation, sideslope flattening, and other roadside improvements. Thus, this guide should be useful to highway designers and safety officials responsible for the design of 3R projects, improvements to high-hazard locations, and highway reconstruction as it relates to horizontal curves. The accident relationships and basic project cost data contained in this guide resulted from research conducted for the Federal Highway Administration. FHWA research report FHWA-RD-90-021, entitled "Cost Effective Geometric Improvements for Safety Upgrading of Horizontal Curves, Volume I, Final Report" (TRIS 603210), contains the major results and conclusions of the study.

• Corporate Authors:

  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  Highway Safety Research Center
  Chapel Hill, NC  United States  27599

  Federal Highway Administration

  Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, 6300 Georgetown Pike
  McLean, VA  United States  22101
• Authors:
  • Zegeer, C
  • Reinfurt, D
  • Neuman, T
  • Stewart, R
  • Council, F
• Publication Date: 1991-10

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 99 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefits; Costs; Curves (Geometry); Economic conditions; Economic impacts; Guides to information; Highway safety; Improvements; Pavement widening; Prevention; Rural highways; Safety; Spirals; Superelevation; Transition curves; Two lane highways
• Uncontrolled Terms: Horizontal curvature
• Old TRIS Terms: Flattening; Guides
• Subject Areas: Design; Economics; Finance; Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00616582
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA-RD-90-074, NCP 3A5A0083
• Contract Numbers: DTFH61-86-C-00041
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Nov 30 1991 12:00AM