Clear zone : a synthesis of practice and an evaluation of the benefits of meeting the 10-ft clear zone goal on urban streets.

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Clear zone : a synthesis of practice and an evaluation of the benefits of meeting the ten foot clear zone goal on urban streets
• Creators:
  Maze, Thomas H. ; Sax, Christian ; Hawkins, Neal
• Corporate Creators:
  Iowa State University. Center for Transportation Research and Education
• Corporate Contributors:
  Iowa. Highway Research Board ; Midwest Transportation Consortium ; Iowa. Dept. of Transportation ; United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Clear zones
  • Roadside
  • Streets
  • Traffic safety
  • Transportation safety Streets--Iowa--Safety measures
  • Traffic safety--Iowa
• Publication/ Report Number:
  IHRB Project TR-560;MTC Project 2006-05;CTRE Project 06-261
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Iowa
• Edition:
  Final report.
• Corporate Publisher:
  Iowa State University. Center for Transportation Research and Education
• Abstract:
  In urban communities, there are often limited amounts of right-of-way available for establishing a large setback distance from the curb ; for fixed objects. Urban communities must constantly weigh the cost of purchasing additional right-of-way for clear zones against the ; risk of fixed object crashes. From 2004 to 2006, this type of crash on curbed roads represented 15% of all fatal crashes and 3% of all ; crashes in the state of Iowa. Many states have kept the current minimum AASHTO recommendations as their minimum clear zone ; standards; however, other states have decided that these recommendations are insufficient and have increased the required minimum ; clear zone distance to better suit the judgment of local designers. ; This report presents research on the effects of the clear zone on urban curbed streets. The research was conducted in two phases. The ; first phase involved a synthesis of practice that included a literature review and a survey of practices in jurisdictions that have ; developmental and historical patterns similar to those of Iowa. The second phase involved investigating the benefits of a 10 ft clear ; zone, which included examining urban corridors in Iowa that meet or do not meet the 10 ft clear zone goal. The results of this study ; indicate that a consistent fixed object offset results in a reduction in the number of fixed object crashes, a 5 ft clear zone is most ; effective when the goal is to minimize the number of fixed object crashes, and a 3 ft clear zone is most effective when the goal is to ; minimize the cost of fixed object crashes.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/23459/dot_23459_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.20 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b97913f9ca4234388e82191e35a6ac134577cb7042f280ecb6dd42fadc781662d1ee7b3a68dec6ef0b2d5adc7f1deb9a0e6328891495254f3b8950b599218a55