A benefit-cost analysis tool for assessing guardrail needs for two-lane rural roads in Virginia.

Details

• Creators:
  Appiah, Justice ; Cottrell, Benjamin H., Jr.
• Corporate Creators:
  Virginia Transportation Research Council
• Corporate Contributors:
  Virginia. Dept. of Transportation ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Benefit cost analysis
  • Guardrails
  • Two lane highways
  • Low volume roads
  • Rural areas
  • Needs assessment
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/VTRC 16-R5
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Virginia
• Corporate Publisher:
  Virginia Transportation Research Council
• Abstract:
  Guardrail is installed along the roadside to shield hazards such as steep slopes and bridge piers from vehicles. Although ; the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Road Design Manual provides guidance for determining where to install guardrail on ; new facilities, there is no consistent approach available for evaluating guardrail needs on existing roads that explicitly considers ; costs and benefits. ; This study developed such an approach, focusing on low volume, two-lane rural roadways in Virginia. The Roadside ; Safety Analysis Program (RSAP)—developed under NCHRP Project 22-27 and currently the most sophisticated tool available for ; conducting cost-effectiveness analysis of roadside safety treatment options—was used to determine expected crash frequencies, ; severities, and costs for several combinations of hazard scenarios; guardrail treatment options; and relevant roadway, roadside, ; and traffic characteristics. The results of the RSAP analysis were used to develop a predictive model that relates the input ; variables to the output response (benefit/cost ratio). The model is implemented in a simple spreadsheet for the quick and efficient ; evaluation of proposed guardrail treatment options without the need for full-blown RSAP analysis. Application of the spreadsheet ; tool is demonstrated through example problems. ; A comparison of the tool’s modeling results with results obtained from RSAP is presented. The comparative results ; show that benefit/cost ratio estimates provided by the tool are in good agreement with those provided by RSAP. These results ; indicate that the simplified tool meets the requirements to serve as a surrogate for RSAP analysis and is therefore recommended ; for benefit/cost evaluations of proposed guardrail treatment options for low volume, two-lane rural roadways in Virginia.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  104588
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/29696/dot_29696_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 472.39 KB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:d5d99f8bbfa3b695d5b1586ff34d91a8176f708b1f965d75615cc02af89be5a9