The Association Of Median Width and Highway Accident Rate

Details

• Corporate Creators:
  United States. Highway Safety Information Systems
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Medians
  • Highway design
  • Highway safety
  • Benefit cost analysis
  • Mathematical models
  • Highway factors in crashes
  • Clear zones
  • Median widths
  • Out-of-control vehicles
  • Recovery areas
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA-RD-93-046
• Resource Type:
  Research Paper
• Geographical Coverage:
  Illinois;Utah
• Corporate Publisher:
  Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center
• Abstract:
  Medians on divided highways may be used as recovery areas by out-of-control vehicles. In some regions, the median widths of new highways are being minimized to control the amount of right-of-way required, and in others, existing highway medians are being reduced so that additional travel lanes can be built to improve capacity. Such actions tradeoff safety to reduce costs or increase efficiency (as measured by capacity). Correcting a deficiency after a road has been built is more expensive than building without the deficiency. The design of new highways must balance safety, cost, environment, and efficiency considerations. This study examined the effect of median width on the frequency and severity of accidents on homogeneous highway sections with a traversable (nonbarrier) median.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/35715/dot_35715_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 144.51 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Federal Highway Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fc2ea4894c4cb0862aa7d3d0cbf28813041fce6f513d29ba7382523ab1c45906b5a3946980ae35d9d2615fb4a4c95575670c1c366f6124ec6458a874fdf1a715