United States Department of Transportation
i
Evaluating Performance and Benefits of Road Reconfigurations in Tennessee
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2021-05-01
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[PDF-38.74 MB]
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Edition:Final Report
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Abstract:A vital issue evaluating road reconfiguration projects is quantifying the benefits provided to the corridor and surrounding community. Based on past studies, reconfiguring an automobile-oriented travel lane to accommodate other modes of transportation is found to have neutral, if not progressive, effects on factors such as livability, safety, and economics. This paper analyzes the safety, economic, and traffic impacts of road diets or road reconfiguration projects, using reconfigurations in Knoxville, Tennessee, as case studies. This study focuses on developing a practical, general, and theoretically sound methodology for evaluating future road reconfiguration projects. We expect it can be applicable in a wide range of traffic conditions, locations, and types of reconfigurations. We utilized statistical methods such as paired sampled t-tests and Mann-Whitney-U tests for the “before” and “after” corridor safety analysis based on Tennessee’s Integrated Traffic Analysis Network (TITAN) dataset. Similarly, we used the Difference-in-Differences (DID) analysis to quantify the economic impacts of reconfiguration treatments based on parcel-level property value data. The methods showed that road reconfiguration positively affects the corridor's safety, traffic, and other less tangible benefits embodied by rising property values. We also observed that road treatments were more impactful along the corridors given heavy treatment than smaller road diet interventions in the city.
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