Road Diet Feasibility Analysis for Nebraska

Details

• Creators:
  Purintun, Brandon L
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Before And After Studies Benefit Cost Analysis Case Studies Decision Making Feasibility Analysis Highway Design Rural Areas Sensitivity Analysis Traffic Delays Traffic Lanes Traffic Simulation Traffic Volume

  More +
• Resource Type:
  Thesis
• Geographical Coverage:
  Nebraska ; United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  University of Nebraska--Lincoln
• Abstract:
  Many rural towns and cities throughout Nebraska have experienced consistent population decline over the past 50 years, and the highway system once built to accommodate hoped-for growth is not serving the population as well as it could. These towns and cities would benefit from implementing a road diet conversion on their main highways. Since support for road improvement projects such as road diets lies in the public sector, the decision making process needs to be made easy to understand. Public edification of the decision making process involves streamlining the process as well as reducing criteria which are technically sound yet abstract to the public. To streamline the decision making process, a case study and sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine best practices, evaluation methodology, and decision making processes. A before and after simulation analysis is performed using VISSIM, examining delay. Existing literature on road diets is used to establish broad guidelines and determine long-term effects, such as changes in crash rates. Existing literature is also used to help measure the effects of road diet improvements on roadway performance as economic benefits and costs, metrics which are more easily understood by the public. Existing volume conditions at the case study locations are found to be well-below capacity, and the facility performs equally well when modeling with and without the road diet improvements. Subsequently, sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine the impact of volume demands on the bottom line costs and benefits of a road diet conversion. This information is then used to create guidelines, with easily understood criteria, for making decisions on whether or not a road diet improvement should be implemented.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:23845d1621fd278e591b61d487247c0d28d4181414087dac334aa53164b69014
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/64446/dot_64446_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.06 MB ]