Speed Management on Freeways in Transition Zones between Rural and Urban Conditions

Details

• Creators:
  Pineda-Mendez, Raul A ; Shi, Xueqian ; Tarko, Andrew P. ; Romero, Mario A.
• Corporate Creators:
  Purdue University. Joint Transportation Research Program
• Corporate Contributors:
  Indiana. Dept. of Transportation. Division of Research and Development ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Highway design
  • Rural highways
  • Speed control
  • Traffic law enforcement
  • Transition curves
  • Urban highways
  • Road markings
  • Probe vehicles
  • Suburban freeways
  • Speed management
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  SPR-4537
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Indiana ; United States
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Purdue University. Joint Transportation Research Program
• Abstract:
  Drivers’ noncompliance with the posted speed limit reductions on rural-to-urban freeway transition zones is a recurrent problem in Indiana and other states. Speed-reduction treatments, such as pavement markings and active signing, aim to solve this issue. Optical speed bars, longitudinal speed reduction markings, and speed feedback signs were identified as the most promising speed-reduction treatments for experimental implementation in Indiana. Probe-vehicle-based speed data for 1 year was acquired on selected freeway segments to measure the speed effect. A set of fixed-effects linear regression models were used to estimate the effect of speed-reduction treatments on three key speed behavior characteristics—average speed, 90th speed percentiles, and speed variability. Optical speed bars together with speed feedback signs are a promising combination of treatments. While this and other traditional speed-reduction treatments show promise, their influence area is limited to a portion of target road segments. Therefore, future speed management needs to consider other speed-reduction treatments, particularly automated and area-wide speed enforcement, to maintain reduced speeds inside urban areas.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  FHWA/IN/JTRP-2023/01
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/67434/dot_67434_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 12.92 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:9d0b4456aed2bb283960ddb2a87967e6142c915ad00aa4a21cb67a41c6cc6e13