Investigation of Speed Countermeasures for Arterial Streets

Details

• Creators:
  Fitzpatrick, Kay ; Kockelman, Kara ; Kutela, Boniphace ; Li, Keya
• Corporate Creators:
  Texas A&M Transportation Institute
• Corporate Contributors:
  Texas Department of Transportation. Research and Technology Implementation Office ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Traffic speed
  • Safety management
  • Vulnerable road users
  • Arterial highways
  • Countermeasures
  • Case studies
  • Pedestrians
  • Traffic crashes
  • Roundabouts
  • Sidewalks
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/TX-27/0-7220-R1
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  September 2024-August 2026
• Corporate Publisher:
  Texas Transportation Institute. Texas A&M University
• Description:
  Vehicle speed is among the key attributes that make a difference in the injury severity outcome of a crash. This project started by reviewing the literature and existing toolkits to identify countermeasures to manage vehicle speeds and to improve safety especially for vulnerable road users on arterial street. A companion document, Speed Countermeasures for Arterial Streets Guide, provides information for implementation. Those countermeasures with the largest knowledge gaps were selected for additional investigation as part of this research project and included rest in red (RIR), roadway lighting, sidewalks, roundabout corridors, and reallocation of the cross section within a corridor. For the RIR countermeasure, the finding indicates the possibility of a reduction in crash rates and a slight increase in operating speed during nighttime conditions; however, the findings were not statistically significant perhaps due to the small sample size. For roadway lighting, a small increase in nighttime speed was indicated, which was not statistically significant. In contrast, the analysis indicates a statistically significant reduction in nighttime crash rates at treated sites relative to control locations. On lower-speed corridors, sidewalk implementation is associated with a slight reduction in operating speeds, suggesting a modest traffic-calming effect. In contrast, higher-speed corridors exhibit increases in operating speeds relative to comparison corridors after implementation, indicating that sidewalks alone do not substantially influence driver behavior in roadway environments that continue to support higher-speed travel. Sidewalk installation was associated with a reduction in fatal and injury crashes, suggesting potential safety benefits at the corridor level. Implementing a series of roundabouts is associated with a statistically significant reduction in operating speeds. For safety outcomes, treated corridors exhibit lower crash frequencies compared to control corridors; however, the estimated treatment effects for both total and pedestrian crashes are not statistically significant. The case study of the corridor cross-section reallocation found three of four zones had a speed reduction (business 3.2 mph, park 8.5 mph, and residential 4.3 mph) and fourth zone had a nominal speed increase of 0.4 mph, all statistically significant.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  0-7220
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/94051/dot_94051_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.10 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:93a8fe420667ba662145547bdce493c9666ff0fda82d4c0b442dfeb162f23015f054e791c4e0307b13980d60dade4b3fa3ebbc4b77e2e6c7a7f4938117c76e19