Promoting Center Line Rumble Strips to Increase Rural, Two-Lane Highway Safety

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on a national basis, rural roads account for approximately 40% of all motor vehicle travel but 60% of fatal crashes. Approximately 90% of these fatal crashes occur on two-lane roads. Opposing direction crashes account for 20% of all fatal crashes on rural two-lane roads and result in about 4,500 fatalities annually. Centerline Rumble Strips (CLRS) are considered to be effective safety countermeasure for reducing overall and injury cross-over crashes on two-lane, two-way roadways. A comprehensive before-and-after study conducted by Persaud et al. (2004) concluded that head-on and opposing direction sideswipe crashes, the primary target of CLRS, were reduced by the estimated 21% and head-on and opposing-direction sideswipe crashes involving injuries by an estimated 25%. The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) has installed sections off CLRS on US 50 and US 40; however no others have been installed for two years, and there appears to be no emphasis to keep installing them. The Kansas State University (KSU) team believes in the safety benefits of CLRS but there are concerns that have been preventing their widespread use in some states and need to be addressed in Kansas. These concerns need to be addressed so as not to negate their safety benefits that widespread use in Kansas would achieve. These concerns are: roadside noise complaints, drivers reacting to the left, effects on motorcycle riders, pavement deterioration, effects on different types of pavement material, striping visibility, water, snow, and ice accumulation and effects on emergency vehicles.

• Record URL:
  http://transport.ksu.edu/research/KSUTC-08-2.pdf

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $20000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  RE-040-05; HPD-R043

  KSUTC-08-2

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Kansas Department of Transportation

  Eisenhower State Office Building
  700 SW Harrison Street
  Topeka, KS  United States  66603-3754
• Project Managers:

  Stokes, Robert

• Performing Organizations:

  Kansas State University Transportation Center

  Kansas State University
  Department of Civil Engineering
  Manhattan, KS  United States  66506
• Principal Investigators:

  Russell, Eugene

  Rys, Margaret

• Start Date: 20070228
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20110630
• Source Data: RiP Project 20930

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Center lines; Research projects; Rumble strips; Rural highways; Traffic noise; Two lane highways
• Geographic Terms: Kansas
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pavements; Research; I30: Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01462213
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Kansas State University Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: RE-040-05; HPD-R043, KSUTC-08-2
• Files: UTC, RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 2:00PM