Evaluation of the Cost Effectiveness of Illumination as a Safety Treatment at Rural Intersections

Late-night and early-morning driving periods have significantly higher incident and fatality rates than other periods of the day. Many of these crashes occur at rural intersections and intersection illumination provides a proven safety countermeasure to help ameliorate these risks. However, intersection illumination remains one of the main contributors to electrical power consumption in roadway maintenance and operations. This study seeks to provide a better understanding of the relationship between illumination and crash occurrence at rural intersections and to synthesize this understanding as guidance for transportation agencies to determine how and when illumination is cost effective. The findings from this research is expected to significantly aid Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and other State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) to objectively determine if a rural intersection should be illuminated or if safety objectives can be met with reduced illumination level. This knowledge will aid engineers in making effective design and operational decisions that are cost effective without compromising desired safety goals. Additionally, this study will provide summary of the best practices and provide recommendation for practitioners as to the most cost-effective approaches.

• Record URL:
  http://www.nctspm.gatech.edu/pi/evaluation-cost-effectiveness-illumination-safety-treatment-rural-intersections

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $150000
• Contract Numbers:

  DTRT12GUTC12

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

  School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  Atlanta, GA  United States  30332

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  Department of Transportation
  1200 New Jersey Avneue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Performing Organizations:

  Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

  School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  Atlanta, GA  United States  30332
• Principal Investigators:

  Purcell, Roger

  Rodgers, Michael

  Suh, Wonho

  Guin, Angshuman

• Start Date: 20131101
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20151115
• Source Data: RiP Project 41750

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Crash causes; Fatalities; Intersections; Nighttime crashes; Periods of the day; Rural highways; State departments of transportation; Street lighting; Traffic crashes; Traffic safety
• Identifier Terms: Georgia Department of Transportation
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01641020
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Transportation Systems Productivity and Management
• Contract Numbers: DTRT12GUTC12
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jul 14 2017 12:38PM