Barrier Striping for the Reduction of Accidents

The Traffic Safety Division (TRF) of Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) drafted a special specification (SS) for the vertical application of a retroreflective solid stripe on concrete barriers, approximately six (6) inches below the barrier's top. During the phase of new product approval, this SS describes an application similar to three (3) locations already installed on Texas roadways in previous years. Barrier striping increases motorist awareness of the roadway's edge and the barrier itself, particularly in low-visibility conditions (i.e., heavy rain and snow). These existing implementation sites have not been formally evaluated. Furthermore, the short-term effectiveness of the treatments has not been investigated; therefore, there is a need for long-term and short-term safety effectiveness evaluation of these treatments. The research teams will collect before-and-after collision data from Crash Record Information System (CRIS) and near-collision data from connected vehicle data vendor (e.g., Wejo) to evaluate the effectiveness of vertical application of a retroreflective solid stripe on concrete barriers. Furthermore, the research teams will install these treatments at six (6) high crash locations with different barrier types including, but not limited to concrete barriers and metal beam guard fences to evaluate their short-term effectiveness using non-traditional safety evaluation approaches. The research teams will utilize the findings to update the drafted SS for the future use across the state and beyond.

• Record URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/Presto/project=7171

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $301,197
• Contract Numbers:

  0-7171

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Texas Department of Transportation

  125 E. 11th Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-2483
• Managing Organizations:

  Texas Department of Transportation

  125 E. 11th Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-2483
• Project Managers:

  Kasberg, Katelyn

• Performing Organizations:

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute

  Texas A&M University System
  3135 TAMU
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3135

  Texas State University, San Marcos

  JCK Building, Suite 489
  San Marcos, TX  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Kutela, Boniphace

• Start Date: 20230901
• Expected Completion Date: 20250531
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Barriers (Roads); Before and after studies; Crash rates; Retroreflectors; Safety analysis; Striping; Visibility
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01894804
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Texas Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 0-7171
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 27 2023 1:43PM