Comparative Analysis of Grade-Separated Pedestrian Infrastructure and At-Grade Treatments

Grade-separated intersection crossings for pedestrians have potential benefits in terms of reduced pedestrian waiting times at intersections, reduced vehicle delay, and increased pedestrian safety. However, they also have disadvantages: immediate construction costs, recurring maintenance costs including snow removal, possible personal safety concerns for underpasses, and pedestrians may dislike climbing stairs. Overall, grade-separated crossings are appropriate in some locations, but not in others. Some of the factors that might affect whether grade separation is warranted include the number of lanes to be crossed, the volume of pedestrian and/or vehicle traffic, road speeds and/or visibility. Some locations may be more amenable to grade separation due to natural elevation. If grade separation is chosen, should overpasses or underpasses be used? Where should they be located at the intersection? The purpose of this project is to develop a guidance manual to make these decisions. Extensive simulations of vehicle and pedestrian traffic will be developed and conducted towards the writing of this manual, but the research team anticipates that the outcomes of exhaustive simulations can be reported in a manual for future reference rather than repeated by Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) for different intersections. These simulations will consider varying intersection geometries including numbers of lanes and turn bays. They will also vary the vehicle and pedestrian volumes, turn ratios, and speed limits to compare performance. Grade separation will be modeled as a reduction in pedestrian volumes based on the proportion of pedestrians choosing to use the grade-separated infrastructure. The performance benefits will be compared to the costs of grade-separated infrastructure to achieve a cost-benefit analysis. Based on this analysis, and cutoffs determined in collaboration with the TAP, a manual focusing solely on infrastructure guidance will be written.

• Record URL:
  https://researchprojects.dot.state.mn.us/projectpages/pages/projectDetails.jsf?id=29974&type=CONTRACT&jftfdi=&jffi=projectDetails%3Fid%3D29974%26type%3DCONTRACT

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $169652
• Contract Numbers:

  1036342 WO#123

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Local Road Research Board

  395 John Ireland Boulevard
  St. Paul, Minnesota  United States  55155-1899
• Managing Organizations:

  Minnesota Department of Transportation

  395 John Ireland Boulevard
  St Paul, MN  United States  55155
• Performing Organizations:

  University of Minnesota Department of Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering

  500 Pillsbury Drive SE
  Minneapolis, MN  United States  55455
• Principal Investigators:

  Levin, Michael

• Start Date: 20240815
• Expected Completion Date: 20260831
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: At grade intersections; Benefit cost analysis; Crosswalks; Geometric design; Grade separations; Highway design; Pedestrian movement; Safety engineering; Traffic simulation
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01927506
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Minnesota Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 1036342 WO#123
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 19 2024 9:35AM