Designing and Implementing Maintainable Pedestrian Safety Countermeasures
In recent years, negative trends have emerged in pedestrian safety. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were 6,283 pedestrian fatalities in 2018 (NHTSA 2020). This represented 17 percent of all traffic fatalities, and an increase of 208 fatalities from 2017 (NHTSA 2020). Winter pedestrian fatalities have also been trending upward in the Midwest, with an average of 255.3 pedestrians killed in the winter months of each year in the 10-state region, including an average of 14.9 is Minnesota. Transportation agencies have sought to address these issues by implementing various pedestrian safety countermeasures at crosswalks and other conflict points. While effective at improving safety for pedestrians, treatments can present a challenge to winter maintenance operations based on their designs and characteristics. The use of pedestrian safety countermeasures can introduce challenges to snow removal and winter maintenance operations, but misconceptions also exist. For example, one misconception is that people in the suburbs do not walk, and so keeping locations like median refuges clear of snow and ice is a lower priority for agencies. Unfortunately, research has not helped in addressing these issues. Instead, it has largely focused on the mechanics of snow and ice removal: the equipment to use, material application rates, etc., and not the impacts of designs on maintainability and pedestrian safety. There remains a research need to investigate the best practice guidance and solutions for the design, installation, and maintenance of pedestrian safety features for year-round maintenance. With this in mind, the specific objectives of the proposed research include: • Identify current best practices for designing and implementing pedestrian safety countermeasures for year-round maintainability; • Document the design characteristics that make pedestrian safety countermeasures easier to maintain during the winter while using existing MnDOT and local agency equipment; • Review MnDOT and select local agency winter maintenance plans, polices, maintenance agreements, and procedures regarding the safety and accessibility of pedestrians and recommend options for agencies to deal with winter maintenance of pedestrian infrastructure.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Active
- Funding: $79,554.00
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Contract Numbers:
1036340 WO#6
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Sponsor Organizations:
Minnesota Department of Transportation
395 John Ireland Boulevard
St Paul, MN United States 55155 -
Performing Organizations:
Institute for Transportation
2711 South Loop Drive, Suite 4700
Ames, Iowa United States 50010-8664 -
Principal Investigators:
Veneziano, David
- Start Date: 20210604
- Expected Completion Date: 20230630
- Actual Completion Date: 0
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Countermeasures; Pedestrian areas; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrians; Winter maintenance
- Subject Areas: Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01762453
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Minnesota Department of Transportation
- Contract Numbers: 1036340 WO#6
- Files: RIP, STATEDOT
- Created Date: Jan 20 2021 2:58PM