Management of Rural Expressways for Improved Safety and Operational Performance

Principal Investigator:

Tom Maze, tmaze@iastate.edu (other projects)

Co-Principal Investigator:

• David Plazak, dplazak@iastate.edu (other projects)

Project Status: In Progress

Start Date: 06/01/2007
End Date: 12/31/2008


Research Objective: --Develop a literature review on rural expressway safety, operational issues, and mitigation.

--Develop a database and process for identifying problem locations.

--Develop a "toolbox" for taking safety into account when designing expressway corridors.

--Assist in developing guidelines for varying access controls on rural expressway corridors.

--Assist in developing guidelines for Intergovernmental Corridor Management Agreements.

Abstract

Rural expressways are intended to provide many of the mobility and safety benefits of a freeway at far lower cost. Thousands of miles of rural expressways were planned and programmed around the United States and the conversion of two-lane highways to four-lane expressways is the fastest growing portion of the national highway systems with states like Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas having built and building hundreds of miles of expressways during the current decade.

The Iowa DOT recently formed an interoffice expressway task force to develop a value engineering approach to improve the safety and operational performance of rural expressways. This project will support that team and help them satisfy some very specific objectives. Although the work for the task force will focus on Iowa, the report, technology transfer workshop, and other products will be applicable elsewhere.

Potential Benefits of the Project

This project will provide input to the task force and will result in changes in the design and operation of Iowa’s expressway system.

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